Preparations for New Students and Opening Week

*Due to Interac policy, I am not at liberty to mention the names of schools, teachers, or students at my work locations on social network sites or blogs. Instead, I will try to think of a nickname system, but I have 3 middle and 3 elementary schools, so things might get a little confusing. To keep things sorted, I'll try to also keep the stories well sorted, but please bear with me.*

Interac gave us a week to situate our basic needs and gather items for our apartments. We were also taken to all of our middle schools and met with the principals and English teachers the Friday before school started. This was helpful in feeling more comfortable with the lunch plans for the first week and also ensured that we had been to the school at least once (don't want to get lost and be late on the first day). During my first working week here, I was not actually "working". No classes, no lesson plans, and no worksheets. Instead, I spoke with the teachers, organized my desk, and.....well, was pretty bored! I wanted to explore the school more, so I made a point of asking for a map, but the vice principal or another teacher usually offered to escort me around and explain the kanji written above each classroom. Besides that, though, I was left to sit in the teachers' room and help myself to the all-you-can-drink-coffee/tea corner. Soooooo bored!!

Why couldn't I teach or go into the classes? Because there were no classes. The older students at the middle schools were getting prepared for the new students! The 6th graders had just graduated elementary school and were coming for the entrance ceremony soon (now as big and important 1st years). There were halls and rooms to clean, boards to decorate, signs to paint, and the gym to ready for the ceremony. Students were busy getting ready for their new friends.

Most schools had planters full of flowers in the entrance area to protect them from the stormy winds that were coming that week. There were also special flower arrangements brought in to decorate the gym (later we used those flowers in the school entrance and teachers' room). Helping with some of the decorating was a good way for me to get out from behind the desk, but the teachers insisted that I sit back and relax and have more tea. So much tea (>.<)

Opening Ceremony!!

For the actual opening ceremony, I was scheduled to be at my largest and most serious middle school. Pomp and circumstance might bore some people, but I love the organization and precision of it all. When it comes to kids in ceremonies, few people understand how difficult that sort of event is to pull off. The Japanese are even more strict about proper decorum at these sort of functions, so I was excited to see how the students would do. I was told before going to Japan not to wear black because it was too formal and serious, but I brought a few black things just in case. Lucky thing that I did because this school asked that I wear ALL black to the ceremony. They also asked that I prepare a brief self introduction in English and Japanese as all the teachers would be introducing themselves to the first years and their parents at that time. It all went over well, and people were relieved when I got to the Japanese portion of my intro. Most of the students think that I had just memorized it for that day, but some started to think that maybe I knew more than I was letting on. I think that the first years were so preoccupied with knowing when to stand, when to bow, how to walk, and when to respond that they weren't paying much attention to us. They were so nervous that it was adorable! Some of them had to make special speeches at the microphone, and you could see them talking themselves through the steps on how to properly walk up to the microphone and whom to bow to before beginning. One of the boys received a present on behalf of his class from the PTA president, but he was so nervous about leaving that he forgot it under his chair! One of the other boys grabbed it for him, though. Nice teamwork, first years!

The rest of the day was spent getting to know the other members of their class and their homeroom teachers. We all had special bento lunch boxes, too! They were delicious, but contained some particularly Japanese food. The other teachers kept watching to see if I could use chopsticks (but I had brought my own, so that put them at ease) and if I could eat all the different foods (I polished off everything except the pickled plum seed). Surprising as it may seem, finishing one's lunch is actually a point of concern in elementary schools. During parent-teacher conferences, teachers will report on whether a student was able to eat everything. Elementary children take pride in saying things like 「好きじゃないものがない」 or "There isn't anything that I don't like."

One of the teachers made three different cakes for us. I loved the
chocolate one the most. It was almost like American cake!

Double negative. Take a minute to think if you need to, but try not to hurt yourself.

So after I finished my lunch, the teachers spent about 40 minutes praising my ability to finish it in enough time and to eat so many types of food. A little much? Maybe, but they were trying to make conversation and make me feel special, so I happily but modestly accepted their compliments.

For the rest of the week after the entrance ceremony, there were many announcements and assemblies so that everyone could learn or be reminded of school policy and club activities, and have meet-and-greets. My smallest middle school assembled all 49 of their students in the gym so that the sport teams could introduce themselves to the 10 new students. There were 4 clubs at that school (as compared to the nearly 10 clubs at my largest school) and the table tennis club only had 2 members. So cute :) But even though there were so few people, they were still nervous to speak in front of the crowd. Afterwords, they organized a dodgeball match to welcome the new kids. The entire school split into two teams, with different grades on both teams. They reviewed the rules, set up boundaries  and then commenced the most organized and polite game of dodgeball that I have ever witnessed. It was quite the spectacle, but they seemed to love it, so mission accomplished. The only time the rules were broken was when the first year special ed boy was hit. To keep him from getting upset and let him still throw the ball (his favorite thing), the third year boys told him to stay in the game and they went out instead. AAAWWWWW!!! So sweet!!

Sorry, but I don't use my camera much outside of the teacher's room, so I don't have photos of the school or students. Just use your imagination! Or come visit me :)