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Sunday 14 October 2007
Saturday 13 October 2007
Inekari
The thing that's really awesome about Japanese schools is that although they're in session for much too long of the year, the kids get to do all these different awesome activities. Like rice planting in June, sports day in September, Culture Day in November, and rice harvesting in October. On Thursday I showed up at my biggest elementary school to discuss the next day's lessons. However, when I got there I was told that classes were canceled, and the kids were doing inekari - rice harvesting/cutting. I put on a sad face and was all 'Can I come too?' like that old woman on that episode of the Simpsons and luckily the school said yes. The next day I showed up in my tracks pants and long sleeved shirt and hat, not really knowing what to expect (of course, this is Japan). For some reason I assumed we'd be boarding buses and driving to a far off field to cut some rice. Not taking into consideration that the kids all walk upwards of one hour to and from school everyday, and that we live in a rural farming district.
After a twenty-odd minute walk spent listening and not understanding the one-sided conversations a bunch of eight-year olds tried to have with me, we arrived in a large clearing with hundred of dragonflies flying around. I'm not really going to bother describing it, since I uploaded a picture album that showcases better than my descriptions could. But you can't see any of the dragonflies, or the kids chasing frogs and the girls screaming 'Kimochi-warui!' which I think literally means 'Bad feeling!'. I also didn't get a picture of any of the three kids that cut themselves on their scythes in the first 10 minutes of being in the fields.
I have no idea if I was supposed to actually do anything. One of the teachers gave me a pair of gloves, and I had a water bottle, but basically I wandered around and the teachers all frantically yelled orders left and right while some of the kids half-heartedly listened to them and others just ran around trying to catch lizards. I guess the novelty of harvesting rice wears off when your parents do it all the time.
After a twenty-odd minute walk spent listening and not understanding the one-sided conversations a bunch of eight-year olds tried to have with me, we arrived in a large clearing with hundred of dragonflies flying around. I'm not really going to bother describing it, since I uploaded a picture album that showcases better than my descriptions could. But you can't see any of the dragonflies, or the kids chasing frogs and the girls screaming 'Kimochi-warui!' which I think literally means 'Bad feeling!'. I also didn't get a picture of any of the three kids that cut themselves on their scythes in the first 10 minutes of being in the fields.
I have no idea if I was supposed to actually do anything. One of the teachers gave me a pair of gloves, and I had a water bottle, but basically I wandered around and the teachers all frantically yelled orders left and right while some of the kids half-heartedly listened to them and others just ran around trying to catch lizards. I guess the novelty of harvesting rice wears off when your parents do it all the time.
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| Rice Harvesting - 知覧小の稲刈り |
Thursday 11 October 2007
A typical lesson plan...
So I teach at 7 different elementary schools in the town. The driving distance from the northernmost to the southernmost school is about 45 minutes. I don't often go visit the schools before the day of the lessons since I usually get lesson plans in advance and by now I've figured out the gist of how these classes work. Although at the beginning, it was quite stressful. Besides not really having an idea of how to teach, or to communicate with the kids, the lesson plans I'd receive scared the shit out of me. Just try to decipher this, the lesson plan I got today:
Period for integrated study "blue sky thyme"
Monday October 15, 2007 five schools time
{name redacted} Elementary School
5.6 years life (17 people)
Leader {name redacted}
[An Aim]
I get close to how to say moon through the game that I used a number for.
Main learning activity:
1. I hold greetings of ones beginnings.
2. I sing a song of two "BINGO". [I can sing to rhythm happily.]*
3. I say numbers from 31 to 100 in English. (The review until the last time.)
4. I will know how to say April. [Because there are many words that I usually use, I pay attention to pronunciation and an accent enough.]*
5. I practice about how to say May.
6. I practice about way of hearing and how to answer six birthdays. [I devise a blackboard demonstration to understand a way of hearing and way of answering.]*
7. I do bingo on the birthday when I spent July.
i. I put a favorite number to 1-31 in 5*5 Masuno.
ii. I ask a friend a birthday one by one.
iii. I say one's birthday in English, and the asked child makes entry of the number of days to a bingo card together.
iv. I turn it one after another and continue until bingo appears.
[I write a number on the blackboard after having pronounced it and can participate in bingo although the child whom I was not able to hear is a pleasure.]*
8. I hold greetings of eight end.
[Preparations]
A CD/a bingo card of BINGO
*These four square brackets refer to "A point to keep in mind in the guidance". In the actual paper lesson plan it's arranged in two columns, but I don't know nor care to figure out how to do that here.
So that's word for word the lesson plan I got. It's fairly typical.
Period for integrated study "blue sky thyme"
Monday October 15, 2007 five schools time
{name redacted} Elementary School
5.6 years life (17 people)
Leader {name redacted}
[An Aim]
I get close to how to say moon through the game that I used a number for.
Main learning activity:
1. I hold greetings of ones beginnings.
2. I sing a song of two "BINGO". [I can sing to rhythm happily.]*
3. I say numbers from 31 to 100 in English. (The review until the last time.)
4. I will know how to say April. [Because there are many words that I usually use, I pay attention to pronunciation and an accent enough.]*
5. I practice about how to say May.
6. I practice about way of hearing and how to answer six birthdays. [I devise a blackboard demonstration to understand a way of hearing and way of answering.]*
7. I do bingo on the birthday when I spent July.
i. I put a favorite number to 1-31 in 5*5 Masuno.
ii. I ask a friend a birthday one by one.
iii. I say one's birthday in English, and the asked child makes entry of the number of days to a bingo card together.
iv. I turn it one after another and continue until bingo appears.
[I write a number on the blackboard after having pronounced it and can participate in bingo although the child whom I was not able to hear is a pleasure.]*
8. I hold greetings of eight end.
[Preparations]
A CD/a bingo card of BINGO
*These four square brackets refer to "A point to keep in mind in the guidance". In the actual paper lesson plan it's arranged in two columns, but I don't know nor care to figure out how to do that here.
So that's word for word the lesson plan I got. It's fairly typical.
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