お別れーーーエマ先生、マーレン先生

This past year at Fujimura has been an amazing teaching opportunity. We are thankful to all our wonderful students and supportive JTEs that have made this past year such an enjoyable experience. We’ve loved teaching and getting to know you all. As you move forward in your education, please remember to keep studying English! There is a huge world out there to explore and English can help you navigate it. We hope to see you all again someday.

 

Thank you all!

~Marlene Pierce and Emma Sletteland

日本の雨とその備えーーーマーレン先生

It’s the start of rainy season here in Tokyo and I still can’t believe how different the rain is here. I grew up in Washington state, which is known for its high amount of rainy days. In fact, a lot of people call my state the “Rainy State.” Back home, however, the rain is very light. It often feels more like a mist or gentle sprinkle. Very rarely do you see Washingtonians (people from Washington State) using an umbrella when it is raining, only a light jacket. When I moved here, I assumed that it would be similar.

 

My first typhoon quickly proved me wrong. I walked out and saw the familiar dark clouds that mean rain and thought, “It’s ok. I’m from Washington. I can handle a little rain.” Within seconds, a little rain turned into a solid wall of water. Tokyo rain feels like taking a shower it is so heavy! I quickly found myself running to the nearest store and buying my first ever umbrella! This time, when I heard it was rainy season, I was prepared. Now, I never leave the house without a portable umbrella securely in my purse.

中学の英語劇：シンデレラ ーーーエマ先生

A couple of weeks ago, I was able to watch the junior high first year class’ performance of Cinderella. It was so much fun to watch! I loved all of the fun costumes and sound effects. At the end, the girls even sang a song in English. I was really impressed. The play was really good practice for the students for “EP Days,” which is coming up soon in the beginning of July. During EP Days, all of the middle school students will write, rehearse, and preform a play in English. Now, I am focusing my first year classes around getting the students ready for EP days. The students are working on writing and giving speeches in pairs. This is excellent practice for them to be able to write and preform a play in English during EP days. I’m very excited to see what the girls will come up with at EP Days!

スポーツ大会 ーーーマーレン先生

Last week was the Fujimura Sports Festival and it was so fun and interesting! I loved seeing all my students competing together. I have never seen a lot of the events that were played there. In particular, I thought ‘Eye of the Typhoon” and the game where students had to find people with certain characteristics game show style were the most fun to watch. I was on the red team and cheered on my students from the stands. It was a fun day, even if we ended up taking last place.

  In America, we have Field Days that are a similar idea, but not nearly as well executed. Games typically played in the US are more everyday games like basketball, volleyball, and soccer mixed with a few special attractions. My favorite American field game is the capture the flag. We would get two scarves and go out to a huge field that usually had some trees and obstacles on it. Each team could hide their flag anywhere they wanted to on their side. Then, the goal was to find the other teams flag without getting tagged. It is always an action[f1] -packed event. I also love the dunk tank, where teachers and staff get dunked in water if students hit a target with a ball.

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母国からの訪問者ーーーエマ先生

This past Golden Week, one of my best friends from America came to visit me in Tokyo. It was so much fun to have her here and show her around Tokyo. I know many people use Golden Week an opportunity to get out of the city, but there’s still a lot of fun things to do in Tokyo during this time, especially with a best friend at your side! We visited some of the most famous tourist sites, like Asakusa, the Shibuya Scramble, and Harajuku. We went to a Wisteria Festival at the Kameido Tenjin Shrine. We also took a day trip to Enoshima Island and Kamakura. We visited the Kamakura Daibutsu, which was amazing. And of course, we ate a lot of Japanese food! My friend wanted to try everything while she was here, so we ate sushi, ramen, tonkatsu, yaki-tori, takoyaki, soup curry, and lots of green tea ice cream. It was a fantastic Golden Week!

日本の文化体験ーーーマーレン先生

Tokyo is a huge city with a lot of opportunities to experience Japanese culture. During the past ten months, I have had a lot of opportunity to try various Japanese arts both here at Fujimura and in the city. One of my favorite experiences has been joining the Ikebana Club. The art of flower arranging is so interesting! I am constantly impressed by how talented the students are with the flowers. Taking a bunch of beautiful flowers and placing them on a kenzan to highlight their natural beauty is very satisfying.

 

I have also been practicing traditional Ohara Bushi dance. Me and some other JETs have been practicing every weekend and will be performing this Sunday in Shibuya. It is super exciting! We learned three full length routines and then made our own Ohara dance that was inspired by American culture. We will be the first international team to ever compete in the festival. I cannot wait! I love Japanese culture and have really enjoyed experiencing more of it.

日本の学校の担任制度と清掃活動ーーーエマ先生

　　　This year, Marlene and I have started going to the JHS first-year’s homeroom classes and cleaning time. It has been a very interesting experience and has helped me learn a lot about the Japanese school system. Homeroom classes are very important in Japanese schools, and homeroom teachers have a lot of responsibility for their students. Some junior high schools in America have homeroom classes, but mine did not. Students in America do not clean their schools. The cleaning is done by professional janitors. I like the idea of cleaning time in Japanese schools, because it teaches students responsibility and makes them respect their learning environment. I think American students might learn some valuable lessons if they had cleaning time, but it would be very difficult to get started in America!