My very first school week starts!

Woke up at 7:00am, had udon for breakfast, and cycled to school. The weather was super lovely and cool, to the point that we didn’t even have to use the air conditioner in the office! Arrived earlier today at 8:00am before they closed the gate. I wonder what time the kids get to school – by 8:00am the grounds were already all filled with kids in their PE uniforms running around everywhere!

I had three classes to teach today! All three 3rd grade classes. My first class was in 2nd period, so until then I made kiwi stickers and prepped for lessons. The class didn’t go too badly I think! It definitely helped that I had already taught the 5th grade class on Friday, so I knew roughly the students’ attention spans, what they like/don’t like, and could change my plans accordingly. I changed up my self-intro powerpoint by adding in more interactive questions, and changed the lesson order by making the kids make their nametags first. I think the nametags were quite successful, as the kids were having a lot of fun seeing how long some peoples’ names were, and how short some were! They also enjoyed colouring and decorating their own names. I should probably incorporate more craft in future lessons. The majority of 3rd graders could all do their self-intros – in each class of 25 kids, only around 5 needed prompting. I asked the kids to say their names and one thing they liked. A lot of them liked games, steak, and hamburgers. What cuties. They were all also a lot more participative! I guess it’s true when they say the younger grades are all super enthusiastic, and as it reaches grades 4 and above, they lose it somewhat.

I think the best class today was the 3rd period one, as that specific 3rd grade class was extremely responsive! They literally all put up their hands to answer the questions. I also used the rhythm vocab drill they introduced at the office day, and it went pretty well. They all kept asking to up the beat speed, and their pronunciation wasn’t too bad! For school lunch today, we had seaweed and beans rice, fish marinated in miso, really nice soup, and the milk again! They made up a school lunch timetable for me, where I would be eating with a different class each week. This week I’m eating with the 1st graders, and they are so cute! Very tiny, but I was super impressed with their chopsticks skills and how they ate well too. In Japan, they all brush their teeth after lunch. I think I should bring my toothbrush to school too, but they only brush their teeth with water and no toothpaste, and I don't really like the feel of that, so maybe not. After that it was 25 minutes of playtime, and the 1st graders invited me to play with them outside. The 1st graders have to wear yellow sunhats so it’s easy to spot them! They showed me how they played on the iron bars, since they’re not allowed to play with the sports equipment (soccer balls, baseball stuff, etc.) until they’re in the older grades. I also taught them how to play the hand games that we played in NZ, and one girl got really into it! After playtime it was cleaning time, I went back to the teacher’s room for this but didn’t really have to help out today as there wasn’t anything for me to do.

For the last two periods I just sat at my desk prepping and doing stuff. I could hear the music classes practicing – the kids are seriously good at singing! I think it was just music class and not choir practice, but they sounded like a polished choir! Finished work at 16:45 today and went to Daiso to get some more paper for the nametags.