sports day

体育大会

たいいく　たいかい

taiiku taikai

Sports Rally

ラジオ体操

ラジオ　たいそう

rajio taisou

Radio Calisthenics

１００人百足競争

ひゃくにん　むかで　きょうそう

hyakunin mukade kyousou

centipede race

障害物競走

しょうがいぶつ　きょうそう

shougaibutsu kyousou

obstacle race

るろうに剣心

るろうに　けんしん

Rurouni Kenshin

妖怪ウオッチ

ようかい　ウオッチ

youkai uocchi

Ghost Watch

ジバニャン

jibanyan

two-tailed ghost cat from Ghost Watch

ニャ~

nyaa

meow

体育祭

たいいく　さい

taiiku sai

Sports Festival

ソーラン節

ソーラン　ぶし

so-ran bushi

old Japanese sea shanty

オクラホマミクサー

okurahoma mikusa-

Oklahoma Mixer

教頭先生

きょうとう　せんせい

kyoutou sensei

vice-principal

Everyone stands at attention looking west. As the sun begins its descent from zenith, the flags flying at our school grounds follow suit and make their way down the poles. Japan's national anthem plays solemnly over the PA system. When the last note finishes, it echoes off the mountains and reverberates through town, hanging in the air for one last moment. Our 体育大会 has come to a close.

Sports Day is an annual mainstay of Japanese school life, held at every elementary, middle, and high school in Japan. Some of the details vary from school to school, such as the time of year the ceremony takes place (some areas observe it in the midst of spring, while the majority celebrate at the dawn of autumn). But others are rather common, such as group presentations or the obstacle course relay. Finally are the events nearly universal in their practice across Japan: there will be marching, there will be foot races, and there will be ラジオ体操.

cleanup

This past Tuesday, Chikusa High School and Junior High School partook in a "beautification" project around various parts of Chikusa town. The general end goal was to clean up some of the areas that were prone to gathering trash, whether due to gravity or because it's a place that attracts litterers. I went up with the 2nd years to the Shibiki Pass, an area well-up a winding road from the center of town that leads to a neighboring village and looks down into a huge valley. The vista is amazing and lots of people go up to see it, but they tend to leave their trash on the side of the road before heading back down. I figured we'd be walking around with bags and sticks, picking up loose papers and wrappers in the gutters.

weekend fun

ナイター

naita-

nighttime skiing

炬燵

こたつ

kotatsu

small table with an electric heating element on the underside

Sorry I've been a little off the blog a while. I've been pretty busy and haven't had as much time to sit down and write as I'd like. Thankfully, my school schedule is starting to slow down as we near the end of the final term, so let me catch you up on what's been happening in my neck of the woods.

blog series: david goes everywhere!

Just to make everyone aware, I have been writing short essays for my school's English blog. If you want to hear about some of the larger events and extracurricular things I do at the school, keep an eye on the "Chikusa High School" blog link in the right-hand sidebar under "Blogs you should follow." I will still post here on my personal blog about school, but it will be less formal in manner and more personal with regards to the topic. For the big stuff, refer to the school's website. Also don't be afraid to check out the Japanese entries that show up; most of them have a host of pictures of the activities going on here!

how to run an english class by yourself

If you had asked me how to do this yesterday, I would've had no idea. If you ask me now, I still wouldn't have any idea. The only difference is that I was thrust into this position during 1st period this morning. My JTE had to deal with some school administrative issues, so he asked me to cover his 3rd Year (seniors) Writing class. My only direction was to perhaps try something involving listening. Hmm...

the joys and headaches of teaching in a foreign land

先生

せんせい

sensei

teacher

Please read Learning How to Teach, a wonderful blog entry by my friend Adam, who is currently teaching up in Fukushima Prefecture. We went to college together at the University of Maryland and were a part of the same Christian fellowship on campus, and now we've both ended up in Japan at the same time, rather coincidentally. Although he works for a different organization, and teaches at a junior high school rather than a senior high school, our jobs are just about identical. In his post, he talks about some of the differences between Japanese and American culture, and also has some great insights on what Japanese students are like. I'm finding lots of this to be true in my own situation. I'm writing this as a sort of reflection on his entry.

open school

This past Tuesday, we held an event called "Open School," where soon-to-graduate students from some of the neighboring junior high schools come to see what their life will be like next year. There didn't seem to be a whole lot of preparation for this—though I did only start working here about 2 weeks ago—but there were a considerable number of activities taking place throughout the school during the 6 hours the students were here.