![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ellienihonSo, I've been going to school since Monday. I've started to make friends with some of the staff, and I'm basically having fun. Shinooka is pretty relaxed. I teach the 3-6 graders, and starting next time, I'll be teaching some special needs classes and 1-2 graders. They have me doing a different grade each day. This is nice because I do the same lesson for each class. So far, it's been pretty easy, but yesterday was hard. I prepared an activity for the 6th graders that they just couldn't do. It was supposed to be a review lesson of things they've done before, but they didn't know most of it, and the variety was too much, so my first class just sucked. I had to change mid-stream, and if it hadn't been for my volunteer helper being experienced, it would have been much worse.
In Japanese schools, the kids eat lunch in their classrooms, and it's served by the students. I've been eating with the students each day. The menu switches around, with lots of rice, of course. Milk is always served, which I find a little strange with the rice. There is also always a hot soup of some sort. Today was Ramen, some fried stuff, and edamame (boiled soy beans). After lunch, the kids clean the school for 15 or 20 minutes. They go in their lunch groups of 5 or 6, and are assigned different rooms. I've also been joining in for that. It's different.
Oh, another interesting thing-- Everyone wears inside shoes at school. I have a pair of shoes I brought that have never been worn outside. The kids all have the same shoes, white slip-on shoes, kind of ked-like with elastic. And they have different shoes that they bring for going into the gym. It surprised me that there are covered walkways that we wear the inside shoes on to go from one building to another.
The music teacher and I have been talking. She's in kind of a similar position, in that she teaches all of the kids, but she actually gets to stay at the same school. She's only part time though. There's a baby grand in the music room, and I borrowed some music from her so I could play a little. She's asked me to join her for the 4th grade class she teaches during my free period tomorrow. We're going to sing a little duet for the kids. I'm looking forward to it.
There's other stuff that's been happening, but I need to go to bed. Oyasumi!
In Japanese schools, the kids eat lunch in their classrooms, and it's served by the students. I've been eating with the students each day. The menu switches around, with lots of rice, of course. Milk is always served, which I find a little strange with the rice. There is also always a hot soup of some sort. Today was Ramen, some fried stuff, and edamame (boiled soy beans). After lunch, the kids clean the school for 15 or 20 minutes. They go in their lunch groups of 5 or 6, and are assigned different rooms. I've also been joining in for that. It's different.
Oh, another interesting thing-- Everyone wears inside shoes at school. I have a pair of shoes I brought that have never been worn outside. The kids all have the same shoes, white slip-on shoes, kind of ked-like with elastic. And they have different shoes that they bring for going into the gym. It surprised me that there are covered walkways that we wear the inside shoes on to go from one building to another.
The music teacher and I have been talking. She's in kind of a similar position, in that she teaches all of the kids, but she actually gets to stay at the same school. She's only part time though. There's a baby grand in the music room, and I borrowed some music from her so I could play a little. She's asked me to join her for the 4th grade class she teaches during my free period tomorrow. We're going to sing a little duet for the kids. I'm looking forward to it.
There's other stuff that's been happening, but I need to go to bed. Oyasumi!
