Kitazono High School / Itabashi-ku District

How fast your star rises and sets. Today we went to high school and guess what? Those kids were not enthralled with us. No autographs, no adoring crowds, just normal high school kids. Oh well, maybe the junior high kids will become an adoring public tomorrow.

We began the day with removing our shoes and doning slippers. Bob, our resident thespian was the official spokesperson of the day and he made his short speech in English over the announcements. No marching band and lights, it is hard to believe. The principal of Kitazono High School then greeted and briefed us on the school. Kitazono is made up of grades 1-3 (equlivent to our 10th-12th grades) and has a current enrollement of 960 students. Students can take a variety of subjects including Contemporay Japanese, English Reading, English Grammar, Home Economics, Mathematics, Art, Music and various Sciences to name a few. Students attend class for 50 minute periods with a homeroom time at the end of the day for cleaning the school. Yes, like the elementary school, there are no janitors to clean, the students do this every day. High school in Japan is NOT compulsatory, but 97% of students DO attend high school. Becuase it is not required, families pay tuition for school attendance even if the school is public and recieves some funding from the city ward. Such is the case with Kitazono.

Class visitation was next on the agenda. I visited Art, Contemporary Japanese, English Reading, Geology, and Information Technology. What I saw was mostly what I expected to find in Japan. The teacher at the front of the room lecturing and kids in rows taking notes and working from the text and the workbooks provided by the Ministry of Education. Even in the Information Technology class, it was mostly lecture with little hands-on instruction. Each class had between 37 to 40 students. Teachers taught from 8 am until 6 pm with only a lunch break. Very different from what we saw at elementary.

After observing second and third periods, we had lunch in the dining hall. Typical Japanese fare here, but much healthier than our school lunches and home cooked ---- Yummy! We also visited with students which was really fun even though many of them could only speak a little English. many of them were reserved until we got them talking, then they were very animated and wanted to be engaged in conversation.

After lunch, several of us were invited to an English Grammer class. We were asked to "help" but I think we confused students more than helped. Many of the text activities they were working on did not conform to our flow of English and the teacher only wanted to really hear the answer that came from the text. It was a good experience for us because it placed us in as close a role to the teacher and his mindset as possible for instructional delivery. I hope we didn't mess up 40 students in English too badly. Next, we met with teachers and the PTA for discussion which really involved us asking ALOT of questions for clarification. I think we walked away with a good understanding of a Japanese High School.

Then the end of the school day brought cleaning of the building and club activities. The impressive thing about both of these events was that there was little to no adult supervision. Students cleaned the building without direction and then broke up into their club groups and got started. Clubs ranged from Japanese Tea Ceremony Club to Kendo or Judo. Kendo is where students dress in uniform and basically beat each other with bamboo swords. There are many rules to the sport, but that is the basic picture. Students also worked in the art room, played instruments and street danced. The street dancing club was way cool as they were doing a mixture of contemporary dance and break dance combined. Many of the students did sports clubs and all this went on until 6 pm. And yes, there is a pool on the roof. We found out that this is pretty standard in Tokyo schools. I venture to say we will see one at the junior high tomorrow. All in all, it was a good day, but tiring.

Not to let a minute pass, once back at the hotel, several of us ventured onto a city bus bound for Tokyo Hands Department Store in another part of the city. After shopping ( I found nothing I wanted), we broke down and ate at McDonalds. It was soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo good!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't really have any higher level thoughts for today. Much of Japan is becoming somewhat routine after almost two weeks. I still know what it feels like to be illiterate or dyslexic as we can read nothing where we currently are located. Everything is in Japanese. It makes you know what kids and adults with reading barriers feel like. Hope everyone is well. Til tomorrow.

Best,

Tim-