October 24

Hi again. Today we visited Shimada City Daiichi Junior High School for the day. Let me tell you, we got the royal treatment! Once getting inside, we had to exchange our street shoes and wear slippers. Wearing slippers is the rule inside schools, homes and some businesses. Wearing shoes inside makes it very dirty. So, once we got on our slippers, we went to the gymnasium, to be greeted by the entire school, and a band that was amazing - made up of students grades 7-9. They placed us on the stage, and once again we went through introductions. I have mine memorized by now: Konnichiwa. Watashi wa Minnesota no Dilworth kara kimasta Kerri Westgard des. This school is up to date and environmentally friendly - it uses solar power to regulate the indoor pool.

Here I am in front of the art they made for us and the students all in nice rows. You can tell the girls by thier stripes, they sat in rows of girls and rows of boys.

We observed three periods of classes today, which last about one hour each. I checked out the social studies and the 7th grade (called first year middle schoolers). They were learning about the time between the Edo and Meiji periods, and when the Europeans came to open up trade. I wonder if that was coincidence or not? They had just talked about Commodore Perry the day before (students, who was Commodore Perry?). The class was completely in Japanese, but I could follow along as the teacher had photos on the wall, and wrote some dates down. I also watched a math class and art class, where they were learning calligraphy. In front of the principals office, was a gorgeous flower arrangement. I asked if something like this was here everyday, and they laughed and said no - only because we were visiting. There are some of those photos below. One thing to point out, these kids were not that much different than American kids in class, which totally blew me away. They asked me questions, we laughed when I could not pick up the last bit of salad with my chopsticks, and were surprised that I wore Crocs. I played a bit of volleyball with some girls in my dress, and they lined the city streets to wave us goodbye when we left. They were really practicing their farewells with "see you" :)

Here in Japan, students do not leave their classrooms to change subjects, teachers move between classes and the students stay with eachother all day. Students also eat lunch in their rooms! I ate something I thought was deep fried fish, come to find out it was fried squid! I never would have tried it if I knew it was squid, so I am glad I didn't know what it was at first. It didn't taste too bad. There was also delicious melon bread, a lightly sweet soft dough bread.

Each room had a balcony where students could go onto between classes and the doors to the hallway slid and they could hang out there. They don't have bells to signal a class change, rather they play soothing classical music instead! We should do that!!

After classes in Japanese, English, Science, Math, Social Studies, FACS and art, the students spend 2 hours in after school activities. Then many will go home for supper and then attend the "crammies" usually from 7-10 pm. I thought my days here were long...

*Students* : below you will find photos of various activities Japanese Jr. High kids participate in. Can you tell from the photos what they are? Some you may have to research a bit or look very closely. In addition to the ones shown below, there is after school band, choir and art. Students do not get bused to school - all of them walk (no bikes either). The principal told us one student walks about 2 hours to and from school each day. It costs about 10000 Yen a year to participate (like our activity fee). Figure out how much that is in U.S. dollars :) About 80% of students participate in afterschool activities. It is a goal of this school to increase the participation. The school motto follows the national governments goal of promoting "a wealth of heart and wealth of mind".

The activities below can be put under "E" for entertainment. You may have to click on the photos to get a larger view.

Well, that is about it for now. I have a very early morning. We are visiting a small, rural elementary school that has only 15 students and is in the mountains. Take care, and perhaps I will have time to get more photos uploaded!

bye bye...kw