St. Bamboo Forest '|''||'|'|''

掃除する  (so u ji su ru): To clean

Every day after lunch, the students have about 20 minutes free time.  After that, it's time to clean!

Students from all three grades are assigned a specific group (by color).  I have been assigned to the Green group.  On the days where we do not have to clean, we either meet outside to play "figure 8 jump-rope" or play volleyball/dodgeball in the gym.  However, we pretty much clean four times a week because there are four floors in the school.  Every day is a different place. 

Cleaning tasks are assigned by the students themselves.  The oldest students assign specific places for everyone in the group.  The places are the classrooms, hallway, restrooms, staff rooms, and meeting rooms.

This requirement allows the students from all three grades to get to know one another.  Thus, building a great sense of team work and school spirit.  At the end of cleaning, the small groups will meet to debrief the cleaning session.  I have personally enjoyed cleaning with the students because I get to know more about them outside of the English class.
I was told that many Japanese schools have this same requirement.  This kind of explains how the people in Japan are often very clean or like to be clean.  It's become a habit for many of these students at a young age.

Cleaning the classroom... 1) push all the desks to the back of the room

2) students with brooms with push all the dust to the back of the room

3) the 'wipers' get down and clean the floor with a towel by hand

4) 'wipers' rinse towels and push all the desks to the front of the room; students with brooms will start brushing all the dust in one spot

5) putting all the dirt into the pan

6) final 'wipers' for the back of the room

7) all students will put the desks back to where they were

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I have gotten to know many of my students through cleaning.  I often cheer for them in the hallway.

Or I run along side hurrying them....

Or I walk by with a smile and wave  :)

But.

There's this one student.

I found out the direct translation of his Japanese name in kanji...into English...

is...

Saint Bamboo Forest.

I love this kid.... such a good sport. 

 

Does everyone in America eat hamburgers???

No.  They don't. 

Two weeks ago, I had to interview 160 students (40 students per class period) so they can practice their conversation ability.  For the third year students, I had to ask "Have you ever been to any foreign countries?"  "If not, where would you like to go?"

* Students who responded they want to go to 'America' (USA), had some interesting reasons. 
----they want to eat hamburgers and hot dogs

Kid. You. Not. 

Many of the students want to try 'BIG hamburgers'.  Once I told them that it is not healthy to eat those burgers, they told me they didn't care.  I was appalled. 

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I have been in Hiroshima for about 6 weeks now.  My Japanese is decently fluent enough to carry on a conversation beyond introductions.  After talking to many teachers, families, students, and new friends, I have discovered that many people have this image of U.S. that is ,,, well, untrue.
I often have to stop and rephrase "In America, I blah blah blah blah" to "SOME people in US blah blah blah blah, but I like to blah blah blah blah."  Who knows?  I may be the only US citizen some people will ever encounter.  If I have to eliminate one stereotype at a time, I'll do it.  This also goes for the untrue believes of Hong Kong.  One of my host moms were shocked that we eat rice in Hong Kong. 

^ If I say, "my practice teaching school had about 3500 students."  Then the person will think "Oh wow, American schools have many students!"
^ During meals, I have to tell my host mothers that "don't worry!  I will eat anything!"  Not everyone in the US dislike seafood, tea, or seaweed. 

^ And no, not every US college student works hard for five years and doesn't have a tv... 

I've had to thoroughly describe and discuss about the U.S. and Hong Kong to many people.  General topics include: education, government, food, weather, religion, "freedom", alcohol, media, fashion, and the arts.  All the topics discussed will take about ten more posts, therefore, I'll wait.  Plus, I hate generalizing.  To avoid any mistakes, I want to reflect on these confusions, gather more information, ask more people, and take time to reorganize my thoughts.

Upon arriving Hiroshima, many people asked me about their assumptions of Japan.  I myself too had some influenced assumptions based on people I've met or books/articles I've read. 

At this point, I feel like it is safe to say: it is impossible to make a true and honest assumption on a town/city/state/country until he/she has stayed there for a significant amount of time with deep cultural understanding of values and believes; one should not make any assumptions at all based on a second-hand experience because it will always be different based on the person, place, and situation. 
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Finally, my 'must' share.   :)
I keep meeting people who have high respect for teachers and the arts.
Today, my third host mother said this to me before I moved to my next homestay....

"Ingy, you must work hard and become a great music teacher.  I think music and education, are very important to people."

Let's just say, I cried instantly. 
It meant more than she could ever imagine.

My host mom's awesome cooking.  I don't know half of what I ate, but it was GREAT!

Recommendation #4: 祭 (ma tsu ri)

A while back, I attended a yukata matsuri (yukata festival) with some new friends.  This was held at Hiroshima University and all the food, activities, and performances were organized by the student body.  I only had to pay for food and all the activities and performances were free.  I had a great time with my English Education major friends. 

We first walked around and ate different types of festival food.

 Then watched some performances by a student rock band.

And some crazy lady.

Everyone was very supportive and cheered. 

We also tried out calligraphy!

She wrote "Teach English"

We also went to Satake Memorial Hall to watch the Hiroshima University Orchestra. 

They made an entire skit for their program.  The conductors dressed up as characters from Princess Mononoke and also a dinosaur costume to go with Jurassic Park. 

Hiroshima University Saijo Campus is beautiful.  It actually reminded me a bit of IU.

This lake is right by the music hall.  Gorgeous.

It was really fun trying new food and playing many Japanese traditional games like kendama.  I also saw many men who cross dressed in girl yukatas.  They had an anime club and hand crafts booth. 
Of course the festivals are different depending on different schools (middle school, high school, and college), communities, cities, towns, etc.  However, many of the tradition remains as far as enjoyment, food, music, art, games, and fireworks. 

...And I couldn't help myself, but I just HAD to take a picture with this guy.

Sea Cucumber Dance

I know you're not supposed to have favorites...but if I could, I would bring my first year students back to the US with me.  No matter how tired I am, I always leave that class with a smile. 

This week we practiced:

- Do you like...?
- Do you play...?
- Do you have...?
- Do you want...?

All forty students get to fill in the blank with whatever they want.  Then they get to interview the three English teachers in the classroom.  I have created a list of best questions asked by my students.  If you ever feel like you're having a bad day, just read these and imagine the brightest, happiest, most curious forty 7th graders asking them in your face!!!

1) Do you like hair!?!?!  (kind of?)
2) Do you want a wig???  (hahah, sure.)
3) Do you have a pig?  (a pig?.. no.)
4) Do you like our school and students?  (dawhhhhhhhhh)
5) Do you have a country?  (right, I own a country...)
6) Do you want a conga?  (YES!)
7) Do you like snail?  (to eat?  oh, you meant just liking them, then sure.)
8) Do you want a Christmas tree?  (I mean, it's summer, but okay!)
9) Do you want a hand?  (and yes, they meant the actual physical hand)
10) Do you want a helicoptor?  (that'd be cool)
11) Do you want a dog?  (YES!!!  Of course!)
12) Do you play the Sea Cucumber Dance?!?  (What?!)
13) Do you like Sea Cucumber???  (What?!)
14) Do you have Sea Cucumber???  (What?!)
15) Do you want a Sea Cucumber?????  (loool.  What?!?!?)

At the end of the class, they always greet good bye to all three teachers. 
"Good bye Mr. Yamasaki, Mr. Malachy, annnd.-  MS. -- CHOOOOOO!!!!!"

Cute.

I really don't know why they scream my name, but I like it.  :)
And yes, my last name in Japan's kanji character is pronounced "Cho".  So students here call me 'Cho Sensei'.  not..."Ms. Journ"   ;)    Sorry for any confusion to my US friends.   :P

Also, I have NO IDEA what the sea cucumber dance is. 

Recommendation #3: 書道 (shodou)

書道, is Japanese calligraphy. 

I had the chance to try it out with the help of Hamaoka sensei.  Not only so, she taught me so much about ancient Japanese history and culture.  She is the Japanese language teacher at Shinonome Junior High School, so she teaches ancient and modern literature. 

She first brought out the ink and brush set.

Then we wrote a summer haiku from a book.

Hamaoka sensei's beautiful work.

Here is my "Shinonome"

It was very difficult, but also very rewarding.  There is a sense of calmness and relaxation when you take time to write something beautifully.  It also forces you to think more deeply about each stroke, the meaning behind each word, the structure of the context, and the state of mind. 

Hamaoka sensei told me that Japanese love haiku because it is telling a deep story in a short form.  Not only so, it uses the 5-7-5 form.  Why is it 5-7-5?  Apparently, most words in the Japanese language are in 2s, 3s, and 5s.  Therefore, it works perfectly for a haiku form. 

My very own haiku!

Ko n ni chi wa (hello)

Mat tt cha ga su ki yo (I like matcha)

O n ga ku mo (music too)

Not the best of my works, but surely a good start!   :)

^ Half Way There ^

I have reached the one month mark of my Japan student teaching.  Strange.  Wait.  What?

I'd like to reflect on the brass band club a bit... it is very, very, student led.

(again, Shinonome only, NOT all Japanese schools)

First week- I tried to walk around the school and help different sections.  They only have full ensemble two to three times a month.  Every day after school, the brass band club members practice in sectionals.  The sections that accepted my help were clarinets, flutes and oboes, and trumpets.  Euphoniums did not want my help, and in fact, asked me to go away.  Tubas and contrabass have hidden themselves from me as well.  Percussion, of course, welcomed me and we had a blast.

Second week- I was able to observe one of their full ensembles and also a group meeting.  One of the students went to Disney and came back with Snoopy cookies as souvenirs for the entire band.  These kids are GREAT.  Playing music for the sake of music, and many of them love classical music.  Pieces they're working on: Pirates of the Caribbean, African Symphony, and an abstract piece by a Japanese composer. 

Third week- The trumpets and I are bonding and I taught them some fun breathing exercises.  The percussion were struggling with watching the conductor for new times, so I conducted them in a sectional.  Every now and then I go and just play on the drum set for fun.  It's nice that I can still practice percussion and piano like once/twice a week.  I also helped with clarinet by keeping time and working with the Eb clarinetist.

Fourth week- I conducted Pirates!  The music teacher gave me 20 minutes to rehearse them.  There is no warm up procedure because they all tune before the start of rehearsal.  Since this is not a class, there is no assessment or grade.  However, it was just fun.  I was finally able to use short Japanese words and a lot of gestures. 

Observation
1- Teaching music in a foreign language requires a lot of singing, acting, and conducting
2- Teaching oboe is WAY harder when you can't communicate more complicated concepts
3- Greetings are so important, a good greeting will make a great rehearsal
4- Learning short words like loud, soft, fast, slow, section names, and measure is VERY important.
5- Enjoying yourself is important because students are the same everywhere, even in Japan.

Conducting Pirates was pretty amazing.
They were NOT the stereotypical perfect-pitched and balanced band that everyone thinks Japan has.  Instead, I still had to talk about air, phrasing, balance, articulation, tempo, attacks, and releases. 
Problems I encounter are no different here.