An Intro To My Schools

Over the next three weeks I'm going to mix in some posts about each of the three schools I teach at: Zamami, Aka, and Geruma. On all three islands, the schools contain junior high (the American equivalent of 7th-9th grade), elementary (1st-6th), and kindergarten/pre-school. All island students, upon graduation from 9th grade, move to Naha for high school. Most live with relatives, but I hear that some live in boarding schools or even in their own apartment.

[The entire Zamami student body at today's lesson on how to
defend against a violent man (I attempted the futile conversation
about a violent woman).]

This week I am on Zamami, the largest of the three schools. There are 35 junior high students, 49 elementary students, and 31 in kindergarten/pre-school. I teach elementary 1/2, 3/4, and 5/6 together (that's three different, combined classes). I don't know many of the 2nd-6th grade students' names yet, so that makes the connection outside the classroom difficult. There are only five first-graders and they are some of my favorite students of all three schools. I hang out with/get in trouble with them every day at lunch while their teacher takes a much-needed break in the teachers' room. (Yesterday I was swinging one boy around when a girl got too close and had her legs taken out from beneath her. She went down face first and came up bleeding from the mouth, her upper baby teeth freshly loosened. Am I old enough to know better?)

I just started teaching the kindergarten class two [three-week] cycles ago. That class is very intimidating because neither the teachers nor the students speak any English. This is no different than Aka or Geruma, except Zamami has 31 students! By a factor of two, this is my largest class. Fortunately I found a website that offers games in English with a Japanese translation. For now, we're working more on just getting through the 45 minutes rather than teaching English. Yesterday we played a game that had me, the shark, chasing them, the fish. It was so fast and tiring that with five minutes left, they all (ALL) just collapsed and lay on the gym floor. Success!

[Zamami junior high students electing next year's officers. Note the segregation of boys and girls.]

Junior high has some of my favorite and least favorite students. It combines the awkwardness of 7th grade (nobody is cool in 7th grade) and the blossoming maturity of 9th grade. Plus, the 9th grade class is a unique compilation of personalities that have become a team of friends. As witness to what a special class they are, my predecessor, Nick, is returning to Zamami from law school for their March graduation.

In junior high I teach alongside my JTE (Japanese Teacher of English), Shizuko-sensei. She prepares the lessons and usually I read lists of words or stories from the textbook while the students repeat after me. Often the students will have to come read a passage to me, as well. I am thankful for this one-on-one interaction as it prevents anyone from slipping through the cracks.