November 28th, 2007
Return of Kinderphobia
Woke up at 4:00 with Kinderphobia. I thought I was past all that, but today it got to me again. It probably had a whole lot to do with that “ABC Song” request. I’m just not the kind of person who sings. Ever. Yes, I realize that’s silly, and I even told myself that last night, but I was still up most of the rest of the night. Argh!
I rode to the Shinkansen to Hiroshima as usual. I brought my iPod along and listened to chapter two of “Walden” by Henry David Thoreau. I read the book once long ago, but I had forgotten just how good it was. Also, I should point out that my link to the free audio book website a few days ago was wrong. It’s actually at http://www.librivox.org (libravox and librivox sound the same, but the web doesn’t like the one with the “A” in the name). This one is especially well read; the people who read for Librivox are volunteers, and some of them are not good, but I really like this one.
Karaoke is for wimps. I do it in STYLE!
I arrived at the kindergarten as usual, and started with the 5-6 year olds. We reviewed just about everything, but I worked on “I like…” and “I don’t like…” quite a bit today. I’m trying to get them to be able to tell their name, age, and what they like before we stop for the big break in a couple of weeks. I think they’re catching on; they just need practice. I’m also using the flashcards to give them ideas of things to like (rabbits, sunshine, pizza) and things not to like (rain, snakes, and carrots).
Then it was time for the little ones, ages 3-4. I started off by reviewing shapes. They know (“know” may be stretching the truth a bit) circles, squares, triangles, and rectangles. Some of them get it; some of them don’t. I then tried to get them to do “How old are you?” but I think they’re too young; it just wasn’t going to happen, so I moved on pretty quickly. We then moved on to cover a few flashcards, but I saved time at the end for my big showbiz break. Then it was time. I tell ya, the “ABC Song” never sounded so good. The kids sat there awestruck by my brilliant rendition of this timeless classic. My cellphone then rang, and it was Hollywood, wanting me to sing at the Academy Awards this year. I told them I’d think about it. Then I did the impossible, the unthinkable, the inconceivable; I did it again, having them join in. Some of them made it as far as G, others K, but I lost all of them by the end. Then I ran out of time. That’s OK, we have plenty more classes to practice.
For the 4-5 year-olds, it was mostly a rerun of the first class, but without the “like” stuff. I might try it with them after Christmas. Then it was back to the office before leaving. They had me try on the Santa suit, and it fit just fine. They have the whole set: coat, pants, white beard, and hat. I told them I’d bring my own hat (“Watashi no boshi wa arimasu”) that fit better. They asked about boots. I don’t have any boots, much less Santa boots. They said OK, and that even Santa must wear slippers indoors. Ummm….. OK.
Then it got a little strange. As if it wasn’t strange enough before. Mr. Kindergarten asked me what do children do at children’s Christmas parties in the USA. I told them games, songs, presents, maybe candy. He asked me what kind of songs, and I mentioned “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” “Frosty The Snowman,” and “Santa Clause is Coming To Town.” He had never heard of any of them. Oh-boy! He had heard of “White Christmas” and “Jingle Bells,” however. I told him the kids could learn Jingle Bells easily enough, so he was happy with that. I wonder who’s going to end up teaching them that? I also suspect that next week I’m going to be asked what kinds of games. I can’t think of any children’s party games that are specially suited to Christmas. Party games are party games, right? Email your suggestions or post them below! He also said that during the party, I will dance with the children. This just gets betterer and betterer!
Smackdown in English Class!
Then it was time for the community center. The first thing we discussed was the change of schedule due to my not being in town on the 19th after all. We switched the party to the 12th, ans we’ll just officially have our last class at the restaurant. This session’s class went about as usual, but two of the women kept interrupting each other and (I think) got into an argument. They kept saying “We’re not fighting” but yeah, I think they were. I hope they both come back next week and it all blows over. I had nothing to do with it, and really there wasn’t anything I could do to stop it. I’m not even absolutely sure they were fighting. We’ll just see next time.
Then it was break time, and I went to McDonalds. Cold sandwiches from Subway just don’t have the attraction they did a few months ago, and the walk to Mos Burger is just too long. Then I went back to the center and did the usual Internet stuff for about an hour. I ordered the Mac OS X that I wanted and had it shipped from home. I paid extra for rush shipping. Ptuny pointed out to me something very important that I had not thought of before: If the International office here closes for the holiday, I won’t be able to get my packages, so everything coming to me needs to be shipped reasonably soon. That means next week at the latest.
Everybody PARTY!
The late class had the old ladies, and they too, want to do a party on the 12th. I guess that’s gonna be “Fat Wednesday” for me, since that will be two parties in a few hours. HO! HO! HO! They asked me what I like, and I was vague, so they said I have to tell them next week. I don’t care, so long it’s not “Squishies.” OK, I probably do care, but I don’t know what to suggest. Tonight we finished up the material on “Around The House,” so I need to come up with some whole new them for next week. Next week is going to be the last “normal” class for both of these groups since the 12th will be two parties instead of normal classes. I’ll have to see if I can come up with something fun. The first group already said they want a game. No problem, I have a whole book of “Grammar Games.”
City Lights
And then it was time to go. I rode the taxi through town to the Shinkansen terminal as always. This time, however, they had all the decorations up. Wow, Hiroshima has the most beautiful Christmas light displays I’ve ever seen. There’s a giant red phoenix bird (I assume it’s a phoenix, that’s seems appropriate for Hiroshima), bluish ice crystals, three-dimensional snowmen and dragons. It was great. I’d like to walk through town and take pictures, but I don’t see how I can do that with my schedule. I just don’t get any “after dark” time in that town. Rush-rush-rush!
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