This Thursday I taught a set of assembly classes at Sobu Kindergarten. An assembly class is a 20 minute English lesson in front of 30-90 Japanese children. Although it is teaching, the classes must be entertaining. This means that, in order to capture the students’ attention and involve them in the lesson, the teacher uses songs and much jumping, moving and shaking.
This Thursday I drove south on the toll road to reach the lesson. The toll road was paved through the central highlands of the Miura Peninsula and offers great views of the sharp green hillsides and rural villages. This particular day was clear and the sun illuminated
the multiple shades of greens of the grasses, ivies and trees.
At about 10:00am I arrived at Sobu Kindergarten. The structure and decoration of the Kindergarten is closer to a theme park than an American school. The buildings are painted pastel yellow, lime green, pink, orange and bright red and sit at the foot of a hill in a rural setting. There is an entire building near the playground built like Thomas the Tank Engine (pictured below). The hallways are also painted with pastel colors and there are cute pictures and
paintings posted everywhere. When I arrived, I heard the sounds of “Supercalifradulous” booming from the stereos and loud laughter of scores of children.
Most children of the kindergarten wear matching yellow, green and red shirts, green shorts, long black socks, white shoes and small caps that designate their age or class. Whenever I walk through the halls at a Japanese Kindergarten, I am often greeted by the children. They run to me from all directions and shout “Hello” and then give out a loud belly laugh. Often I put my hand about a foot over their head a
nd offer a jumping high five. They proceed to crouch low and jump as high as they can (as many times as it takes) to slap my hand. Upon a successful high five, the children celebrate and laugh in a state of bliss. (Imagine a college basketball team winning a National Championship and celebrating. Picture the jumping and cries of joy of the winning young men. Such is a comparable level of delight to what is experienced by these children after a successful high five.)
Soon I arrived in a pink classroom and began preparing for five lessons. I taped a calendar and pictures of the months to a white board and took out the rest of the props: pictures of the sun, clouds, rain and snow, the alphabet, Q, R, S, T, U and V posters and their subsequent props (a picture of a turtle and a tiger for the T lesson).
Each class entered with 30-60 students and 1-2 teachers. The teachers had seemingly full control of the students. They had them stretch out their hands (pictured below) and sat them in well-spaced rows.
The lessons began with repeating phrases and singing songs about greeting, the date, months and the alphabet. After, as they began to lose their concentration, I had them repeat and physically perform, “up,” “down,” “shake,” and “turn around.” Then we sang and performed Hoki Poki. This brought loud laughter and concentration and I followed with teaching the letters and their words (U: umbrella and unicorn). After this, I ended with a “Goodbye song.” Upon the conclusion of the lessons, I was immediately hugged by huge swarms of students. I reached my hand out and gave as many ecstatic high fives as possible and pointed them in the direction of their teachers.
Here it is important to repeat that the classes are more about entertainment than lecturing. There is an art to keeping the children focused and interested. The teacher has to be quick and always have the edge. When the students start to get bored, one must quickly change to a fun song or motion exercise. If they get too excited and lose focus, the teacher must calm them. Also, there is also an art to having them repeat a letter or phrase ten times. One must change speeds, pitch and volume of his or her voice and constantly be creative. Such has been a challenging learning process for me and will probably continue to be so for the rest of my stay in Japan.
After finishing the lesson, I packed up the props, said the final “goodbyes” and took the toll road home.
This Thursday I drove south on the toll road to reach the lesson. The toll road was paved through the central highlands of the Miura Peninsula and offers great views of the sharp green hillsides and rural villages. This particular day was clear and the sun illuminated
the multiple shades of greens of the grasses, ivies and trees.At about 10:00am I arrived at Sobu Kindergarten. The structure and decoration of the Kindergarten is closer to a theme park than an American school. The buildings are painted pastel yellow, lime green, pink, orange and bright red and sit at the foot of a hill in a rural setting. There is an entire building near the playground built like Thomas the Tank Engine (pictured below). The hallways are also painted with pastel colors and there are cute pictures and
paintings posted everywhere. When I arrived, I heard the sounds of “Supercalifradulous” booming from the stereos and loud laughter of scores of children.Most children of the kindergarten wear matching yellow, green and red shirts, green shorts, long black socks, white shoes and small caps that designate their age or class. Whenever I walk through the halls at a Japanese Kindergarten, I am often greeted by the children. They run to me from all directions and shout “Hello” and then give out a loud belly laugh. Often I put my hand about a foot over their head a
nd offer a jumping high five. They proceed to crouch low and jump as high as they can (as many times as it takes) to slap my hand. Upon a successful high five, the children celebrate and laugh in a state of bliss. (Imagine a college basketball team winning a National Championship and celebrating. Picture the jumping and cries of joy of the winning young men. Such is a comparable level of delight to what is experienced by these children after a successful high five.)
Soon I arrived in a pink classroom and began preparing for five lessons. I taped a calendar and pictures of the months to a white board and took out the rest of the props: pictures of the sun, clouds, rain and snow, the alphabet, Q, R, S, T, U and V posters and their subsequent props (a picture of a turtle and a tiger for the T lesson).
Each class entered with 30-60 students and 1-2 teachers. The teachers had seemingly full control of the students. They had them stretch out their hands (pictured below) and sat them in well-spaced rows.
The lessons began with repeating phrases and singing songs about greeting, the date, months and the alphabet. After, as they began to lose their concentration, I had them repeat and physically perform, “up,” “down,” “shake,” and “turn around.” Then we sang and performed Hoki Poki. This brought loud laughter and concentration and I followed with teaching the letters and their words (U: umbrella and unicorn). After this, I ended with a “Goodbye song.” Upon the conclusion of the lessons, I was immediately hugged by huge swarms of students. I reached my hand out and gave as many ecstatic high fives as possible and pointed them in the direction of their teachers.Here it is important to repeat that the classes are more about entertainment than lecturing. There is an art to keeping the children focused and interested. The teacher has to be quick and always have the edge. When the students start to get bored, one must quickly change to a fun song or motion exercise. If they get too excited and lose focus, the teacher must calm them. Also, there is also an art to having them repeat a letter or phrase ten times. One must change speeds, pitch and volume of his or her voice and constantly be creative. Such has been a challenging learning process for me and will probably continue to be so for the rest of my stay in Japan.After finishing the lesson, I packed up the props, said the final “goodbyes” and took the toll road home.
1 comment:
Good evening, Mark-San!
It was so great spending time with you in New Jersey with Grandpa during his last days on Earth. I am convinced your prayers had eternal value for him as they did for me.
The Japanese children you taught are adorable; they look like little dolls! Sounds like you really know how to keep them involved in the lesson!
You look really happy in the photo with your host family.
Love you much,
Cousin Meredith-San
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