My arrival included meeting my first host family, the Ota family. I even got to attend my first festival in the central area of the city, Tohkasan festival. There were many different food, games, and everyone was wearing their yukatas.
I am very lucky to start my Hiroshima experience in the Ota home. Ritsuko-san can speak English very well, and her two daughters are very sweet. They helped me get a calling card and also took me to a Chinese restaurant for dinner. Their home is very multi-cultural including art, traditional Hina Dolls, a Kawai piano, and a rabbit! I've never experienced a rabbit! Hedgehogs, dogs, hamsters, mice, you name it, but not a rabbit! SO adorable ne~
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At the school, I had to take off my shoes immediately at the front door. Then we get lockers and slippers are provided for you. Next I went straight to the principals office with the help of Honomi-chan. I met the vice principal, principal, two English teachers, and several others. We started the day with meetings and the principal and English teachers prepared an AMAZING plan for my 8 weeks.
There are three grades and three classes per grade. Each week I will be assigned to a homeroom for meetings, cleaning, lunch duty, and so forth. By the end of my teaching experience, the principal hopes for me to meet every student (total 260) and work with every teacher. I am so excited about this well-rounded experience that I will be participating in.
I was able to introduce myself this morning during the brief teachers' meeting (in Japanese!) Then the principal and the English teachers took time to describe the school and their plans for me. This school has no rules. It is a very interesting concept. I think I will discuss this another time. Also, there are no janitors, therefore all students and teachers work together in the middle of the school day to clean up.
Every day school starts at 8:25 and ends at 3:50, but there are after school activities everday. Monday through Friday, I will stay until 6pm; for teachers preparation, they can stay until 7pm; for student teachers like myself, the school is opened until 9pm for me.
I look forward to understanding this educational system a little more because Shinonome has a unique curriculum set-up. It is a small school, but the students are very energetic. The coolest part? One of the English teacher is the soccer coach the other is basketball coach. Awesome! I have also decided to participate in Brass Band club. This is going to be sugoii!
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