If I ever fail in pursuits related to computers or languages I know that I will always have a future as a cat-herder. It's close enough at least to what I do every Wednesday when I go teach at the kindergarten here in Oshima.
In Oshima there are two classes, divided by age group. The Flower group is for the 4-5 year olds and the Rainbow group is for 5-6 year olds. The Rainbow kids graduate up to elementary school at the end of the year, and the Flower group becomes the new Rainbow group.
Now, the Japanese school year runs from April to March, so up until the end of the previous school year I had 31 crazy, wonderful, all-over-the-place little munchkins running around every Wednesday morning during my hour long English class. Twelve of them graduated in March but I got a fresh crop of 11 itty-bitty four year-olds in April, and that's just a totally different animal. That could almost be a literal statement, based on the difference that four months of kindergarten makes in how these kids behave. The cat-herding description is even more accurate now.
My days at the kindergarten run from 10am-3pm. Technically the kids generally leave at 2pm, but afterwards the teachers clean a little and then have "tea time". That's what the they call it, a little pinch of English mixed into the Japanese. English class itself runs from 1030-1130, and then after that it's chaos, lunch, then some more chaos, with general kindergarten-type learning stuff thrown in for good measure.
Overall these kids are warm, friendly, curious, innocent, and adorable. That's a lot of adjectives, but they deserve it. Of course there's the kid who cries as soon as he gets to school and then refuses to eat lunch, the one who cries if he gets too excited, and the little spoiled one who's always bothering the other kids and throws a tantrum if he doesn't get what he wants, but they're four years old, what should one expect?
All of the different schools have their own perks and charms, but I really love the simple joy and fun of the kindergarten and the younger kids. Ironically, I get to talk to them almost more than the junior high kids because I realized that English Only with five year olds is stupid.
walking through the future jungle,
-greg.
ps: speaking of six year olds, some of the first graders asked me yesterday if i was from the US. when i said yes, one of the girls asked me if i was going home to America that night. she couldn't believe it when i said i lived in Oshima. i love it.
pps: "walking through the jungle" is quite possibly their favorite book. crocodile!
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