Friday, October 13, 2006
For a Friday the 13th, this day was pretty good. We spent most of the day at an elementry school in Soka. We were there bright and early so that we could watch the kids as they got to school. This was great! The kids all wear matching yellow hats (this is so that they are easy to people to see), and they all have matching backpacks. Other than that, they don't have to wear uniforms. They were so cute as they came into the school grounds, and they were so excited to see twenty American teachers standing there greeting them.

They start the day with morning exercises. By this I mean that the whole school is out on the "playground" doing morning exercises together. Teachers, too! Music is playing and several older kids take turn leading up on a raised platform. The exercises included all kinds of stretching as well as jumping rope. Every child had their own jump rope. When all of this was done, they sang the school song, and then one of our teachers gave a speech of greeting. One of their students also gave a greeting. Then it was time to get to work.

The kids all went to their classes and we were able to walk around and observe as we wanted to. I visited every class. This school has almost 500 students in grades 1-6. The kids were excited about our visit and it showed. I got a kiss from a second grader, and one of our male teachers (who is bald) had kids rubbing his head. Several kids wanted to touch my hair. They were just fascinated. For awhile, we were giving autographs, too. The kids were mobbing us. It was like being a movie star. Finally, the principal made and annoucement over the PA system that the kids were not to ask us for autographs anymore. This was good because it was getting out of hand.

One part that I really enjoyed was watching the kids dig for sweet potatoes. The school has a garden area, and the first graders had planted sweet potatoes. Well, luckily for us, it was time to harvest, and we got to watch. Those little first graders were just going nuts digging up those sweet potatoes, and they were so excited when they finally got one out of the ground. Since we were there, they learned quickly that they could get their picture taken if they'd just dug up a sweet potato.

English was everywhere in this school. Every classroom was labeled with English words. There is an English teacher (an American) who works with all the classes. During lunch, songs with English lyrics were played. It was amazing. The principal told us later that this school has been specially designated to push English and teach it very aggressively at the elementary school level (just verbal and sight word recognition at this point). Data is going to be gathered as to how much of an impact this approach makes. It was amazing to see all this in action. For lunch I got to eat with a first grade class. They were so cute. Again, just as in Junior High, the kids eat in their classrooms. The food is brought in and served by the students. At the end, the students clean it up. They knew just what to do and were terrific at it. One little boy brought me my lunch tray. The kids were definitely watching to see what I'd eat and if I could use my chopsticks. I must have done it right because they weren't laughing at me.

For lunch we had rice (surprise, surprise) and some fish. It wasn't too bad. It was pretty small, though. I was really hungry by the end of the day. After we ate, I showed the teacher and kids my scrapbook. They loved it. They couldn't believe how big my house and yard were. They were also interested in how big the 6th graders look.

The afternoon was filled with meetings. We met with the principal and staff for questions and answers, and then we met with a panel of parents. It was very informative. I did learn that 6th graders in Japan seem to be just like 6th graders in the United States.

There were several things I really liked about this school. One was that student work was displayed everywhere. As soon as you walked in the door, there was student work. The building was colorful and cheerful. It looked like the kind of place where kids would want to go to school. The kids in the school were friendly and well behaved. They were so eager to learn. The staff really made us feel like we were welcome in the building. This was a great day and a model school. I was so impressed.

The evening consisted of FUN. Three of us, Jeff, Tracey, and I, went to Tokyo Disneyland. They sell an "After 6:00 p.m." ticket, so we went. I know, it's touristy and hokey, but it was also fun. As soon as we walked into the park, I was hit with the overwhelming smell of sugar. It was blissful! Especially to someone who's smelled nothing but rice and fish for 2 weeks. I ate a bunch of junk food, but it really hit the spot. No, I did not eat the octopus dumplings that were for sale at one restaurant. Tokoy Disneyland is just like Magic Kingdom in Florida. There are some differences, but for the most part, it's the same. Since we were there so late, we didn't get to ride much. We rode The Pirates of the Caribbean and Star Tours which is a Star Wars ride. Both of these rides were just like their American counterparts except that all the speaking was in Japanese. We also saw Mickey Mouse. We saw the fireworks and parts of two different parades. The whole park was decorated for Halloween, which is a fairly new holiday in Japan. It was just a really good time and it gave us a little slice of Americana, which is what we needed to help vault us through to the end of the trip.