Around a month into Summer break season. A lot of my students are traveling to see their family, and for fun. I still remember when summer break was a heaven of adventure. I usually went back to Japan during my summer break. Students with family in another country looks like they are off to see them as well. Kids grow so fast. After not seeing them for a few weeks during breaks they come back so much grown. So many of the kids attend summer camps, and come to lesson all sunned out. It might be a little difficult to be in a classroom and concentrate on learning a language while the outside is vibing with fun. Summer is a treat for those kids.
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Growth is such a privilege to be a part of. Sometimes I look back at when the student started, and hearing them construct simple sentences, and coming out with it makes me so joyful inside. Of course Japanese and any language is hard at the sentence construction point. To put together different parts of the sentence is a challenge. However, when a student completes, and I affirm them that it is correct, there is a sense of accomplishment and pride there. Sometimes progress is gradual. Of course it is step by step. One day the student just might be able to put a sentence together and communicate. The first accomplishment for most of my students is the writing system hiragana. When they start reading, and telling me parts of a story I get so elated! What a great thing!
Another trip to Book Off to add to my book collection. Most of them were children`s book beg, int, adv. I love Book Off. They sell a whole bunch of used books for a pretty good price. Shipping from Japan on Amazon has become ridiculously expensive. I don`t know what`s happening with yen. Yen is weak, so prices are going up. There needs to be more stores like book off where you can get Japanese stuff for a reasonable price. Things like notebooks, and crafts are necessity when teaching. I go to Lakeshore for most of my crafts materials. I order notebooks from Amazon with a grudge. Thank goodness I pretty much have what I need. When it comes to ESL (English as a second language) I could use some more materials. I can`t waite to be done collecting books!
Heritage culture is such a beautiful thing. Some students I have have history of Japanese heritage, or living in Japan. They want to discover their heritage, or don`t want to loose their Japanese. I feel like heritage culture is a beautiful thing, but scary at the same time. My mother was very adamant about me acquiring both English and Japanese. Therefor, I grew up bilingua soaking up both cultures as I lived in both countries. However, I felt a sense of language loss when I moved to America in 6th grade. When you are a kid language loss is so easy. When I went back to Japan I had to start in the level 2 Japanese class, and work my way up. It is scary thinking that I may have lost the Japanese side of me if I didn`t go back for high school. I didn`t notice until I was in that situation.
As a class we do a lot of art work. Through my years teaching my students are so good at art! Why is this? Is it a generation thing, or are people wanting to learn a language seem to be good at art? Of course a lot of my students love anime, and drawing anime too. Middle school/high school students have their aptitude, and little kids have theirs. The lines that young students make are so bold. The older students finish their arts in perfection. I think art is deeply connected to language learning. It is a form of out put that assists in putting out what the students understand in Japanese. I am dealing with kids that want to sell their art on Etsy. I always look forward to their work.
The other day I participated in a tea ceremony. This was my first time at a full on tea ceremony. It was the cherry blossom season tea ceremony. I was a little nervous, but sure to have a good time. I was so glad that I could celebrate the cherry blossoms. There isn`t much of a chance to celebrate something Japan in America, so I found a little joyfulness in this gathering. What I felt during and after the ceremony was that one can actually find Japan even in America. I know that in Japan it might be easy to find America. From all the imported culture and products from America. However, Japan with it`s complex culture, I feel like it is a little more difficult to find this in America.
As I looked back on this celebration with food, tea, and sweets, I thought that my teacher (the host) did a wonderful job putting everything together. Everything complemented each other, and gradually took me to my memory of being in Japan. What a wonderful thing to leave the ceremony with a sense of beauty and culture of Japan. I think this strikes the core of culture that it can transcend across countries, and it is still there. Why do little children`s art look so beautiful? I sat along my children student, and drew next to her. I looked over to the student`s art, and notice vibrant strikes of different colored crayons. You can`t quite make out what she is drawing, but nontheless the drawing is perfect in it`s own way. When I said your drawing is so pretty, prettier than mine she replies in a sweet tone, "yes, mine is prettier than yours!" Does the child know that her colors and lines are so beautiful? When did my drawing become so adult?
A lot of my students are so good at art. There seems to be two kinds of good in art. Good skill wise, or the undecorated beauty of art little children produce. Their art is so powerful and colorful. It makes me so happy everytime I sit down with a child to draw. Flowers are blooming. Spring is here. All throughout America there is crazy weather though. I always think when change of seasons come that nature doesn`t forget. When I saw the plums blossom this year I was struck with a feeling of happiness. The plums seems to have lots of fruites on them this year. Right when my mother visited my Wisteria flowered as well. They smell so good! I am wondering how big lavenders grow. I planted 2 lavenders in the beginning of this year. It has grown double the size of when I bought it. I see lavender bushes that are huge like 3 ft. I am wondering whether mine will be that big. I hope so! I still have the raised beds in my condo that I have to plant. I have to plant my patio plant family. Some herbs, flowers, and vegetables. This year will be an year of abundance.
I always wondered why people would spend hundreds of dollars on tea utensils. When I collected mine from Japan all of it (one complete set of tea bowls and other utensils) costed $1,000, which is pretty good for what I got. One day I got two tea bowls from my Japanese student, and it was so nice looking I put it in my tea dresser. Lately I was longing to make tea in that tea bowl. I took it out, and noticed that even if it was one of my favorite that I haven`t used it much. I had this image that you save the bowls that I like for when I host people. I asked myself why I do this. I soon realized that using the bit high end but the bowls that I like is what is going to give my tea making a bliss. Since then on I was looking at a little more expensive tea bowls online. I still have hesitation in buying tea bowls over $50, but I feel like I know the trick to making tea ceremonies and drinking tea magical.
I had the last lesson with a student I have worked with for 4 years. She was in 6th grade when we started, and is in 9th grade now. She has grown beautifully, and has acquired the Japanese language satisfactory. I look back on our work, and come to a state of sadness as we concluded our 4 year journey of Japanese learning. She was saying she might come back in the summer time, but I thought that I may never see her again.
At this point I wondered what as a teacher I stride to teach, and pass on to my students. First of all the language. This is a given. However, as students grow, and their abilities grow, there are things that become possible in the classroom. Like journaling, topic discussions, and writing prompts, etc. Through these topic/themed lessons I get to interact with students in different ways other than just teaching the basics of the language. I find that most of my students has great literary insights, and understanding of their environment. I hope that while saying farewell to my student that there are some aspects of my lessons that she can apply to her life, and carry with her. |
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July 2024
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