When in Japan....: Welcome ANNNN ABAHHHHH!

We traveled to Hikone, Shiga, our prefecture city on Sunday via Kyoto bullet train. Although only in Kyoto a mere 3 ½ hours, I was able to sample some of its more famous foods including pickled EVERYTHING and yuba, the skin that forms when you cook soymilk. Here's an image:

Most interesting is Hikone’s relationship with Michigan, and in particular, Ann Arbor, or, colloquially, Annnn Abahhhhhh. For the first time, being from Michigan is WAYYY COOL and, as one of our group has found, being a resident of Annnabahh puts you in a special celebrity status in and of itself. Hikone’s mayor, whose name escapes, eyes literally lit up when Maureen stated she was from Annabahh. She (and I through my Michigan heritage) will be dining with Hiko, special assistant to the mayor, and a crew this evening. Yeah Michiganders!!!

Yesterday, the group visited a K-6 elementary school and Buddhist altar factory. The school was out of this world and nothing like I imagined elementary school in Japan to be like. The kids, for one, were more than friendly, leading us like we were children through different activities throughout the day. They really tried to communicate with us, with some using picture dictionaries, others pantomiming their intentions.

Several other elements particular struck me and my fellow American teachers:
Open classrooms: The entire school was an open classroom, as each individual room had only 3 walls and was open to a giant central area. As you might expect, it was quite loud, as teachers had to speak over other teachers and children to be heard.

The amount of freedom students had throughout the day: Students were able to roam freely, even during class time, needing no “pass” to use the restroom and such

The amount of unsupervised time: As they have no breaks or preparation (prep) periods in the course of the school day, teachers leave their classrooms throughout the day, sometimes up to 15-20 minutes, to do whatever it is they need to do. The playground had no “monitors” and recess meant un-adulterated free-play.

Student cleaning and responsibilities: After our lunch, which I’ll post images of later, students cleaned their class area top to bottom, sometimes using chopsticks to get into tight places, other times on their hands and knees wiping down the floor (I think NVD parents would sue me for “child labor” practices if I introduced this VERY awesome idea to my classes.

Hands-on activities: Almost everything I saw kids working on was a hands-on project. As another American teacher noted, we did not see one textbook.

Home Economics and teacher instruction: Teachers teach EVERYTHING, from mathematics to music to cooking to ikebana to sewing. I witnessed a male teacher-led class sewing knapsacks. Pretty cool.

Kids serve lunch: Around 12:30, all these kids popped out with little chefs hats, gloves, and faces masks and serve lunch to their classmates. When finished, the little chefs are expected to take all dishes and supplies back to central kitchen.