Festival frenzy

Today was the first day of Yanai High School's (my base school) culture festival. The preparations and practices have been going on for weeks, and the amount of effort and time that both students and teachers have put into these 2 days has been remarkable. Even I (the lowly ALT who normally leaves bang on 4.15) have been staying late every night this week in order to film English Club's puppet show of fairy stories. On Wednesday night I left school at 8.20...and I was back in on Thursday morning at 7.15! You see even I've been dedicated to the festival cause!

This morning started with a nice student-led opening ceremony, in which some video clips were shown, featuring skits and parodies with some of the good-sport teachers. Even though I didn't understand all of the Japanese, it was still funny to see some of my English dept colleagues dressed up and being stupid! Next on the agenda was a 30 minutes drama (a suspense rom-com!!)....i really didn't have a clue what was happening, and almost nodded off on more than one occasion!! I was relieved when the 'free-time' segment of the day arrived. Between 11 and 2, we could just wander around school, looking at the displays and presentations that each class and club had made. Seriously, Japanese kids really seem to have a lot of creative flair and talent, and the displays ranged from a huge mosaic picture of a football player (maybe supposed to be Beckham??), Mickey Mouse made from balloons, origami displays, ikebana, a classroom turned into a Japanese style cafe, complete with tatami floor, a bamboo room (!), and of course, the English Club room. Mana and Yuka (the 2 leaders of the club) had done themselves proud, and the room looked great. There were lots of posters about England, photographs, Union Jacks, and the centre-piece....the puppet show movie!! The story was of the 2 English Club characters, Mr Morry, and Miss Kitty, and their adventure around 3 different countries, where they witness 3 different stories/fairy tales ; Momotaro, Jack and the Beanstalk, and Cinderella. The students made the puppets from scratch, made the scenery, wrote the English scripts, and directed the movie. It was great...not technically polished or anything (to say the least!)...but just fun...and funny! I was very proud of them, and what they had achieved. I even met Yuka and Mana's parents (who had come to wander around the festival for a few hours), and I told them their daughters' English was great. They positively beamed!

I enjoyed a delicious lunch of yakisoba, yakitori, chips, and other bits (all made at festival-like stalls by the third year students), and enjoyed watching a range of dances, performances, and music in the quad. The atmosphere was wonderful, as all the students clapped along to whatever music was being played, and enthusiastically heckled (in a nice way) their friends who were performing. The sun was shining and everyone was having a great day.

All day I talked to loads of my students (old and current), and enjoyed chatting to them outside of the English classroom. Some of the boys from my current 'noisy' class, came over to tell me that I was "first, first, number 1, number 1." What did they mean, I wondered. I soon found out, when the school Principal also congratulated me, and pointed to a number of posters adorning the walls of a classroom. It turns out the posters were a result of a big student poll, and I was voted in first place for 'most interesting teacher' and 'favourite teacher' in the female teacher section. Cool! Number 1 baby!! I was well chuffed, and of course took a photo of the results poster!


In the afternoon we went back to the gym for the final hour of the festival day. After a game of 'numa numa' (yep, the Moldovian song!) bingo with the entire school and their festival fans, the students announced that some awards would be given out. And guess what..I won again! Each year had to vote for their 'Ms' and "Mr' Yanai High School (i.e their favourite teacher). I won Ms Yanai High School from my first year students!! Whoohoo! Two other English teachers won for the 2nd and 3rd year students, and so in the 'Ms' Yanai High School section, English swept the board! The 3 of us, along with the 'Mr' Yanai High School winners had to go on stage, to receive a Hawaiian flower thingy round our necks, and a prezzie which included a chalk set (god, Im really a teacher now!). We were awarded in year order, and so I went first, and was also passed the mic to say some words. I thanked everyone (in Japanese), and received so much applause, and shouts of 'hey Lauren' from some of the baseball boys. It was great, and I truly felt a part of the school. A great afternoon for the teaching ego, and just a really comforting feeling of belonging, and knowing that you are being treated like every teacher in the school. Sometimes, as an ALT, we are under-utilised, ignored, misinformed, and generally treated like a 'guest' at school...not an actual full-time member of staff. And maybe this is fair enough...I am only at my base school twice a week ; I am not expected to work late like the other teachers ; I can stay at home in vacations ; and I don't have any of the admin that the other teachers have. It's difficult, and maybe impossible, to be treated as an equal member of staff. However, I feel this afternoon showed me that the students, at least, view me as 'one of their teachers', and have truly welcomed me into the school community. 10 months ago I was on that stage making my welcome/introduction speech in very nervous Japanese, and having no clue of how my JET year would go. And now I have almost finished my first year of teaching in Japan, and I stood on the stage today, being applauded by kids I love, for a job that is sometimes frustrating, but ultimately fulfilling and great fun. Somehow I still have passion for my work here in Japan, and am looking forward to my next JET year where I hope I can develop my teaching skills and get to know my students even more.....Oh yeah, and I wanna win the award again next year, so I can't drop my game!!