It's Elementary!

Today we visited Kurishima Elementary School in Adachi-ku, just north east of Tokyo. Here's a map to give you an idea! It took just under an hour in our cushy bus.

Through the front door of the school, we were asked to change our shoes. Our students were asked to bring or buy a pair of new/clean shoes for this purpose. 

Did you know that, in Japan, kids change their shoes when they arrive at school?

We arrived and were asked to relax in a room for a few minutes while the kids finished up lunch, cleaning and had their afternoon recess. They had prepared cold mugi-cha (wheat tea) for us, which was great on this warm summer day (see gallery above)! And then we were escorted to the gym (see gallery above) for a few words from the principal, vice principal, and a 6th grade student representative. She spoke in Japanese and then English -- I was really impressed with her ability! Our own Karen-sensei was then asked to say a few words, too. She encouraged everyone to have a lot of fun, in either English or Japanese, and told the elementary kids that THEY were going to be the "sensei" today, teaching OUR students about school life in Japan.

After the greetings, our students went off with different classes thoroughout the school. I saw a variety of activities going on as I made my rounds: self-introductions (in both Japanese and English), Q&A sessions, game-playing, origami-folding and even signature-gathering! Unfortunately we were not allowed to take pictures of the schoolchildren (for safety reasons), but perhaps that allowed all the kids toe really engage with each other. Everyone had a great time!

We gathered some comments from our students:

"When we went into the classroom, we introduced ourselves and answered some questions. The kids loved it when Nick introduced himself becuase "Nick" sounds like the Japanese word for "meat." THey also asked Nick how they could get as tall as him. After that, we played a card game called "bouzu-mekuri." During the game, the kids called Aidan an イケメン (ike-men), someone who is handsome, smart, etc."
Aidan, Allison, Nick, Jasmine, Margalit

"We were pleasantly greeted by the 5th grade class as we walked into their busy classroom. "Well com" was mispelled on the chalkboard and we immediatley began introductions. Each student spoke in English and told us their name and one thing they liked; many of the boys screamed and the girls tried to calm them. After intros, we played a game where we ran between the desks and played "rock, paper, scissiors." After, we transitioned outside to play dodgeball int he courtyard. They were all very excited, and kept throwing us the ball for us to play! It was extremely fun and we were sad that our visit got cut short! This was a memorable experience that we will cherish forever."
Nazjaa, Chase, Victoria, Jared, Jake, Dror

"I learned how to casually speak in japanese and make new friends."
Tien

"My highlight of the activity was interacting with the children."
Marlene

"Even though i didn’t know much japanese, they still tried heir best to communicate with me, there was one kind who saw me struggling making the spinner, and they offered to help."
Joram

"One girl who was making the spinner, made one side blue and yellow, so it would be green when she spun it. I told her she was smart and she followed me around for the rest of the trip."
Grace

"I am truly amazed at how well mannered these kids are, considering that they are just third graders."
Christina

「今日の学校のりょこうは楽しかったです。たくさん子どもはベースボールとバスケットボールが好きでした。おりがみと紙のひこうきをつくりました。」
(Today's school trip was fun. Many kids liked baseball and basketball. We made origami and paper planes.)
Gautham, Mason, Alyssa, Eric, Isabelle

"My group of kids were doing their best to communicate and explain things to me."
Alyssa

"I loved the school visit! The kids were so excited to teach me calligraphy!"
Isabelle

「今日は楽しかったです。子どもたちはかわいくて、おもしろいです。」
(Today was fun. The children were cute and interesting.)
"They loved Margo's dancing and Moises' Mandarin. We all signed their nametags. We had some divas in our class, but everyone was kind and welcoming. We'll remember this forever. ^_^"
Olivia, Moises, Elliott, Margo, Kate

"Minutes after entering the classroom, every student introduced themselves one by one. We introduced ourselves and answered questions that the students had. After the short intro, we separated into different groups in which the students helped us make these spinning toys. The kids were really excited and happy that they got to hang out with non-Japanese people. The toys were called ぶんぶんゴマ (bun-bun-goma). At the end they sang a song for us and then gave us bracelets and letters, then said goodbye. We really enjoyed this experience."
Dyllan, Jordy, Antos, Leslie, Louise, Juli

"Something I found cute was when the kids were showing me how to write kanji, one of them grabbed my hand and looked at my nails."
"I found the card game they played was actually pretty hard and required a lot of skill."
"They loved it when we did calligraphy and I wrote in katakana."
"They loved showing me their games."
Vivian, Maria, Daisy, Joe, Oliver, Anthony

"Everyone was so nice and excited. We loved how they tried to introduce themselves in English which was super awesome. They wre amazed with what we knew. They had so much energy the entire time. Everything we did was so much fun. The kids were great leaders. Sometimes they were shy but they all came out of their shell eventually. We all wish we could've stayed longer. It was an amazing way to practice our Japanese. We also got gifts afterwards which blew our minds."
Emily, Lily, Sooha, Zachary, Indira

"The kids were very kind. They gave us opportunities to participate in every activity we played. They always made sure we knew what was going on  and were very considerate of us and each other. The students were exceptionally kind--everytime we moved to a new group activity, they ensured we understood what was happening, and even had a designated class translator. And that translator was amazing to speak with us in English."
Melissa, Margot, Wynne, Alfonso, Peter

Thanks for your comments, everyone! We are so pleased you had fun! I'm sure the Kurishima kids will remember this forever, too!