FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL

Today was my first day of class. Actually, that’s a bit of a stretch. I was picked up at the crack of dawn at the Board of Education by the principal of Sakumi Elementary school. Sakumi is the second biggest elementary school in the Kaga area, topped only by Yamashiro Elementary. A relatively large school, it has a massive outdoor sports area, 3 floors, and 2 large swimming pools. I’m not sure what size the student body is, but I bet it’s not small. When we arrived at school, little kids were filing into the building and the place was bustling by 8am. I actually recognized one of the 6th grade students who took me on a Kaga tour a couple of weeks earlier. After briefly introducing myself to the staff, I met the 3rd grade homeroom teachers I was supposed to teach with, and then 1st period started.

However, instead of heading off to class, I was told to wait in my seat for my escorts. As I was pondering the security implications of this ominous command, a couple of tiny little kids came into the teacher’s office, walked up to me and ordered (not asked) me to come to their class with them. I did as I was told.

The class was great! The kids were pretty young and more than a little excited to see me. Overall it was a success--I had to cut down my photo self-intro to make it go by quicker and simplify it for the 3rd graders’ comprehension abilities. I would lift up a picture (i.e. of a family member or hobby) and they would yell what they thought it was. According to these kids, both of my brothers are my dad, my sister is my girlfriend, and my parents are my grandparents. One thing they really nailed was my dog’s name, Kuri, which apparently means ‘chestnut’ in Japanese. Also, Anna was right about using your voice a lot…I met all the students in the class individually and asked them what sport they liked, plus had to yell to get people’s attention a few times during games, so my throat was getting scratchy after only about an hour.

I had a couple of free periods, so I watched some of the kids and teachers prepare for their sports festival, which is coming up, and then went to my second class, also with 3rd graders. The lesson plan was virtually identical to the previous class, except these poor buggers were told by their homeroom teacher to raise their hands before speaking, which you could tell took every effort on their part. From time to time it looked like they would burst with the need to ask what I can only believe must have been the world’s most important question. This class was a little more raucous, and I got crowded at the end of class with a flurry of questions about everything imaginable. Most kids thought I dyed my hair and told me so. Others were shocked at the colour of my eyes (one kid ended up calling me ‘aoi-mei-sensei’, which means ‘blue-eyed-teacher’). Still others asked if I was married, what my favourite kind of bug is, who I like, etc. It was fun answering those questions.

I had promised to have lunch with my morning class, so I returned there to find a bunch of students had gotten it in their heads to ask me for my autograph. Pretty sure I laughed out loud at that request, but hell, happy to oblige the loving masses! I’m just glad I bought a stamp to replace my signature, but they were crafty and got it out of me anyway. So then of course the kids with my signature and a stamp told the ones with only a stamp that I gave them my signature too, so everyone and their uncle came at me with even more pieces of paper. One cheeky little bastard got it into his head to make me sign several piece of paper, presumably to trade or sell to other classmates after I’d gone, until I caught on, laughed with surprise at his entrepreneurial spirit, and then told him to get lost. After an untold number of notebooks, arms, and scraps of paper were stamped and signed enough to pass laws, I left the class with promises of a swift return. An entourage of about 15 kids followed me down the stairs to the door, but just as I was leaving some of the groupies from my second class came running to the door begging for my autograph as well, but sadly I had to turn them down.

So my first day went really well, I think. Because these were the youngest kids I’ll be teaching, chance are it won’t be as easy to wow some of the older grades, but I’m sure it will be fine. If today taught me anything, it’s that I’m a celebrity with the under-10 crowd and that in itself makes it way easier to teach because if you can impress them, you can get their respect. Also, gotta remember to carry around a coloured pen and stamp around to quell the overeager fans.