Classroom and settling into a Routine

While the next post will be about our trip to Koyasan, I thought I'd drop a few photos of the students settling in.

Items may appear larger than reality. Our classroom is likely smaller than your bedroom. :D

First, our classroom is pretty small! We have two (air-conditioned!) rooms, so basically this is how we roll. Students have five 50-minutes classes throughout the day -- Communication, Linguistics, Grammar, Literature and Culture. We spend 6th hour in support groups, or just talking through upcoming activities or everyday interactions that demand discussion (learning to ride the trains home has been one recently.) While they may not sense much of an improvement in their Japanese ability, their comfort level while speaking Japanese is much better, and speaking Japanese everyday here compared to their everyday life in the US has really increased their proficiency!

If you're wondering if your kids are getting properly fed, look no further. Five kids are getting more veggies than me.

Also, last week, half of our group visited an elementary school, where they finally had a chance to burn off some energy playing tag and soccer and Legos and dodge ball. It was great to see the littler kids enjoying time with us! Tons of fun, and a couple of too notch soccer players in our group.

(Apologies for the size of these photos! I want the whole photos in!)

Another fun activity has been joining the OHS Student Support Group who gathered with us to play some traditional Japanese games. This is karuta, and I also saw them playing fukuwarai, a game you might recognize as similar to pin the tail on the donkey.

On to Koyasan!