スポーツ Day Cometh!

So far, it’s been an interesting week. 

Monday and Tuesday I was at や and the rest of this week, I’m working with  輪students. As I mentioned, や is a great school, (okay, they’re all great schools in their own right) but the students are sometimes a little shy. There is one class in particular, though, that is super “genki:” spirited, energetic, happy.

With only three first year boys in the little room, there’s a lot of personal interaction…and a bit of side-tracking. But they’re all good kids, so the teacher and I let it slide a little. On Monday, they were learning self-introductions, so my lesson plan revolved around giving them little cards, markers and stickers and letting them make their own “meishi” or business cards. I made a few models and then let them go ape-shit with their own! When they finished/class was just about over, the students practiced trading cards with each other and saying

 “Hi! I’m ___. I’m a student.” 

At the end, I gave them each a couple more cards and asked them to practice and trade again.

Later that day, I was in the teacher’s room prepping for the next lesson. I heard the door slide open, a couple of high voices excusing themselves for interrupting…then “Ma-ta Sensei.” Two of the boys approached my desk and to my joy delivered their introductions and wanted to trade meishi with me! I was so proud of them and happy that they were that willing to use English…outside of the classroom! That’s the significant part, I think: they wanted to communicate in the language I’m teaching them!

Tuesday was a bit of a challenge. I had a “Special Education” class first thing in the morning. All I knew was I’d be teaching the class how to use past progressive:

“She was running in the park.”

“He was reading a book.”

My lesson revolved around this, and I wanted the students to make a simple manga about their Golden Week. I modeled a simple manga on a paper: the paper was folded in half and on one half I wrote, “I went to Morioka” and drew a picture of the Morioka streets; on the other half, “I was shopping with friends” with accompanying picture.

Simple, no? Ha. That’s cute.

 

First class of the day….one girl. One non-verbal girl, or at least she’s very quiet. 50 minutes, and go! I’m pretty sure it was obvious how off-guard I felt. I was a little all over the place for a few minutes, just reading, trying to elicit a response…I was at a complete loss trying to get her to communicate with me. Finally, as a hail mary, I just introduced the manga exercise and walked her through what I wanted her to do. I was a slow start. Very slow. But the sensei helped me explain that I just wanted her to write “I went to ___” and “I was ___ing.” It was a long few minutes while she wrote and drew the first part.

Then, a miracle.

I asked her what she did during Golden Week.

“Study.”

“Oh,” I said. “You studied.” I wrote “I was…” and read it, leaving a short pause at the end before I suddenly heard her say…

“…I was studying.”

I literally cheered! I turned around to look at her and say the sensei nodding in the corner of the room! She talked to me! She used English! We wrote the sentence together and I decided to push her while we were on a roll.

“What were you studying?”

“I was studying science.”

I’m not going to lie, I was laughing I was so happy and relieved that she was getting something out of this mess of a lesson! So I walked away from that one alive and actually feeling well. Phew! I can breathe again!

Today, I was started mｙ輪stay. My schedule is a little different: today I had classes, but for the next two days, the students are practicing for their Sports Day which is this Saturday. So Thursday and Friday are devoted entirely to practicing games, events, dances and the like. You know what that means?

No skirts! No pumps! No rules! Well, let’s not get crazy. This is Japan, after all. But I do get to relax my wardrobe a little. I won’t be as coordinated as the students or some of the teachers in their matching track suits. There is a huge culture based on uniforms and wearing the proper thing for certain activities. In this case, track suits. Oh my lord, track suits. And Adidas! I have no idea why Adidas is so freaking big in Japan, but they love it! I was invited to an Adidas-themed party a few weeks ago…it is exactly what it sounds like. Right now, however, I can’t afford the full ensemble, so I’ll be rag-tagging it with bits and pieces from my novice work-out wardrobe.

Oh what? Yeah. By the way, I run now. Those who know me well have heard me say “If I was meant to run, I would have been born a gazelle” or something to that effect. Reading between the lines: “Me lazy. Me no run.” But now, I’ve discovered that running is not only a great excuse for exploring Kitakami and getting some stress relief after a long day at school, but now I can nomz my way through the dessert case at the Sakurano bakery guilt-free! Running is my committed relationship, but I have a love triangle with my soul mates, Sugar and Butter, on the side.

So the meat before my pudding was teaching a few classes today. Totally worthwhile for the student/teacher interaction time.

During lunch, I got to eat with one of the first year classes. It’s all very formulaic: the students organize their desks into “han” or lunch groups, serve each other from large metal cans and then two students fetch the teacher. Today, two students came for me and in English asked if I was ready to eat with their class. They then take my lunch tray from me and ceremoniously carry it through the hall: one student actually took my soup bowl by itself while the other carried everything else. I paraded behind with my hashi in hand.

In the classroom, there was suddenly a little confusion: where would I sit? The guest always eats with one of the groups, but nobody had decided whose group it would be. Then, the sensei announced a Janken (rock, paper, scissors) match would decide it. You’d be amazed at how many discrepancies end with a game of Janken. The winning student’s group took my tray and a spare desk and urged me to sit. At least they were happy to see me!

And then it got interesting. My group’s tables were actually butted up against the sensei’s desk so we were each at opposing ends, awkwardly facing each other. Lunch went on as normal, beginning with the customary prayer when everyone puts their hands together, shouts “Itadakimasu” (roughly, “I receive”) and begins chowing down. Small talk…small talk…small talk…

“Marta sensei, how. Old. Are. You?” asked one girl.

I played the “How old is Marta game” with them.

“Oh! 25! 27! 48! 21! 22!”

Mistake #1. “I am 22.”

Then they asked the sensei.

“24.”

Suddenly, the six pairs of eyes around me got very, very big. The same girl looked at me:

“Marry? You marry?” She meant “You are married?”

Mistake #2. “No, I am not married.”

The very, very big eyes all but popped out of their little heads. Suddenly, everyone was pointing at me and the sensei and yammering in Japanese. I couldn’t help but laugh, they’re so sweet but hardly innocent. I shouldn’t have fallen into that trap, but it was nice to be included. In a couple of the other schools, the students are either to nervous or shy to talk to me and either eat quietly or just talk to each other. This was much more lively, and I loved it!

It’s been a good week so far, if a little unusual here and there. Tomorrow and Friday, I’ll watch Sports Day practice and eat with other first year classes. A little bit of Japanese culture seeps into my life day by day. I can’t wait to see how far it goes!