hiranai-sho

Hiranai Elementary School

I continue to make my whereabouts around the Taniechi community at large. I didn't know that I would be taking on ALL 9 (?--might be missing one or two!?) of the elementary schools in town---but what a treat it has been! By far the BEST part of the job! This was my first time @ Hiranai (1-6 = 85 students). Loved the staff and students. HUGE thanks go out to them for making my first visit so memorable!

I started off the morning with my self-intro powerpoint, which has been working really swell. It's hard to show pics/places/people to hundreds and hundreds of new faces every week---so this seems to cover all the bases. This was a particularly shy group, but when we broke into small groups/aka--"grades" they opened up much more!

By now you have probably noticed the highlighting kit malfunction I suffered a few days ago. YIKES! I have never had this color before, and wasn't planning on something so drastically different...I really don't need one more visible difference to set me apart from my community! Thought about trying to lowlight it with some Japanese dye...but in fear of making a bad situation worse, I have opted to let it grow out. Sigh......

OK back to school stuff: I got to share one of my fave elem books with the 3/4 grade students, "The Hungry Caterpillar"! What made it cooler was that I could read it WITH the other teacher---she's holding the Japanese version! Really fun way to show that our two cultures DO have similarities (ie. sharing a love for reading books by this super author! They are Eric Carle superfans over here!!!) This class was also probably THE most advanced 3/4 gr class I have worked with so far. They knew the colors, shapes, basic foods, days of the week...but "What's your name?"-----------not a chance!

Genki! Love these faces (fearless of English!)

Had a super chat with the principal and several other staff who all agree that the biggest differences between Japan and US schools lies in the culture. What's expected and/or accepted by the culture really defines how students are educated. Very interesting and good to hear both the positives and negatives of Japan (from the teachers themselves!) While people's overall interest in learning English is sketchy, people DO want to learn about American culture and ideals. They want me to explain how and why things are the way they are (or they way everyone "thinks" it is based on the evening news). It's a tricky situation, but a challenge that I really enjoy. Being able to break some American stereotypes and gain a better understanding of Japanese culture has become my primary focus over here. Ganbarimasu!