Swimming Lessons Without a Pool

I understand that most schools use pools for their swim lessons, but thankfully we don't have that option. Instead, we use the ocean that is 100m away. Fortunately somebody warned me the day before so I could bring my swimsuit and participate! (Last year I had to sit in my school clothes in the sun on the beach.)

[mandatory stretching routine before all semi-athletic activities]

The first activity was to put our faces in the water and blow bubbles. The two first-grade girls weren't quite up to this so I went off with them and another teacher for much of the lesson while the older kids practiced floating and swimming. Eventually we got our girls to put their faces in the water for 5 seconds!


At the end of today, the two closest girls (below) and the boy came up to me with their teacher. The kids all said "arigatou gozaimashita", which means "thank you very much (past tense)". I asked why and the teacher explained that this is the last time I will see them until September. So sweet of them!