On Thursday, I visited Hatanodai Elementary School, a public school, where my old student from KG, Ryo, goes to school. I first took a taxi to Hatanodai and met Mie, Ryo's mom. We walked together to the school. Here I am at the front gate: I asked if I could take pictures without children's faces, but the principal asked that I not take any as she was very concerned about privacy. While it's a little disappointing that I don't have the visual reminder, I completely understand as my KG classroom blog is password protected for that very reason! That said, I'll try to do my best explaining. Here we go! When we entered the school, we immediately took off our shoes. There were what felt like hundreds of shoe cubbies! I put on my indoor shoes (thanks for the tip, Ms. Gannon and Ms. Russell!) and we headed inside. We first went to visit with the principal, who we spoke with for a few minutes. She set up a wonderful schedule for me, where I would visit two first grade classes, one second grade class, and then Ryo's fourth grade class where I would do a lesson. The school is grades 1 - 6, and has two classes per grade level. The classes could have anywhere from 25 - 40 students with one teacher! Quite a different ratio from this past year in my classroom with 20 students and 3 teachers! Also, depending on the grade level is how many classes, or subjects, you have per day. In first grade, you have five per day. As you get older, you have one more. Each class lasts 45 minutes. Mie and I went to our first observation, which was English class in a first grade. It was AWESOME. It reminded me of the Spanish classes we have at Lawrence. The English teacher used songs, visuals, and a lot of repetitive language. I think 30 minutes of the 45 minute lesson was singing, very loudly and enthusiastically, by all of the students. They sang Old McDonald and reviewed/learned the names of about 10 farm animals. They learned chick, duck, and turkey while I was there as new words. If asked a question, when a student was called on to answer, s/he would stand up, push in his/her chair, stand behind it, and then answer. After answering, s/he would sit back down. Mie let me know this is traditional of Japanese schooling. After learning and singing, they played a game about animals where they had to find a friend that had the matching animal card to their card. They moved (skipped, hopped, ran as they pleased) around the classroom, in true early childhood fashion, and went up to a friend. As they approached, the first thing they did was play rock, paper, scissor. This was a big hit! After that, the friend who won used the English phrase, "I am a _______" to tell their friend their card. If they had the same card, they sat down. If not, they kept moving. After playing two rounds, they gathered for story time. The teacher used two big books with repetitive language, one of which was Five Little Monkeys! Additionally, they also played a mystery game that was similar to the "magic bag" we did in Kindergarten. There were 26 students in the class, yet it did not feel that way at all! Next, we went to the other first grade classroom for Japanese class. There were 28 students in the class. First, the teacher began by having everyone at their desks. They did a proper greeting to their teacher and to us, and then they could begin. Mie told me it is very important in Japanese culture to have a beginning and an ending of a lesson. The students had been doing some reading and research on parts of animals, and for Japanese class, which is essentially a literacy block, they would continue their research and to write down what they learned. Part of their job was to create and answer questions for a "quiz" that they would give their peers in order for them to guess their animal. On the back of the quiz, they would draw a picture to let their peers know the answer. For the entire duration of the block, the students worked independently. However, there was some boisterous laughter and chit-chat. It felt like a very happy, busy classroom. Though they may have been chatting, the kids were very focused on their work. They would get up to check the classroom library for more books about their animal, and if they were done, they would read or continue to work on their picture (kind of like what we do after we are finished with a task, right KG!?). At the end of the block, they said, "Arigato gozaimasu," and thanked us for being there. They did their traditional end of the lesson, packed up their things, and went out for a 20-minute recess. After a short break, we went to a second grade classroom for math. This classroom had a bit of a different feel to it, as the students were quietly at their desks for the whole block with the exception of answering questions. It was a whole group lesson about place value and more than / less than (KG: the greedy mouth!). First, the teacher began with a traditional hello and welcomed us to their room. Then, she began by putting some 100s, 10s, and 1s magnets on the board. She put two combinations up and asked her students to tell how many. After answering, she asked them which one was larger. I can't remember exactly, but the numbers were something like 532 and 238. Some students thought the 238 was larger because it ended in an 8 in the ones place. The teacher did an amazing job of asking students to come up and explain their thinking. This is something I have been working on supporting my students with, developing, understanding, and sharing math language, so I was excited to see it being put into practice in Japan as well! After learning that 532 was larger, she asked a student to come up and put the greater than / less than sign in the middle. They repeated this cycle once more, and then it was time for a quiz! The teacher put on a 2-minute timer, and the students took out their math workbooks and did a short quiz about what they had just reviewed. The teacher walked around, checking on everyone's work. If they were finished and had the answers correct, she circled them in their books. If not, she would tell them to keep trying. Afterwards, they went over the answers so everyone could make sure they understood. This was the routine of the class for all 45 minutes. Next, it was time to visit Ryo's 4th grade class. I went in and introduced myself. I am so glad that Mie was there to help translate as many of the students, and even Ryo's teacher, could not understand me well! I got a really good sense of what it must feel like for our students who come with little to no English to both not understand what's being said and to not be able to communicate. That was an eye-opening moment for me. After introductions, I learned a bit about some of the students. A lot of them said they love their school because they have great friends. After introductions, we played a vocabulary game. I introduced some words that would be in the book I would read, and they had to act them out. Akiko-sensei and I made the cards so the had both the English word and the Japanese word. Everyone stood up, and we jumped, flew, skipped, ran, swam, and ate! Next, we got ready to read. I read Are You Ready to Play Outside? by Mo Willems. We love, love, love our Elephant and Piggie in Kindergarten, but I thought it would be a nice, easy to understand through pictures story that was a little bit funny, even for 4th graders. I read the story slowly and carefully, and there were definitely a few giggles! After reading, the students did and Elephant and Piggie drawing activity where they followed step-by-step instructions on how to draw the characters. After this, they asked me some questions about life in America and Boston. The last thing we did was eat lunch. Just like in Kindergarten, the students eat lunch in their classrooms. However, lunch is quite different. The students turn their desks into long tables, like a dining room table! Several students put on aprons and hair nets and they serve the lunch, prepared by the school, to everyone! When everyone had their food, we said "Itadakimasu," or thanks for the food, and then got to eating! The lunch was SO DELICIOUS! We had rice with white fish, egg, vegetables, and vegetable/tofu soup. The expectation is that everyone finishes their meal, so while I was getting a little full, the girl I was sitting with continued to motion to me to keep eating. I had to eat my quota! This experience was so, so, SO much fun! It makes me wonder about how I can foster this sense of community and care during lunchtime in my classroom... We thanked everyone, put our outside shoes back on, and headed to KidZania in a taxi. KidZania is essentially a mock neighborhood for children, where they can try out many different types of professions. Mie used to work at KidZania and helped to start it in Tokyo, so she had a wealth of knowledge while we were walking around! It was unlike any place I have ever seen. Kids try out a variety of jobs, but they are truly lifelike. Each job takes about 30 minutes to complete, so Mie said that kids typically try anywhere between 4-6 jobs per visit. There are over 50, however, so they continue to come back! Children put on costumes that correspond with the work they are doing and use tools, sometimes real and sometimes fake (for safety), yet still very real looking and feeling, to do their job. Also, parents are not allowed in the "places of work." This gives kids the independence to really focus and pay attention to what they are doing (no offense, parents!). Here are some examples of some of the jobs: This is just a handful of the jobs, too! One other very cool part of KidZania is that as children do the jobs, they make KidZania money. There is a bank at KidZania where they can deposit their money onto a debit card. Additionally, the debit card can be used at the KidZania ATM, that works like a real ATM! Not only does KidZania expose children to a variety of professions, but it also introduces them to the important life skill of understanding money and managing your finances. Incredible, huh?
To read more about KidZania, click here. After an amazing experience at KidZania, Mie and I did a little shopping before picking up Haruka, Ryo's 5-year-old sister, at school. The feel of her classroom was very reminiscent of Kindergarten! Kids were playing at tables, on the floor, building together, and laughing and having fun! We took the train back to their home, where they had me over for dinner. Mie and Grandma (as she introduced herself to me!) prepared Japanese-style curry, rice, salad, cabbage, and some pork cutlets. It was delicious, and it was so nice to have a home cooked meal after not having one for over a week! Thank you all for such a wonderful day and for inviting me into your home for dinner. I learned so much and had such a great experience at Ryo's school and at KidZania! Comments are closed.
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Jessica
Kindergarten Teacher traveling to Japan in June 2017. |
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