sayonara #3: よういちえん

This is one of the pre-schools in Taneichi, and my absolute favorite place to visit! I lucked out and got to hangout with the little tykes yesterday AND today. I'm a bit shot from the intensive bout of Japanese conversation (but ANY communication in ANY language is a treat) and my appendages are sore from the kids hanging off of me. but no pain no gain so i wont complain. today was another 'sayonara' so I wanted to give each kid an extra special dose of TLC. plus i had the chance to work with one of the BEST teachers in this community: Rumiko-Sensei. Thank you SO much Rumiko-san for your kind words and helpfulness! It is refreshing to see teachers like you, who LOVE what they do!
Yudai & Takahiro. Give them a few years & they'll be pretty studly.
Sayaka & Rina. 2 of my biggest fans...the admiration goes both ways :) these young ladies tried so hard to communicate and I am grateful for their help!
Kosei is the sweetest kid ever.

And he ALWAYS has this adorable grin on his face.

Wonder if there are any 'nanny' opportunities in Taneichi.... ;)

さようならさくら！

colors, animals, body, numbers...i tried to give them a dose of everything. surprisingly, i don't think it was all that overwhelming. early ESL/EFL instruction does dictate the successfulness of language acquisition. if only i could have visited this school at least once a week...who knows what could have been possible! at this age, they are NOT shy/fearful and are willing to try! 2 of perhaps the MOST important elements in learning a new language!

i realize that the kids will likely forget everything i have taught them this year...mainly cos they are still learning colors/numbers/animals IN JAPANESE! but i KNOW that these kids have had a great experience with a foreigner...and to me, that is a success. and something that can be built upon in the coming years. 11 months ago, the typical mouth-dropping, blank-stare "Oh, look - there's the foreigner..." comments were to be expected. 6 months ago, I was disappointed that I still would receive 'that treatment' and was feeling like my 'job' here wasn't all that significant. but now i think i have them trained: ALL kids in this community RUN to me, SHAKE MY HAND and usually GIVE ME A HUG!

I think my job at the elementary schools was successful. baby steps. grassroots "internationalization' is painstakingly slow and a definite patience-zapper, but now---almost ONE YEAR later...i can truly see the difference i have made in this commuunity.

Taneichi Yoichien : 2005-2006