Cold Schools and Fancy Meal

February 15, 2015

Let me begin by saying that Canadians are wimps about the cold (I know that’s a gross generalization).  I say this because we act like we’re all tough because we live in Canada and it can get down to -40 and we walk to school uphill both ways through a blizzard.  Of course, the only part of that that’s true is the -40 and we usually stay inside.  In Canada, I only occasionally wear long johns and I never wear thermal shirts.  Here in Japan, I’m wearing both every day.   As I mentioned before, they don’t have central heating in their homes or in the schools.  The schools are really what I want to talk about.  If the weather is 10 or higher the schools don’t put on the heat.  When I went to the elementary schools, I was freezing.  Being outside in the sun and riding my bike was fine.  Inside the schools, they leave the windows open to let in some fresh freezing cold air drafts.  I think they go by the idea that fresh air is good to fight against germs.  The teacher I was with, thankfully, would use the heaters during class, but then during recess turned them off and opened the windows.  Perhaps recognizing the puzzled look on my face, she explained, “We have to open the windows during recess because of the flu.”  Out with the germs, in with the cold, I guess.

Many of the heaters in the schools are broken and when the work, they aren’t able to heat up the classrooms all that well.  I found myself always standing in the sun or by the heater in the classroom when I wasn’t needed.  I definitely understood why Adam wears so many layers to school.  Essentially, the temperature inside is the temperature outside except colder because there’s no sun.  The kids don’t have to put on jackets to go outside, they just change their shoes.  I also haven’t seen anyone wear toques here.  So, Adam and I have decided that it’s really the Japanese who are tough about the cold.  I heard in Hokkaido, which is the northern part of Japan, that people use fridges to keep their vegetables from freezing inside their homes.  I’ve been using part of our home that we don’t heat as a fridge lately.

The second thing I would like to talk about is one of the fanciest meals I’ve ever eaten.  Last night, my boss invited Adam and I, along with the other two teachers of the school out for dinner.  We went to an Italian restaurant here in Tarui.  I guess there was a man in Tarui who owned some business, but the business went under and now the house he built was turned into this Italian restaurant.  It’s really beautiful with a garden around the house.

Garden view from the restaurant

 When we first got to the restaurant, someone took our coats and we sat in a waiting room until everyone arrived.  We were then led into a private room.  I won’t bother describing it, as Adam took some pictures.  We had a multiple course meal.  When they brought in each course they would explain what we were eating.  My co-workers would then explain in English what the food was.  It wasn’t what I would have expected in terms of Italian food, but it was oishii (delicious).

Appetizer

A dumpling type thing stuffed with cod, asparagus, and fiddle heads.

Clam pasta dish

Veal wrapped in cabbage.  Probably the most beef I've had in a while.

Dessert

School Visits

I’ve been much busier than usual the past couple weeks with going into the elementary schools to teach in the mornings.  Starting last week on Tuesday, I went to a different elementary school each day for seven days.  I got to visit all the elementary schools in Tarui which was a really cool experience. 

I first went to Aihara Elementary School.  I actually had to take a taxi there since it was “too” far to bike.  (I could have done it, but it probably would have taken 45 minutes.)  When I arrived, I had tea with the principal before going up into class.  This school only has sixty students, so they combined a few classes for my visit. 

At the beginning of each class, the English leader comes to the front of the class and says, “Let’s start English time!” which everyone repeats.  They then get everyone to stand up, ask the teachers how they are today, and finally sing a song.  The English leader will come to the front during different points in the lesson to introduce the next part.  This is adjusted to age level.  Adam has told me that in junior high school the students often will be starting the class or group study without the teacher in the room.  I’m thinking it’s because they teach them in elementary to be the leaders in the class. 

I appreciated their seating arrangement organization as well.  In the classes, all the desks are in rows facing the front.  When they transition into a new classroom, even one without desks, they all line up in their rows.  The person at the front of the row stands with their hand in the air until their whole group is there standing straight and quietly.  At that point, the person in the front will sit down and the whole group will follow.  It’s really cute to watch and a pretty efficient system.

The homeroom teacher is also in the room and the lesson is more team-taught than anything.  I really enjoyed getting to watch all the teachers and see their different styles of teaching.  One male teacher just went up to the front of the class and all the kids got quiet.  Another one was super exuberant and I really appreciated how into the actions of the song he was. 

After the song, I had about 10 minutes to talk about a topic.  The topics included: Christmas and my trip to Ishigaki Island, my daily routine, sports in Canada, Canadian festivals, elementary school in Canada, insects in Canada, and my dream.  While classrooms don’t have smartboards or projectors, the English teacher had a smart board to use in each school.  I made up powerpoints for my topics so that the kids could try and understand what I was talking about by looking at the pictures.  I also had the teacher translating for me.  One interesting thing that I was reflecting on was that I got to talk to the kids about Christmas and Easter as religious holidays.  When I was in France, I was told that I couldn’t let the crucifix that I wear show.  That’s in a country with a pretty strong Christian background.  In Japan, I went ahead and told all the kids that the reason we celebrate Christmas is because it’s Jesus’ birthday.  When talking about Easter, I told them how I go to church three days in a row (which is crazy for them since they maybe go to a temple once a year) to celebrate how Jesus died and rose again.  Now, I don’t know how much they got out of this, since many of them had never heard of Jesus or knew that Christmas was a religious holiday.  I don’t know if they had heard of Easter, but I know the English teacher didn’t know it was a religious holiday.  Also since all of this was being translated, I’m even less sure of what they heard.  I hope at least it’s a small introduction to Christianity, if not for the students, then for the teachers.  

After my ten minutes of fame, we would have some kind of activity or game to play.  For the little ones, we played a traditional Japanese game called Fukuwarai.  I taught the children the words, “eye”, “nose”, “mouth”, “up”, and “down”.  Then one partner covers their eyes while the other one hands them a paper copy of an eye and then tells them “up” or “down”.  Once all the face parts are placed, they open their eyes, and roll on the ground laughing.  I had to appreciate how something so simple can be so hilarious every time for six year olds. 

For the older kids many of the activities involved interview games.  They would learn a question like, “What subject do you like?” or “What time do you get up?” and then go around asking each other this question.  I really enjoyed this format as I got to interact with the kids in a way that they could understand me and I could understand them. 

At the end of each class, they do a “Today’s Treasure.”  This involves students standing up (they always stand up to respond to questions) and giving a mini speech on what they learned or liked during the class.  (Note: This is what I think it was, I actually could only understand the words Janelle-sensei when it came up occasionally.)  Then, I would give them some affirmations about what they did well that day which was then translated by the English teacher.  At the end, I gave out stickers to the kids.

Most of the students and teachers are wearing masks these days either because they are sick or they don’t want to get sick.  One class I was supposed to have got cancelled because of the flu, apparently 11 kids were absent, so fourth grade was closed.  I’m not sure why we couldn’t have done the lesson for the remaining 20 students.  The language barrier kept me from asking that question.

I got to see some of my students from ALS at their respective schools.  It was fun watching their surprise to see me out of the usual ALS environment.  I also got lots of stares in the hallways of the schools.  In general, I’ve either stopped being stared at or I’ve just gotten used to it, but these kids got wide-eyed looking at me.  That being said, I was in one class where there were a couple Portuguese students and another with some Middle Eastern students.  Of course though, I’m not even used to seeing white people, so I don’t blame them for staring.

Before leaving the school, I would always have to say good bye to the principal.  Which I didn’t realize the first day, until I was stopped from leaving the school.  At every school, I had to greet the principal and often the vice principal when I got there and when I left.  I got my fair share of bowing in that’s for sure!  At the second school, I went to, I was greeted even more courteously than at the others.  They had a sign that welcomed me to the school.  I didn’t realize this at first since the only thing in English on it was “Welcome to Fuchu School” my name was in katakana.  Once the vice principal came out to greet me and read my name off of it, I realized it was for me.  I was ushered into the office and served green tea.  I enjoyed trying to communicate with the administrators between the English they knew and the little Japanese that I know.  At recess, I had tea with the principal and had tea once more before I left. 

It was good for me to go into all these schools and see a little more of Japanese culture in the school environment.  All the schools except one had school uniforms.  While giving my presentations, I got to share about Canada, but I also got to ask the kids a bunch of questions about Japan and compare the similarities and differences.  Overall, I think it was not only good for the kids to meet a native English speaker, but for me to meet them too.

I apologize for the lack of pictures.  I didn't take any, but in every school they had a designated photographer who took pictures of this "special event".  I asked the English teacher what they were going to do with the pictures and she said they'll be in the school newsletters.  She also informed me that I will now be more famous than Adam in Tarui since I've gone to all the elementary schools.  I was kind of liking my lack of popularity to be honest.  :P