Kugahara Elementary

I can't decide if I should call this the best day ever, or just the best day so far. I know that there will be other days to rival this one, but its going to be a pretty hard one to beat. I mean, you spend a day entertaining Japanese third graders and see if you can get away without having an incredible day.

Kugahara Elementary School was a pretty long trip from Sophia University, and so by the time we actually got there (after taking like three different train lines and then walking half an hour) our entire group was pretty tired and a little cranky. But even just taking a tour of the school, we started to get some energy off the chaotic (entirely chaotic) nature of the kids in the classrooms. It's not hard to see the differences in education between the Japanese and American systems. I say chaotic and I mean chaotic. The teachers don't really bother keeping the class quiet. The kids seemed like they could mostly control themselves--when they wanted to of course--but the fact that we were there seemed to give them less desire to. Kids screamed things at us as we passed, tried to grab us into their classrooms, and in general made the rest of us "gaijin" feel like pets. They had an assembly in which we were all introduced, complete with singing and formal introductions in both Japanese and English. I couldn't help it; I just had to take a video of them singing to us (see bottom of the page).

We had each been split into pairs and given to a particular classroom, one of six grades for which there were each four classes. I was given over to a third grade class of eight-year-olds who seemed to think that I was the most interesting thing they had ever seen. Even sitting there while they learned kanji they would randomly turn around and start talking to me as though I had some idea what they were saying. And if I didn't understand quick enough, they would just repeat it faster and try gesturing things at me until I tried to say something back to them. And the teacher didn't seem to care. She simply let them go on while she was writing things on the chalkboard and pretending she didn't hear them. Definitely not the way things worked at my Catholic school, I can tell you that. Finally, the teacher asked my partner and I to stand up and introduce ourselves to the class, in Japanese if we could.

Now I was facing a group of eight-year-olds, who had more kanji knowledge that I did, who spoke Japanese better than I did, and with a whole lot more energy than I had (or thought I had). Immediately one of the little boys starts yelling at me "Look at her; she's cute!" I started laughing and had a hard time getting out my name and where I was from, let me tell you. The same little boy would later run up to me and ask me to autograph his notebook. The girls immediately clung to me--especially Misato-chan--absolutely loved me. They all clapped when I told them I was twenty years old, and laughed when we found out that I'm shorter than their teacher Aki-sensei. Yuki-kun (the boy who asked me to sign his notebook) grabbed me and pulled me towards his group for lunch, where I spent a very awkward hour trying to understand their questions and play their games. They didn't seem at all put off that I didn't understand most of their language, but instead they worked doubly hard to find common signs and descriptions that we both understood. Lunch was an interesting experience, especially the way that it was served. Someone from the school administration brings a cart with all the food in big bowls, and then a predesignated group of kids serves the entire class wearing these adorable chef's hats and coats. They eat in their classrooms, and then when everyone is finished they scrape out all their food in the appropriate receptacles and push the cart back to the kitchen. This is all done without the supervision of the teacher, who instead spends the lunch hour grading kanji homework and doing the days attendance charts. After everything was put up (I scraped my own bowl) the girls grabbed both my hands and ran me down the stairs outside for after-lunch recess.

I spent then next hour playing tag with every little girl in my third grade class. I was it first, and spent a good twenty minutes just chasing them for fun, since I remember that its always more fun to be chased than to do the chasing. After about ten minutes I realized exactly how disgustingly hot it was outside and how much I sweat when I run around in jeans. So I spent the next twenty minutes trying to catch one of my third graders because I was so hot and tired I thought I was going to die on the playground. I definitely didn't remember that little kids were so quick.... So after about thirty minutes of this, we moved the game to the jungle gym and I awed them all with my ability to walk on the bars unsupported.

Needless to say (at least for all those who are familiar with my families genes), my face was about as red as a tomato by the time we finished running around. Which of course attracted quite a few stares as we walked back inside. I had to assure the teacher several times that I was sure that I wasn't going to faint or pass out, and that I was just a little tired. Afterwards, Oleg (my partner) and I played charades for the kids and taught them some English words like "elephant" and "fishing". They in turn taught us two games: Fruits Basket and something for which I don't know the English translation. Fruits Basket was fun: everyone divides into fruit groups, and then everyone but one person gets in a circle of chairs around the person who has been designated leader. The leader calls out a fruit (orange, strawberry, etc) and whoever is in that group must get up and change seats, including the leader standing in the middle. And then the leader can call out "Fruits Basket" and everyone has to get up and change chairs. Something like musical chairs, with fruits. The other game was a little like "Red Rover", with the class split into two teams and holding hands across the room from one another. There's some chanting, a lot of moving back and forth, and then two people from each side are selected to engage in the Japanese version of "rock paper scissors", with the loser being added to the winners team. Of course, since Oleg and I were such a big deal, we both moved back and forth several times.

At the end of the day, I was completely exhausted, but I have never had a more exciting day in Japan. The kids were amazing, and the teachers and administrators enjoyed us so much that they begged us to come back again. I'm pretty sure that none one really wanted to go home, but most of us have agreed that we are going to try to make it back for their sports day festival in a couple weeks. The kids were just amazing, and I think they had almost as much fun learning English as we did Japanese. Who better to teach Japanese to foreigners than kids who are in the process of learning it themselves?

As always, got a few pics posted here. Enjoy!


Also, please enjoy this video of the entire school singing to us. The song should sound familiar....