Went to Miyanohara Elementary School for my first visit of the term today. I was supposed to have gone last Tuesday, but I took the day off work because of the killer flu. I had three lessons, with the first- and second-years, the third- and fourth-years, and the fifth- and sixth-years.
The first- and second-years wanted to play games, and the teachers had requested 'Cat, cat, dog' and 'Red light, green light', which was fine by me. I had assumed that we'd play in the gym, but when I got to school one of the teachers explained that we'd have to play outside because the gym floor was slippery... Why it should be more slippery now than it ever has been in the past is anyone's guess, but I decided that I really didn't want to get into that conversation, so I let things ride. Which is why twelve or so shivering children gathered in the middle of the playground for my lesson, on what was easily the coldest day of the year so far. Miyanohara still has a uniform, and so the boys were all trying to keep warm while wearing shorts and short-sleeved shirts. Anyway, the children did well, and the lesson went well, although it was damn cold, even with a jacket on. I finished 'cat, cat, dog' fairly quickly, because of all the sitting around involved, and we went on to play 'red light, green light', which the children all seemed to enjoy. Certainly they did an excellent job of not moving, despite the force sixteen gale blowing right at them...
I ate school lunch with the first- and second-years. They're really amusing: half of them eat so slowly that they get told off, and the other half, while eating at a 'normal' sort of speed, eat everything apart from their rice, and then baulk at eating a whole bowl of rice with nothing to flavour it! I like this group.
After lunch, I went for a stroll round the playground, and kicked a few footballs around with some of the children; just as I was about to give in and retreat to the warmth (relative warmth) of the staffroom, the bell rang, so I went in anyway. Only for a while, though; the next class, with the third- and fourth-years, was rounders- so outside again. This time was even better, though: there was a blizzard blowing! Luckily it stopped pretty quickly though, although not before I'd made it clear that playing rounders outside wasn't my idea. Both of the Japanese teachers had made it clear that rounders was the children's request; when I mentioned this to the children, though, they all looked at me as if I was completely out of my mind! Another case of the teachers not being bothered to think about the lesson, and using the children as an excuse, methinks.
Nevertheless, the children did well. Last time I played rounders with this group, it was, to put things mildly, a complete and utter shambles- nobody had any clue what they were supposed to be doing. This time, though, I actually got the feeling that most of the children understood the point of the game, and the fundamentals of batting and fielding. I was also amused to see that five or six of the boys tried to pretend that they weren't cold, and hung their uniform jackets on the football goalpost. The next time I looked, though, they'd all put them back on!
The final lesson, with the fifth- and sixth-years, was inside, thankfully. I'd decided to make an introductory video of Miyanohara with this group, and so I'd set aside this lesson for the children to decide what they wanted to introduce. Well, after about half of the lesson was taken up with getting into groups, the children managed to decide on eight things to introduce, and set about writing short explanations in Japanese. The idea is that I'll translate them into English, the children will learn this English, and then we'll film the whole thing. I can't see the children learning the English if 'Jack and the Beanstalk' is anything to go by, but I suppose it's worth a try. I reserve the right to change my opinion, though, when I see what the children have come up with to explain their chosen spots...
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What I did today
On this day in 1986, the Space Shuttle Challenger 
Photographs
