The Kids

Here are some pictures of the kids we work with. Teaching has been very interesting; we both love it! The atmosphere and teaching style is very different than teaching in the US. We usually work anywhere from 5-10 hours a day (Mon-Fri), which includes going into the office to plan our lessons and meet with the Japanese teachers, then driving to different elementary schools to teach 3-4 lessons that are 45 minutes each. There are also small skits we perform for the elementary schools to get them interested in English. The kids have so much energy and are really sweet! The lessons we teach are focused on having fun, so we play a lot of games and sing songs. Most of the kids are between 5 and 10 years old, but we do have some High School students and adults. Frank is really funny with the kids! They love to jump on him and chase him. Below is a picture of Frank getting "rockstar" treatment at a kindergarten.




Here are some pictures of a couple of Melissa's classes. This class, at Honozono kindergarten, has 6 students that are 5 years old. They have a lot of energy and are adorable!





This is a class of seven and eight year olds. There is only 1 boy, named Akifumi, in a class of really quiet girls. They are finally starting to open up to me and talk louder than a whisper! They are really sweet and love learning English. The kids we work with love getting stamps at the end of each lesson, so we use it as a reward system. If they behave and try really hard, then they will get 4 stamps in their stamp book. Once they complete their stamp book, they get a prize. Below is a picture of the children putting stamps in their book. Each level of students have a different form of rewards. For example, the older students (10-11 year olds) receive paper money with a picture of the teacher on it worth "$1." They can deposit their money at the end of the lesson. They also keep a log with their different transactions. It's cute hearing them say "May I please make a deposit into my bank account." They have a chance to spend their "money" on certain dates.


The children wear uniforms at most of the schools we work at and they are so cute! When they get to the lessons they have to take off their hat, backpack, bag, and thermos filled with green tea. Green tea is the only drink allowed at school. The older children all have leather backpacks that cost about $400! They are expected to keep these for up to 6 years.


At the schools, everyone has to take off their shoes and put slippers on to walk around inside. There are cubbies for the children to keep their shoes in, as shown in the picture below. The bathrooms at the kindergartens are coed. There are urinals on one side and stalls on the other. Everyone has toilet slippers that they have to wear in the bathroom. The toilets in schools are usually squat toilets. These took some getting used to!