Tokai Village Ishigami Elementary School
Today we visited Tokai Village Ishigami Elementary School. The elementary schools here are first through sixth grades. The bus dropped us off about a half mile away from the school so we could walk to school with the students. The students here walk to school because there is no busing. The students will meet up at various locations and then walk the rest of the way together. All of the students had matching yellow hats and mostly matching backpacks. There were crossing guards along the way and there were some volunteers that also walked with the students. The older students also watched and directed the younger students. Upon arriving at the school, we had a quick briefing and a short tour of the building. The building is a three floor campus that really reminds me of a high school or junior high school. Although the building seemed to be much larger than even Brooks School Elementary, it only had a capacity of about 420 students. Whereas BSE uses just about every square inch of space (and more outside in portables), this school does not do that. It was a beautiful school though. After our tour we were led into the gym for a welcome ceremony. It was opened by a great performance by the school jazz band. The jazz band was so good-I am sure it outclasses almost any elementary school band in Indiana. After speeches and introductions, we were allowed to roam and observe classes. It is always interesting to see another school and how it runs, but this was on a different level because of it being in a different country. There are certainly many differences and many similarities between this school and American elementary schools. Once again lunch was served in the classroom by the students. The lunch was noodles with shrimp and mushrooms, bread, milk, and a desert salad. It really was quite good as well. After the meal we began observations of the students cleaning up lunch and the school. I have attached a picture of the opening convocation below.
posted by Mark Heiden @ 12:27 PM
3 comments
3 Comments:
These children don't look like they are wearing any particular kind of uniform. In several of your other pictures, it looked like students *were* wearing uniforms. Is that a kind of school-to-school thing, or completely optional?
I would *love* to hear about the attitude the Japanese have towards Americans. I was in Spain when I was in high school (many years ago-aint gonna say how many), and it was very skewed. Both because of politics at the time and because they were seeing the tv show Dallas and thought we were all like that! Anyway, just curious if you have picked up on any funny misconceptions regarding Americans!
The tv show Dallas, by the way, was about very rich people living in mansions, going around shooting each other. Or something like that...... (certainly *not* a realistic view of Americans!!)
Almost all junior high and high schools require uniforms. A lot of elementary schools don't require uniforms. This one didn't have them. They do all have matching hats, umbrellas, PE clothes, etc.
The junior high school and elementary school students greeted us as rock stars. Americans seem to have a pretty good reputation here, especially with the children. One reason is because we look different and often dress differently. Also, Japan is a very homogenous society...very little diversity. We really stick out here (especially me being blond, blue eyes, and tall)! I am sure that some Japanese probably disagree with some or most of American politics, but we haven't seen that dampen their enthusiasm to meet us. The little kids and junior high kids go especially crazy when we are around. The high school girls went a little nuts for me (marriage proposals were often!), but the boys seemed to try to be very cool and just treat us normally. We had a great welcome where ever we went.
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