First Day of School, Part 1

First Day of School

Yesterday (so Tuesday), I came to Wadomari Junior High School and met the teachers/staff. I also met the English Teacher I will be working with again (I met him for the first time in that first week I was in Okinoerabu when my supervisor took me around to visit all the teachers). Usually, I would work with two different English teachers at this school, BUT the other English teacher has recently been complaining of hip problems. So, just today, he left for Tokyo to be examined where the other teachers think he will end up getting hip surgery. If that happens, then the English Teacher I am working with right now (We’ll call him Mr. I) will be the only English teacher here.

Mr. I is a nice, energetic teacher. He just arrived in Erabu in April (prefectures regularly switch teachers around in the whole prefecture in the beginning of the school year). The school year technically starts in April, so he was switched down to Erabu from a city on the mainland (near the Ibuski sand baths!).

Anyways, we were talking about English classes and I mentioned that I was interested in starting an English club. He was really excited about having an English club and said he would talk to the principal about possibly starting one. He also let me know that on Wednesday (my first day of school), it would mostly be populated with Opening Ceremonies (starting off the second semester) and most likely no real classes. He said, though, that on Friday I would have my first English classes and he hoped I was excited!

Also, he said I was to give a short speech (in both English and Japanese) to the whole school tomorrow morning.

Opening Ceremony

So, today was the first day of second semester. I arrived at school at 8:30 (a little earlier than when school starts) and was instantly whisked away to the gymnasium where students were gathering for Opening Ceremonies. I had written a short speech mixing Japanese and English. Mr. I directed me to my seat and the ceremonies began shortly after. The principal came up and introduced me, but when he introduced me… he gave almost my whole speech! He mentioned where I was from, my age, where in America Ohio is located, my major at school, and that I had studied abroad before. So, as he was calling me up to speak, I had to quickly revise parts of my speech in my head. I think it went ok, you could have replaced the kids with crickets and the audience would have been much louder. The kids seem pretty genki (genki… means like excitable/healthy), but were deathly quiet during the ceremonies.

The ceremonies lasted for about an hour. After my speech a few awards were given out to students who had done well in sports across the prefecture and Japan. And then, four students gave speeches. After that, the principal gave a 30 minute speech on what he expects from the students and wishing them a fun and enjoyable year. After that, the music teacher came up and had the students sing a song. It may have been the island’s song, but I couldn’t recognize it, though I could understand some words. Then, the vice principal kept asking for teachers to talk. I guess they thought the ceremonies would run a little longer, so he just kept saying (in Japanese) “any other teachers want to talk?”. I’m telling you, things here are so much more relaxed… You would have thought they had planned this out more!

After the ceremonies finished, a few students came up to me and chatted. I asked how they were and most said they were sleepy. When I asked why, they said that they were up all night studying. Not sure how truthful that is, but I told them they were good students, but that it was too bad they were tired. They didn’t understand the phrase “too bad” so I explained it to them in Japanese. As I was walking out, I kept hearing them say “That’s too bad!”  it was pretty cute!

Also, I don’t think I mentioned this earlier, but the English Teacher admittedly said that his English is quite horrible. He said that he only uses English in his English classrooms and never speaks it at any other time. So, I think I may be teaching these kids a lot! I really am excited!

Right now, I’m back in the teacher’s room just chilling out because I have no classes today. So, I went through a book on Ohio that I brought with me, marking pages I can use and putting notes on how I can integrate them into lessons. It’s only about 10 am, so we’ll see what happens from here. Wish me luck!