Autographs

Things have been a bit busy since school ended two weeks ago, but I found this little set of pics from my last day of classes with my first years. The kids had to give their self introduction in English while Keima and I sat in the back and graded them. 

At the end of class a few students wanted my autograph, not that uncommon of a request here in Japan, but it makes me smile every time they ask.

Keito sign please,
Kate

Last Day Of School

After a few wonderful years at The 5th Junior High School of Kamagaya, I have reached my final day. 

Three years, four schools, seven JTEs, hundreds of English lessons, thousands of "Hello!s" and even more "Konichiwas", all happened while I blinked. 

Last Friday morning, on my neighbor Kim's last day of work, I made her pause in front of our apartments to take a picture to document our last day of school. Like a proud parent, I went back and looked at the pictures we took on our first day three years ago, returning with orders for a sleepy Kim. 

"You were standing right here, with your left hand on your hip."

"Really, Kate..."

"SMILE!!!"

[Kimu Sensei]

[Keito Sensei]

Here are a few fun facts from my last day today...

-It is a sweltering 34C/91F degrees outside AND inside of the classrooms.
-On my way into school, I gave a little thank you card to the crossing guard I talk to every morning.
-I put a box of sweets with a note in the back of the staff room thanking everyone for the past three years, and added my email so we can all keep in touch.
-I am unbelievably congested. The combination of that plus the heat has put any sadness on the back burner. Though I did well up a little when one of my favorite, former speech contest girls gave me a very heart felt note, and nearly shed a tear as she handed it to me.
-Keima and I took silly pictures in the back of the staff room.
-I had left over pizza for lunch.
-I only had three lessons today, all with the 3rd year students.
-At the end of one class, while I was talking to the girls about how yucky boys are, a boy was dragged to the front of the classroom by his friends. The girls told me to wait. The boy stood in front of me, stick straight and completely still, staring at the floor. He gave me one glance and said, "You are beautiful. I love you." He flushed red and left while his friends cheered.
-I gave most of my students my teacher email. They are over the moon about it.
-I had to do a lesson for observing parents.
-My Principal took pictures of me during the observation lesson, printed them out and handed them to me. All within 45 min.
-The students had to come stand right in front of me and read to me today, at which point one of the girls discovered I had green eyes. She gasped so loudly when she realized, we all stopped to look at her for a second. She laughed but couldn't stop staring.
-I alone was in charge of my cleaning crew today. We assigned everyone an animal as we emptied the trash cans and swept the floor.
-I told a few older girls I had my camera with me, so they came and got me after lunch and we had a mini photo/video shoot in the hall.
-My last day made it on the school's homepage.

It's been an amazing run. 

Thanks for the memories 5Chuu,
Keito Sensei

Just a tid bit from our assembly last week, just prior to my speech.

Conversation Journals: The End

The last little batch.
Gonna miss these guys.

Have a great summer,
Kate

Little Things: Desk

The other day, on the rare occasion that I had my camera at school, I began snapping shots of my desk. I wanted to remember it as it was before I cleaned it out for the next ALT. I wanted to remember the details, the little things I see everyday that soon will be no longer. 

Desk Details,
Kate

Sayonara Speech

I have one more full we week of school, but today we had a school-wide assembly so it was decided that I would give my sayonara speech then. After writing the little speech in English and getting it checked and translated by a few of my favorite Japanese all-stars, I practiced a bit last night. I really wanted to nail the pronunciation and inflection. 

And I am proud to say, I did.
Despite the fact that I was nauseatingly nervous. 

All morning, in between the classes I was teaching with Keima, I was repeating the few words I was struggling to pronounce. At the top of that list was, wasurerarenai, which means do not forget. My kids knew I was leaving, but they did not know I was giving a speech today. A few of my favorite 1st-year girls joked with me this morning, repeating the word back to me and most likely wondering why I was saying it so many times. After the speech they came up to me, hands clasp together, they travel as a unit, giggly, clearly new BFFs, and said, 

"Keito Senseiiiiiii, wasurerarenai! hahahaha. wasurerarenai!wasurerarenai!wasurerarenai!"

Cuties. 

Between those two and the beautiful flowers I received post speech it has been an absolutely wonderful Friday.

Oh GoChuu, you are going to be so hard to leave. 

Wasurerarenai, 

Kate

Conversation Journals

Responded to a fresh batch of questions this week. 

The kids recently learned the key words up, on, near, under and in. To practice using them in sentences they spent most of the class describing a picture of a bedroom on a worksheet to their partner.
Is there a desk near the window? Is there a cat under the bed? 

At the end of the class, when it came time for conversation journals, the teacher asked them to "try to imagine Keito Sensei's room in America and ask her a question about it". 

Keep that in mind as you read through these, especially the last one. 

Gorilla on my desk? Obviously.

True story. 

Charlie has some serious celebrity status with these kids.

She knew one of the words had double letters...

How well this child knows me.

Seemed like a logical response to his question.

Star student.

This kid basically wrote out a Japanese sentence in English letters which made me laugh.

McDonald's really is synonymous with America. 

Creative.

xoxo, 

Kate

Throwback Thursday

Today at school, the Backstreet Boys made an appearance. 

I don't know the last time you watched six classes of 40 Japanese students sing along with Howie, Kevin, Brian, Nick and A.J., but let me tell you, it was pretty adorable. 

I want it that way, 

Kate

P.S. This original music video is pretty winning too...

The Norm For Me A Chuckle For You

Today, my 13 year old 1st years had to write out a self-introduction that they were then going to come read to me.
I was walking around the room helping the kids fill in the three blanks that sat staring back at them. 

Hello! 

I am                      .

I am from                           .

I am good at                             .

I was helping one little girl change her bolleyball to volleyball, when I heard one of my favorite boys practicing his pronunciation. 

"IIIIIII am good at bas-KET-ball. BAS-ket-ball. bas-ket-BALL."

I looked over at him and all his friends that had taken to helping him, they looked back at me and we all smiled. I said it correctly a few times from across the room and they repeated. Focusing intently on each syllable, trying to stress the correct one. 

They weren't getting it. 

I walked in their direction, saying it about four more times before arriving next to his desk.

I looked down at his paper and stopped. 

He repeated the word again, stressing all the syllables so at this point he was just yelling the word while his friends looked on in laughter. 

"BASKETBALLLLLLLL."

I smiled and he followed my finger as I pointed to the word on the page. 

"This says, baseball." 

Basketball, Baseball, Volleyball, 

Kate

[The Latest]

Must Read: More women than ever are bread winners, which apparently is a bad thing??...FOX News. I paraphrased big time, but have we all seen this!? 

Google Search: Pomegranate in Japanese.

Tune: Clarity By Zedd. 

Accomplishment: Some great communication with my cleaning crew. 
Obsessions: Thai fried rice.

Today At School

Things have been crazy busy at work lately and I just haven't had time to blog. 

Today we did a lesson with the 3rd years that I for one thoroughly enjoyed. 

The kids had to work together in their groups to unscramble sentences. When they had correctly arranged a sentence and written it on their worksheet, they brought it to me where they had to read it aloud. I gave them a stamp for every sentence they assembled and read correctly, the goal being to be the first group to get 10 stamps. 

Simple enough. 

I used my little 'Kate' stamp that was given to me last year by a former student's mother.

Mini-Kate went over quite well with the students.

By the end of the day, I had stamped mini-kate exactly 300 times. 

Kate, Kate, Kate x 100, 

Kate

[The Latest]

Must Read: Rodman Not 1st Choice for N. Korea Trip...NY Times. That title might be an understatement. 

Google Search: Pomegranate in Japanese.

Tune: Clarity By Zedd. 

Accomplishment: The fact that it has rained all day, but not from 7:45-8 when I bike to school. 
Obsessions: Spicy miso paste.

Conversation Journals VI

It's been awhile since these guys were around, but never fear, we are back in action. With the new school year came a new batch of students to get to know.
Meet class 2-1.

Mr. Kitai is their English teacher... and Vice Principal.

Number 3 is my favorite.
I really wanted to answer, September 23rd at 4:11pm.

I'd say that sums me up in a nutshell...

I really thought this kid was trying to write 'alcohol'. Glad I googled. 

Some international movie trivia for you.

Asia does blood type like the west does horoscopes. 

Stud.

I laughed out-loud at this. My response is below.

Before you think I am being extra sassy with this kid, you should probably know that Abe is Japan's Prime Minister.

Obama's BFF,
Kate

[The Latest]

Must Read: Gun-toting robot controlled by your smartphone...TheAge.com. Purple with the $90 cup holder, please.  

Google Search: Axolotol.

Tune: King and Lionheart By Of Monsters and Men. 

Accomplishment: Successfully helping a few kiddos today. 
Obsessions: Othello iphone app.

Read & Run

Today at school we did Read & Run, an absolute favorite with the students. 

Here's how it goes...

The kids get in their lunch groups and close their eyes for a few minutes while Keima and I run around the room taping up scrambled sentences in sneaky places. When the kids "awaken" they send a runner from their group to seek out a hint. The kid has to memorize the scrambled words and report back to the group. Together, the kids try to make a sentence, once they have Keima or I will check it, if it's correct they send another runner to find another hint. Ultimately, the groups are competing against each other for stamps on their participation sheet so it gets pretty competitive. If you can envision all this set to The Pirates of the Caribbean Soundtrack, well then, you might as well have been right there in second period with us!

When Keima drew a layout of the classroom, he was sure to add him and me...and my bun.

Read & Ran,
Kate

                                                                          [The Latest]

Must Read: 5 Ways You're Accidentally Making Everyone Hate You...Cracked.

Google Search: Oscar Wilde.

Tune: Little Lion Man By Mumford & Sons. 

Accomplishment: Some great lessons today.

Obsessions: Pho.