Influenza (H1N1) at Isurugi Elementary school

Me in the staff room at Isurugi Elementary school

Last week the school was shut due to the fact that 20 of my 6th grade pupils (and pupils from every other grade) were off sick with a new type of the H1N1 influenza that is sweeping the country. So I came into school but only the teachers were in. We were all told to wear masks as a preventive measure. For some reason they seem to look normal on the Japanese but I think I look ridiculous. At least I only have to wear it at school.

We also have to disinfect our hands with this spray that they’ve left at the entrance as well as gurgle our mouths with water after teaching each lesson. Scary stuff but I'm glad they're taking these measures as this thing spreads so fast. On Friday there were 6 pupils and by Monday there were 20...

Just having a quick read on the net and apparently the Japanese (who else?!) have come up with the first anti swine flu suit, check this link out http://www.psfk.com/2009/10/japanese-suit-to-protect-against-swine-flu.html

Brilliant.

Sports Day at Isurugi Elementary, Oyabe City

Last week was sports day (undo kai) at Isurgi Elementary. If I recall correctly our sports day was on the back lawn of Brampton Abbotts village hall, about 60 kids in total, all lining up to compete in egg & spoon, three legged and the sack race. Mum?

Boy, this couldn’t be more different. Parents, grandparents , aunties & uncles arrive in hoards armed with picnic hampers, blankets, umbrellas for the shade and their professional Nikon D60’s (come on, they’re Japanese!)

The day (yes an entire day devoted to the event) kicks off at 9am with 500 kids in total dancing with military precision to a welcome tune on the gigantic sand racing track in front of the school. This is followed by singing the school anthem whilst flags representing Japan, Oyabe City and the school logo are hoisted up. The important people of Oyabe (I’m presuming) all line up and a lot of bowing goes on. All so formal! See piccie above.

Races ranged from the run of the mill 100m, tug of war (Japan name), obstacle courses to this battle game (Japanese name) where 3 pupils carry a 4th pupil (I’ll call him the king) on their shoulders.



The aim of the battle was to knock the cap off the opponent king and cross the line. It was hilarious to watch and by far the most exciting thing I watched all day.




Pupils' pre-exercise warm up video


The whole day was orchestrated to perfection. How? Because they’ve been rehearsing the songs, marches, races, flag hoisting for weeks on end. When I was arriving at school at 8am, they’re already all out there on the track. Poor little mites!! It seems to be the done thing here in Japan. At 6.30am when I’m walking to the train station I pass little elementary kids on their way to school, yes THAT early. No wonder all the high school kids fall asleep on the train and in the classroom. Their schedules are intensive, early starts, after school clubs or juku (cram schools to learn English) and more clubs at the weekend. Hard, long days.

Anyway, I’m digressing. Great day out. I was even involved in one of the obstacle races, having to play janken (scissors, paper, stone) with the 2nd graders. Fun, fun, fun and took me back..!
Me playing Janken in video below (with my really poor "Saisho wa guu jankenpon" Japanese lingo)

ALT Teaching: My first lesson

OK here I am in my first lesson to my cute little 2nd graders at Isurugi Elementary. I'd done this lesson so many times that I asked my assistant to film it. The other adult in the room is the homeroom teacher.
I start off with a drill of Hello/Goodbye, Yes/No and High/Low. I split the class up, one half had to stand up and say hello, the other half had to say goodbye with gestures. We then did it to the Beatles song “Hello” (with a lot of help from me!) The kids seemed to enjoy it. Good bit of exercise for Jessie too!



After passing a beach ball about the class asking “what’s your name” and the catcher responding “My name is”… I put the class into teams. The first person in each line had to run up to me and say their name, run back to their line and the next person did the same thing until everyone in the line had introduced themselves. You can see some of the game in the video below. Tip: you might want to wash your hands after shaking 40 very sweaty, snotty fingered ones...



They are really genki (upbeat, fun) at this age and seem to soak up the language better than my 6th graders!
I have done this class to 1st-6th graders making small adjustments (i.e making it easier for the younger ones) In one 4th grade class, I was demonstrating the game with one of the lines. One little girl comes up to me and I say “Hello, what’s your name?” She didn’t really answer back so I said again (and a bit louder) to her and gesturing to the class “What’s your name?” Again she didn’t respond. I then said “I can’t hear you” with a hand to my ear gesture. At this point the teacher runs over and says no shaking her head, she’s deaf, she can’t speak. As you can imagine I was mortified!!

ALT Lesson Plans: Lesson 4, Human Alphabet

For anyone who is following the EIGO note curriculum you will, like me, have realised that 8 hours spent on upper and lowercase alphabet is overkill for the little mites so one of the lessons I decided to have a bit of fun in the gym with the pupils.

We kicked off the game playing the Harry Potter game suggested on Genki English for practicing our “How are you’s” which the kids absolutely loved. (of course they all wanted to be Voldemorts) My co-ordinator at school is keen for me to drill them practice dates, weather and how are yous as well as Eigo Note so sometimes a lot to cram into a 45 min lesson!
I then put them into groups with both upper and lowercase alphabet cards mixed up. The first group to finish putting them in order won. They seemed to do this with ease.


I then had them in groups of 4 to do the Human Alphabet. Ahh so much fun! And easy for me, I just shouted out a letter and they had to get into the shape of that letter. I actually had them spell out HELLO so I can print the pictures and stick them on our English board.


Here's our first attempt at a HELLO message:

Isurgui Elementary 1st Year Initation Ceremony

Yesterday I was called from the staff room to attend a welcome ceremony for the new first years (yes the really really cute 6 yr olds who have just joined) Basically this means the 2nd to 6th graders perform for the newcomers and welcome them to their new school, a really sweet idea since Isurugi is soooo massive even I'm scared of getting lost down a corridor.





The performance started with the 6th graders coming in hand in hand with the little 1st years. I can't upload the bloody video as it's too big. Damn! I've posted the little mites bowing instead and saying thank you.
I got quite emotional as I thought about Tegan on her first day. (I'm sure nothing like this)
The show kicked off with a song on recorders performed by the 3rd graders, a dance by the whole school, a quiz from the 4th graders and another performance I can't actually remember but it was all really WOW especially at there's about 500 kids at Isurugi and orchestrating something on this level must have taken such a huge amount of work.

One thing that I still can't get used to is the noise! Kids screaming, shouting, running everywhere. I'm used to my laptop and 4 walls! See kids in corridor below