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School Days
April 23, 2008
Japanese preschool, not surprisingly, is full of routines. I think the two year old class is just to teach them HOW to go to school. We're greeted by everyone with a Japanese Good Morning -- Ohayo Gozaimasu! Mia started saying it back to them this morning so she's on her way to learning the language! When she first comes in, she is supposed to take off her outside shoes, put them on her very own shelf and put on her indoor shoes. She then hangs her thermos on it's very own hook. She goes into the classroom and puts a sticker in her attendance book on today's date.
She hangs her towel on her very own hook, and then places her backpack in the backpack bookcase on, you guessed it, her very own shelf! Everywhere her name is labeled somewhere, it is accompanied by a sticker of a little chick. So even if she can't recognize her name in Japanese yet, she knows she has the chick hook or chick shelf.
Once she's done all of her get-ready-for-school-tasks taken care of, she can go get a toy and take it to her very own seat.
She plays with that until she's bored of it, at which time she is supposed to put it back on the shelf where it belongs. Both the toy and the shelf are labeled with the same sticker so she knows where it should go. Genius!
After free play time, it is story time and/or singing time.
Everyone has a spot on the floor where they are supposed to sit, and it is labeled with their name and baby animal sticker. Mia's already learning the little Japanese songs, complete with hand gestures. Maybe she'll do it for the camera one of these days. Next is snacktime. This may be followed by a bathroom break, or it may just have been coincidence that a few of them all needed to go at the same time. Not sure yet. But Mia knows to say "Oshikko" if she needs to go to the bathroom with the tiny kid-sized toilet.
So far she's only had one accident at school, so she's doing great there! Now, if we could just cut down on all the puddles at home.
Outside time is next and it takes a bit of preparation. They have to find their sun hats and change back into their outdoor shoes. That's nothing compared to the task of getting 19 two year olds all outside and doing the right activity. It really was like herding cats. They wanted them to play in the sand. One teacher would stay in the sandbox and try to involve all the nearby children as the other one ran around the playground trying to corral the stragglers back to where they should be. I'm not sure if all the parents that are sticking around for the first few days helped or hindered this herding...
But eventually they all wound up in the same place.
They somehow herd them all back inside where they collect all their belongings and get ready to go. They sit with their backpack and wait to be picked up. When it's time to go, they bow goodbye to their sensei and say Sayanora. Quite a lot to pick up, but she's getting the hang of it.
Posted by Kimberly at April 23, 2008 10:29 PM