Thursday, October 12, 2006
This was a fun day. We spent the day at Soka Junior High School, and it was very enjoyable. We started by being able to see the kids come to school. In the entry area are huge "cubbies" for their shoes. Their outside shoes come off and the inside shoes come on. Their inside shoes were sneakers, but ones that never go outside. It's a lot of taking shoes off and on. The next thing the kids do is clean! As in the high schools, all the cleaning is done by the students. They were down on the their hands and knees scrubbing the floor. They clean the toilets....they do it all! I think the 6th graders in my class should start adopting this policy.

Anyway, I really enjoyed the morning part of this day because we got to walk around and visit any of the classes that we wanted. So, let me give you a brief run-down. We saw many classes that were very hands-on. These included art, home-economics (sewing, cooking, etc.), woodworking, and calligraphy. I found it interesting that these were included in the regular school day at the junior high level because at the high school level all of those types of things are after-school clubs. We also got to observe music class and listen to the choir sing. This was very pleasant and the kids did so well. We also got to see the table tennis class in action (this is ping pong). There was an entire class devoted just to table tennis, and the kids were very good at it. Jeff actually played against some of the girls and they gave him a run for his money. The gym at this school was brand new and it was beautiful. The school also has a swimming pool, the biggest one in Soka.

One of my favorite experiences in class was the English class. Kids start to learn English in 7th grade, and that was the class we sat in on. The teacher was great. She spoke English beautifully. The kids' pronunciation was very good, but it was easy to tell that their understanding of what they were saying was very limited. We got to help the kids practice, though. Another thing the teacher did was to have them work on learning songs in English. They sang "All My Lovin' " by the Beatles and we sang along, too. The kids loved it. I had a lot of fun in this class.

Lunch was also an interesting experience. The kids eat in their classrooms and the kids serve the food. It was amazing, but it worked so well. The kids knew exactly what to do and how to clean up at the end. We had rice, of course, and some other things including cuttlefish. I'm not really sure what that is and I don't want to know. But, I ate it. I'm getting pretty good with my chopsticks.

The afternoon was spent in a question and answer time with the principal and staff. After that, things REALLY got exciting. We got to observe the after-school clubs. Every student participates in an after school club. First, we got to see the sumo club in action. Yes, they wore the outfits. They showed us some of the moves and how they have a match and then three of our male group members gave it a try. They wore the outfits, too, but on top of their clothes. The guys from our group really gave it their best shot, but I think the sumo kids could've whupped them in a heartbeat. This was great...a highlight of the trip.

The next club I saw was kendo. I had never seen this before. The kids wear all this protective gear and they have wooden swords. They go through a series of moves where they are hitting each other on the heads and shoulders with the swords. It was unbelievable! I know the 6th graders will love watching the video I shot of the kids doing this. I'm sure many of you would love to try kendo. I thought of you the whole time I was watching.

In the evening, I treated myself to two American standards...Starbucks and KFC. Mmmm, mmmm, mmmm. They hit the spot. Tomorrow during the day we go to an elementary school and then in the evening, if all goes well, we're going to Tokyo Disneyland.