What really sunk home for me is that we are recruiting for next year. Having our daughter Helene and her boyfriend Eric visit really helped us see that yes, we HAVE been here a year. We are comfortable with our world here, we are able to muddle along in Japanese to actually have a general sense of what is happening and we are able to share our world comfortably with guests.
At work the year really sinks home for me as I have been working very hard at recruiting students for next year. Most Saturdays in the last month have been taken up with a very complex system of high stakes entrance exams that create a lot of stress for all involved. These exams are a necessary part of life here in Japan as students and schools decide who to select for next year. Once they pass our exam they get a certificate. And then they decide whether they want to select our school subject what schools they have tried out for. It seems that this is a society that is quite hesitant about anything new. We just found out yesterday it looks like we have 16 kids for grade 10 next year. Up by one!
Our students have made amazing progress in their understanding of English and their ability to use it in many different contexts.
They have been working on the scaling system through microscopes in biology....
And describing the difference between Nuclear fission and Nuclear fusion (to be presented as an art poster)
It is particularly gratifying to see the girls becoming comfortable enough with presentations to be creative and have a little fun.
And then there is the more traditional approach..
One of our big goals this year was to give them the confidence to speak and present in English in front of a group...
It has been particularly gratifying to see how the girls are now relaxed and using their English spontaneously in humorous and fun ways.
The girls were extremely proud of the major improvement they saw in their English Language Assessment, a national test designed for Japanese students to test their English levels. All students scored within the top percentile of the results.
Our students have finished their grade 10 while the main school celebrates the graduation of another class of well prepared students heading on to the academically challenging world of universities in Japan.
During this whole year I have greatly valued the support of Shelley who has been my confidant and a very grounded loving ear to help me think through some of the challenges. Here's the team:
We also continue to learn about the Japanese festivals and traditions as the year rolls on.
Setsubun, a festival for children and students in which an adult in the family dresses up as a devil (oni) and the kids all throw beans at the Oni to chase away the old and bring in the fresh new for a fresh New Year. Here is more information about the celebration. Guess who go to be the Oni here at the Naginata Club celebration???
The school also celebrates Girls Day (Hina Matsuri), a day where families and schools pause to celebrate girls in their lives. This was a tradition started several hundred years ago to honour girls by setting up a display of the Emperor and Empress as well as the household. This has traditionally been a wish for a good marriage for the girl... but times are changing. Click here for more info.
Here's the one at our school being shown by Kumiko my bilingual assistant.
And here's the one at one of my co-teachers houses Masachi Nishida where we had a lovely dinner last night.
So the seasons change. I do not have to wear so many layers of warmth as I bicycle to school. The plum blossoms have burst forth though we are all waiting for the cherry blossoms at the beginning of April.
Our school year is wrapping up next week with exams in Japanese, then the big BC Provincial exams in April. We have hired three new staff for the next year grade 10 class as well as the soon to be grade 11 class.
Ah yes... time flies.
PS; I hope I have figured out the photograph issue this time. Please tell me if you are not seeing the photos.
Thanks for this "broad scope" description of your school endeavors, Dan -- a good base from which I'll learn more at closer range in not so very long. Congrats on the rounding out of your first year!
ReplyDeleteYes, all photos worked this time -- except the second one.
Arigato, Great to hear of your progress, one student at a time Setsubun, girls day, and the coming of spring. Steve
ReplyDelete