Wednesday, October 11, 2006
Busy, busy, busy...that was my day. We spent the majority of the day at Soka Prefectural High School. This was an eye opening experience. First, let me say that the staff at the school was very gracious in hosting us for the day. Our presence totally disrupted any learning that was supposed to be taking place. They seemed to take it all in stride. Although, at the end of the day the Vice Principal said that we were "aggressive" so I'm not sure if that was a compliment or not. I think it was more of just an astute observation. Anyway, upon arrival we met with the principal and vice principals (there were two). Then they took us on a tour of the school. Whenever we came across the students, they were excited to see us. They were also shy. They can speak a little English, but they were very hesitant to ask us questions. Even when we told them they could, they were reluctant to do so.

Anyway, the school building was a fairly large building and there are 900 students there in three grades. The students are responsible for cleaning the school....there are no custodians. (Think about that, 6th graders!) All the students wear uniforms, although I was surprised at how short the girls' skirts were. They were a length that would not be appropriate at our school, that's for sure. The students are not allowed to color their hair, wear makeup or jewelry.

For the second part of the morning, I sat in on two classes. This totally set the students off their normal day, and I know I was quite a disruption. I think they were quite fascinated by the way I look, although they didn't ask me about it directly. I observed an "Introduction to Japanese Classics" class and the second one was a science class. Frankly, I was surprised at how poor the students' behavior was. They talked in class quite a bit and the teacher didn't correct them. Several students even fell asleep. There was a lot of behavior taking place that I would not put up with in my classes (my students probably know what I'm talking about here). In the science class they took a quiz. I noticed that many students did quite well, but some others did terrible. They then had some small molecular models that they were using in groups to try and understand the lesson better.

Lunch was in the school cafeteria. This was an experience, but fun. Several students sat by us and I showed them my little scrapbook while we ate. The pictures were helpful to bridge the language gap (go scrapbooking!).After lunch there was a lot of picture taking. The kids were sometimes shy about having their pictures taken but then othertimes they wanted to have their pictures taken with us. It was fun.

For the afternoon we met with the teachers and had some questions and answers. It sounds like they face some of the same problems that we do in the United States...decreased student performance, student behavior issues, and meeting the demands set forth by the government. I'd say one of the biggest differences I noticed was in teaching style. A lot of the classes seemed to be direct instruction from the teacher and then assessment is all done with tests. They don't seem to factor in projects as part of the grades. Classes are also quite large. The standard size is 40 students in a class. That is normal.

After school we got to observe two students clubs. One was the calligraphy club and the other was a tea ceremony club. We felt like old pros at the tea ceremony club. Yes, I drank another full cup of green tea in 3-5 swallows. I'm getting very good at this. The calligraphy club was very interesting. We got to watch as the students painted the traditional Japanese characters. I was amazed at how good the students were at this.

The evening was not without adventure. My friend Jeff almost paid $400 for a duffel bag. He realized at the cash register that he was confused on the price. Needless to say, he did not purchase the bag! Then about nine of us went to dinner at a place that also had karaoke. We had our own little room with a table. This table was the kind where you sat on a pillow (yes, our shoes were off) and there is a sunken space under the table for you to put your feet. We ordered all kinds of food. Several gals ordered squid (see the photoblog), but I didn't have any. After we ate, we sang karaoke. They had songs in English. Since we were in our own little room, we didn't have to worry about Japanese people laughing and staring. Although, if they could hear us, I'm sure they were laughing. We were very loud and sang very badly.