Easy Day

Today I am at Yabushou (Yabuzuka Shougakkou) and it is officially the easiest shougakkou day EVER. So, every ALT in Ota who teaches at shougakkou is in charge of making a culture board reflecting their home country or state's culture. Basically a big piece of cardboard with pictures and stuff on them. You're supposed to do them with your students, and they will all be displayed somewhere in Ota. So, during the next three shougakkou visits I am going to be working on the culture board. I use the term "working" loosely, as I dont have to do ANYTHING for the board and it is wonderful. A culture board lesson consists of me telling the kids what we're doing, passing out some pictures of Oregon, and walking around and saying "good job" about 7 million times (didn't think my "good job!" quota could possibly increase, but I was proven wrong today). It's like I have my own Oregon memorabilia-producing sweat shop! I dont even need a vitamin drink for this! I wish every week was culture board week!

At first I had no idea what to use to represent Oregon....pictures of microbreweries and marijuana, perhaps? So I just printed out pics of nature and sports things and shit. The kids are SO good at drawing, it is ridiculous. If I got assigned to do this I would be pissed, but they are all really talented, and the biggest perfectionists ever. They only have a postcard-sized piece of paper and have 45 minutes to draw and color. I thought that would be too much time and was worried about what to do with them for the remainder of the 45 minutes, but it isn't enough? Hell, I would draw a piece of crap in 10 seconds and sit at my desk for the rest of the lesson! Crazy Japanese kids.

So, kids don't officially learn the alphabet 'til chuugakkou, so 6nensei kids have trouble writing using Roman letters (is that what we call it in English?). They also don't know how to spell, as true English class doesn't start 'til chuu, either. This one kid didn't know how to spell "beaver" and he wanted to label his drawing....he was smart and looked at the printed URL at the bottom of the page that ended in "beaver.jpg" However, he didn't know where the word ended...so, on top of his beaver drawing, in big letters, was "BEAVER.JPG" Hee hee hee. I didn't want to be mean about it or ruin his confidence, but the Sensei took care of that for me by laughing at him, hehehe. Poor kid!

I do need to print out more pictures, tho, as I have about 20 maps of Oregon, 30 Donald Ducks (they were amazed that he is our U of O mascot), 30 Mt. Hoods, etc. Um, if any Oregonians have suggestions of what to have them draw, feel free to comment!

I have decided after I am done being an ALT, I want to take the most natural career move and be a vice principal of a shougakkou. The kyoto sensei (VP) here literally has NOTHING to do. He answers the phones, but not many people call shougakkous, apparently. So, his day consists of talking to other bored coworkers in the staffroom, folding bits of paper out of boredom, or, failing that, staring. Seriously, he just stares at his desk for like 30 minutes at a time. Usually the principal is the one who gets to do nothing, but apparently at shougakkou it's both! Sweeto, indeed!

Rather than start a new post, I will post about last night in this one. Last night some of us went to Grow Up in Tatebayashi for dinner. Mmmm, I love me some Grow Up, and we've gots to take advantage of it before it closes! It was good times with good people and good food (did I mention it was good?). On the way back we took the Ryomo line (nice-as, spensive line) back by sneaking on and not paying, muahahaha. It was the best idea ever, as it meant I didn't have to wait at Ota station for an hour for the last train. I have got to remember to do that more often!