The end of the beginning

And so, with an hour's very official closing ceremony, today ends my first semester teaching at Showa's elementary school and kindergarten. I should also admit that I recognise that I am the worst possible person for keeping up with this blog (now nearly a month into my project) and I'm not even going to try and make up excuses. Instead, I'll just cover the basics and apologise once more, although more to myself than to anyone else.

In the past four weeks, my partner Teiba and I have been assisting the English staff at the elementary school; we haven't started working with the university yet as their semester doesn't start until October. That aside, I already believe that teaching this year will be one of the most rewarding and enjoyable things I ever do. There are seven different year groups, these being first to sixth grade as well as the kindergarten, and each of these are split into three classes. Compared to the English primary schools I'm familiar with, the children in these classes are impeccably well behaved; not a single one would dare do the dishonour of stepping out of line. All of them adore learning and treat their school and their teachers with the utmost respect. The students know me as Liz Sensei (although they can't quite pronounce the 'L' so I've settled comfortably with 'Rizu').

Working in the school, I'm also getting used to life as somewhat of a celebrity. The children can barely contain their excitement at the sight of us, and always try their best to shout as many random English words as they can string together in the hopes to impress. The first and second graders insist on a dozen hi-fives apiece whilst trying to employ me as a human climbing frame, contrasting the older students who (and I kid you not) run up to us after class with their file in one hand and pen in the other, requesting with the deepest of bows that we sign our names on the front.

The topics we have been covering in class have been relatively simple. With the first grade, for instance, we have been working alongside Hitomi Sensei - a lovely woman and very cheerful teacher - teaching about creatures that live in the sea via a horribly catchy song about sharks, whales and mermaids that makes the students (particularly the boys) cackle hysterically.

Hitomi-san accompanies us when we work with the kindergarten on Tuesdays, likewise. The children in these classes are 3-4 years old, and we join them for their P.E lessons. Besides joining them for running around and playing games, in the middle of the lessons we sit and read a story. At the end of my most recent lesson, I was overwhelmed by the cuteness of a little girl I'd just met called Mei-chan who ran up to me at the end, hugged me tightly around the waist and said "Rizu Sensei, you are my favourite teacher and I love you." - Not only was this absolutely adorable but, considering that she dominantly speaks Japanese, hadn't uttered a word to me despite my attempts at chit-chat all morning, and can't be that much older than my niece Pippa, her English was excellent.

The other two main members of staff are Hatai Sensei and Sumida Sensei. Hatai-san only works with the older years and, although fierce, she is an absolute delight to work alongside. Sumida-san, too, has been extremely friendly and welcoming. With him, we are covering shapes with the third grade. To help them get their head around the oh-so-complicated hexagon, we helped the class make dozens of these out of origami (of course origami paper is part of the school equipment list, what less should I have expected from Japan?), and had fun sticking them all together to make a paper ""soccer ball."" Not only this, but he has been thrilled to help us with other things, including using his Disney geek knowledge to help us successfully book an end-of-semester treat (I'll give you three guesses...), and he made us a batch of his staffroom-famous cookies which, after seeing how much we loved them, he has promised to make again!

September has been a very chilled month and a lovely start to my project. There have been few limitations, the language barrier being somewhat irksome but never necessarily problematic. And as aforementioned, I'm excited to get back which is when we will start working with the university students. I highly doubt teachers normally get excited to go to work, but if my second semester promises to be anywhere near as fun or productive as my first then I can't deny that - for possibly the first and probably the last time in my life - I am poised and quite eager to get up for school on Monday morning.

Sumida Sensei - 3rd Grade English. 26/09/16