大江小学校, My first Shougakkou visit

First day of teaching job: middle school with (pre-)pubescent, slightly apathetic preteens who have to learn English according to strict textbook guidelines.  Little room for creativity on my part; no adorable children.

Second day of teaching, first day at a grade school: ERIK-SENSEI, ERIK-SENSEI COME PLAY WITH US HURRYYYYYYYY!!!!
...basically sums it up.

I was lucky enough to be able to visit Ooe Elementary school a few days before to talk with the 5/6 grade English teacher and talk about how the lessons would be planned out, so I wasn't too scared about teaching , even though it would be my first time leading a class (mostly) by myself.  Where as I have little to no freedom at the middle school, I've found out that I'm quite free in teaching 5/6 grade English (as long as I go over the material in their "textbooks" somewhat; which activities/games I use to cover that material is up to me) and completely free in teaching every other grade.  This was quite a shock for me, and I sorta was unprepared since I didn't know what they had already studied or what expectations there were of me, but after one made-up-on-the-spot 3/4 grade English lesson, I think I got the hang out it. Now I have much better not-made-up-on-the-spot lessons for 2-4 grade English that seems to be working out well so far.

Anyway, before I even stepped foot inside a classroom, my first interaction with the students (besides them coming down the hall and going 'EHHHH??!!!' as they look into the teachers' room, running back to their classrooms, bringing back 5 more students who then proceed to react in a similar fashion before running away) was at the school's end-of-summer swim meet.  Seeing this as a perfect interaction to introduce useful English ("GO _(person's name)" ) , I made poster cards with 'G,' 'O,' 'S,' 'W,' 'I,' 'M' etc. on them and handed them out to some of the students.  Before I knew it, even the adults were saying GOGOGOGOGOGO.   Point!

Terrifying part of swim meet: rather than having swimming races, the first and second graders had competitions to see who could hold their breath the longest.  This involved do the dead-man's float until only one person remained and the rest had given up and come up for air.  I wonder if this ever has gone badly at a Japanese elementary school swim meet...

Awesome part: making another (little) friend. It's happened at every elementary school I've gone to so far (which is only two, but it happened at the pre-school too): there will always be the one little boy who is super 元気 energetic, falls in love with you instantly, and begins to pull you around by the arm everywhere, wanting to show you everything, asking you about everything, etc.   The one at the pre-school was memorable because, after we played 'bowling' together with some play bricks and a ball, he lead me by the hand to the sink (right before lunch) and said (in Amakusa-dialect) "Erik you should wash your hands."  This was more endearing to me since it was the first time I understood someone use that specific grammar in Amakusa-dialect.  After standing next to me during lunch (which meant he was eye level with me when I was sitting), he lead me by the hand again and said "Erik you should say 'It was delicious' to the cook," and then he slid open the door to the kitchen.  This 元気 kid at Ooe just kept following me around, talking to me, and trying to do pull ups on my arm.

After the swim meet, I once again had a 'welcoming ceremony' in front of the entire school, where I once again gave my self-introduction 自己紹介 while wearing a business suite. This one went a little better since I knew what to expect, knew where to stand, knew when to stand, etc.  Afterwards, while I was trying to change back into normal clothes, it seemed like half the school was banging on the door of the room where I was changing saying 'ERIK-SENSEI hurry up! Play time is almost over! You have to come play with us!'  Coming out of the teachers' locker room I was dragged by about twelve pairs of tiny hands to the school yard where I ran around with them for a little while before the next period started.

Note about school lunch time: the kids who are assigned to bring the school lunches to the classrooms dress up in little white aprons, white hair-nets, and white face masks (is that what you call those things that doctors/dentists wear? my I should just say white scrubs...).  Very adorable and creepy at the same time.

Note about how I go to class: I never have to go to the classroom by myself at the appointed time.  Whenever I have to teach a class, one or two kids will come to the teachers' room and then escort me to the classroom, usually carrying whatever items/luggage/teaching materials I have with me at the time.  Being treated like royalty?  I could get used to this :)