Back to school

So, it's Tuesday, and the second official day of the term. School resumed yesterday, and I was so excited that I had to write about it last night even though I couldn't post until today! So, I've copied and pasted below what I wrote at home yesterday about my first day:

I just finished my first day of school! It was fantastic. Let me give you a run down:

School officially started at 8:35am, with the Opening Ceremony in the gym. I was given very specific instructions for my role in the ceremony—i.e., Number 1: stand at gymnasium door. Number 2: Enter gymnasium. Number 3: Walk to stage… And so on. In short, I was introduced by the principal in a very proper manner to the entire school (500 students and about 40 faculty), all who remained standing for the whole ceremony in very neat rows. It was a little military-esque, to be honest. But, I guess that’s Japan for you: very proper. After I was introduced by the principal, I had to give a self-introductory speech—in Japanese! All I did was read it off of a piece of paper (my speech had been translated into Japanese by my supervisor), but still, it was a little nerve-wracking! I made it through with only a few mistakes though, at which point I was very relieved to leave the stage and go stand in line with the rest of the teachers. The ceremony concluded after a few more speeches and introductions (the new student government, for instance), and then it was off to my first class!

At 9:35, Oral Communications, a class for 40 first-years (so many students!), began. I had prepared a self-introductory lesson, complete with a Power Point slideshow, a quiz, and an activity to help the students get to know me better. I think the class went well, but it was a little hard to tell, primarily because students in Japan do NOT respond when you ask them something! I went through my whole slideshow (very slowly and clearly, of course) and then explained the first set of instructions for the quiz; “Please make pairs with the person sitting next to you.” The response from the students? Blank stares and a complete lack of movement. I had been warned of this response (or lack thereof) in all of my orientations, so I wasn’t entirely surprised. However, it did make it difficult to judge if anything I had just said had been understood! Eventually, however, with my team-teacher’s prompting, the students made pairs and began working on their quizzes. Thankfully, it seems they did indeed understand my presentation and the quiz questions, because almost everyone got every question right! After the quiz, we moved on to the next activity: Interviewing Amanda! (Pretty self-explanatory from the title, but basically students worked in pairs to come up with at least two questions in English that they would like to ask me.) Many of the questions were the same, for instance, “What is your favorite Japanese food?” (answer: sashimi). However, there were the occasional unique ones, like “What is a good place to visit in Hawaii?,” and, of course, the question I had been warned about by many an older ALT: “Do you have boyfriend?” I had thought a lot about how I would answer this question, and I was prepared with my somewhat-witty response: “I have many, many boyfriends! Hundreds of boyfriends!” This is, of course, not an entirely accurate response, and in all honesty it felt a little weird lying about such an important aspect of my life. But, I got some laughs out of it, and avoided students knowing a little too much of my personal information.

So, that was Oral Communications, section 4. I went on to teach the same class for section 1 an hour later, and I will teach it twice more by the time this week is through. Then, thankfully, we will move on to more exciting topics than my autobiography, for instance, how to converse with a doctor in English and how to invite friends to a party. (Wheeee!)
I then ate lunch, and spent the remainder of the class day grading third-year English exams and writing responses on my “Interview Amanda” worksheets. Not the most stimulating activities, but at least the time passed quickly. Then, at 3:45, I was invited to join the school’s Tea Ceremony club—this turned out to be the highlight of my day! For this club, about 10 girls and their sensei meet every Monday in the school’s tatami room (tatami being woven bamboo mats that cover the floor) and practice the ancient Japanese art of making and serving green tea. I mostly just watched at first, as girls took turns mimicking their sensei in kneeling, elaborately folding their tea cloth and using it to ceremoniously wipe the tea cups and utensils, making the tea, serving the tea, and cleaning up the tea set. I had no idea it was such a detailed, beautiful process! It truly is a very impressive act. I went along with whatever the other girls did, using a small wooden spear to eat my mochi, accepting my tea and bowing with my head to the floor, etc. Then, the sensei asked me to try making tea! I was tickled, because secretly I thought it looked like a lot of fun! She led me through the process, and I tried my best to do everything just so. I think I did pretty well for a beginner, except for the outcome of my tea—apparently too strong, and not frothy enough. Oops. I felt bad for the girl who had to drink it. The girls also seemed to enjoy watching me try my hand at their art form; they even brought out a video camera to tape it! All in all it was great fun, and a really wonderful way to spend some time with the students outside of the classroom. I will definitely be attending again in the future!

By then, it was 5:15pm, and my day was over! It went by very quickly, and I’m excited for tomorrow! In addition to my Oral Communications class, I will teach two writing classes for second-year students. And, with any luck, maybe I’ll be invited to another club meeting!

For now, it’s time for dinner and some Desperate Housewives (the third disc of season two of Sex and the City was all rented out! How disappointing.). It’ll be leftovers tonight, as I made chicken curry last night—it was the first time I cooked meat here! And it actually tasted pretty good. Go me.

Mata ne,
Mandy

Back to Tuesday: today was good too; a little more hectic because I had 4 classes instead of 2. And tomorrow is my first real day at Takaoka Deaf School! Wish me luck!