Today was an abbreviated day at school because we were sponsoring an “open high school” day, where junior high students could check out our school and see if they wanted to try to attend it.
I get the sense that our school is not so popular among students. The exam is supposedly very easy to pass, and so it’s not like we’ve got an sort of discriminating taste in what students we are trying to attract.
Mr. Hayashi asked me to hang out with him at the registration desk, so I put on my big smile and said hello to most of the 300 students that arrived. One girl said hello back, asked me my name, and was carrying on so much that I thought she was going to ask for my phone number. Definitely not your standard reaction, but it was fun. All of the students went into the gym to watch a presentation. There was a Powerpoint slideshow, a couple of videos, a dance routine, and to top it all off – an interview with our principal (gasp!). I told Mr. Yamamoto that it’s best to close with your most exciting thing; we agreed that the principal interview wasn’t a good closer.
Mr. Yamamoto and I have been planning a lesson for the prospective students. They came in and sat down, and we jumped right into it. The lesson was on Thanksgiving. I had put the lesson together, Mr. Yamamoto added a few dramatic touches, and it turned out pretty good.
Teaching to students like this is always a little weird. You’ve got no rapport with them, they don’t know what to expect from you, and they are always very shy. I got a few of them to open up. Some of the boys were definitely not having a good time, but I got a couple smiles out of them.
We explained the meaning of Thanksgiving and it’s history in about three sentences, and then we had what may be the cheesiest and possibly most absurd conversation possible, between an Indian and a Pilgrim.
The funniest part was that Mr. Yamamoto insisted on dressing up as an Indian. He had a small headdress that he borrowed from a friend, and I put some war paint on his face, right in the middle of the lesson. I played the part of the white guy. I wasn’t aware that he was going to dress up, but I’ve got my paleface impersonation down pat.
Anyway, after the initial shock of seeing some crazy teacher dressed up as an Indian, the students relaxed and we had them do the conversation as well. They did a pretty good job with it. Then to finish we did a fun activity that I had remembered from my school days – making a turkey from a hand tracing. They turned out nicely, and the students really enjoyed doing it. I brought some pictures of wild turkeys so they could compare with the real thing. I was genuinely surprised how well it went.
We finished up the lesson and handed out a questionnaire/evaluation sheet, and I was pleased to see that our class got, on average, the highest ranking possible. It was the war paint, I’m sure of it.
Another bonus was that one of the students asked if she could talk to me about entering the ESS club at school. I showed her some of the projects that we’ve been working on, and we talked about her background. She wasn’t as shy as some of the other students, and I’m hoping that she’ll be able to enter the club if she enrolls in our school.
At the end of the day the history teacher invited me to a dinner sponsored by him at Amuse in Kakogawa on Friday night. It turns out that it’s a bit more than a friendly invitation. He invited one of the female teachers that he’s currently chasing, and she said that she wouldn’t go unless I went. Now he’s looking for a favor from me to lure her there so he can hit on her when I’m not at all interested but I can’t tell anyone involved in this situation that. Is that clear enough? Wacky stuff.
After school I went over to Tsuji-san’s place across the street and had a nice long conversation in Japanese and English. I’m getting closer and closer to some kind of major Japanese breakthrough. I feel like I’m getting to the point where I go from broken Japanese to just Japanese. Once I get there, I’ll feel a whole lot better and the improvements will just keep getting more and more dramatic.
On the way home I got some stewed pork and had that over rice with a Caesar salad for dinner. I’ve just spent almost an hour and a half updating the site, and I’m still tired from the weekend. Tomorrow will be another Thanksgiving lesson, and I may get out a little early. I’m looking forward to that.
