Like I said before in an earlier post, graduation in Japan takes place in March. The high school graduations were about a week and a half before the junior high school ones, which were followed a week later by elementary school. I was lucky enough to go to all 3.
All JHS in Takayama had their graduations on March 11 this year. This meant that I was only able to attend the ceremony for one of my schools. this year it was Miya. I was really sad I didn't get to see Kuguno's ceremony, although I did get to participate in the rehersal at the school on the Friday prior.
The week leading up to graduation I spent making farewell cards and playing games in my last English classes at both schools. At Miya we played "hot potato" for our last class, using a small stuffed Oscar the Grouch, courtesey of a cereal box at home (thanks Dave!), and music from my iPod. I told them if they answered a question correctly they could choose a prize from my stash of Colorado schwag; a rigged bribe - I had planned to give them all stuff anyway ^_^
At Kuguno I had my 3rd grade conversation class (which I run almost exclusively by myself) making farewell cards that spilled into 2 classes, so we ran out of time to play the game. But I was impressed by their creativity and we all ended up with a fabulous book of memories, all in English. Even my sleepy-grouchy kid participated, heh heh
During their final regular English class we combined the basic and advanced classes and watched a making-of video of the "We are the World" song from the 1980's. My JTE was asking me I'd seen that video before in America and I had to reply "well maybe when I was little, that song is really old..." ha ha ha
In the afternoon that day we had rehersal for the ceremony, in the gym. Which was freezing. I think I've mentioned this before but there is no central heating here, and insulation is a joke. Those enormous gyms are heated in the winter using space heaters (if we're lucky). Some of them are quite large, but most of them are like this
This is actually from the graduation at Miya elem but they're all the same
At any rate, you have to have a lot of them on for a long time to make any kind of impact and it seems nobody thinks of this fact ahead of time. At least at KJH. I swear, I thought I was going to die when we had the 2nd term closing ceremony back in December. Anyway, we all sat together, bundled up in our winter coats, practicing. Actually, I didn't have a chair so I got to stand, lol
So we practiced how they, one by one, get called and walk to the center of the stage to receive their certificates
and we practiced singing and speeches and then it was over.
I'm sad I missed the real ceremony. I heard that grouchy-kid and the bad-ass girl both cried during the real one, heh heh heh.... *sniff*
I made a point of spending as much time with my 3rd graders at MJH in the days leading to their graduation as well. This included lunchtime, which I had been having with the 2nd grade since January.
They all got inkan stamps this day as gifts - inkan are used here to sign for stuff instead of signatures. I have one too - it says "jenifaa".
The day of the ceremony, March 11 (a Tuesday), one ingenious teacher came early and lit all the stoves, plus the weather was really nice that day, so it was actually quite comfortable in the gym.
All of the parents, staff, and the rest of the students file in and sit together in the gym and then the graduating class, led by their homeroom teachers, parade in. They have a tradition here where the graduating class homeroom teachers wear traditional clothing - kimono and hakama. Isn't that just awesome? What would we do in the US if we tried to have a custom like that? Leather chaps, cowboy boots and dresses with corsets? ha ha ha
Although there were only 22 graduates at MJH this year, the ceremony was still just as long as at even the biggest schools in Takayama. Which just meant we got more speeches and songs, I think.
these things are boring no matter where you are - US or Japan. ha ha
Each graduate walked on stage and received their ceritficate. You might notice they're all wearing their uniforms and not graduation cap and gowns. That's more of a western custom.
After they received their diplomas they turned to the audience and said a few words about their dreams for the future.
And of course there was singing. And speeches.
After the ceremony they had their final homeroom meeting, which I invited myself to... all their parents were there too so it wasn't that strange (I hope!)
I don't know about other schools, but at MJH they have a tradition of taking a picture of the graduating class with all the staff. You can see more than 60 years worth of pictures hanging in the downstairs hallway. I think it's really cool, to see how the school and the students have changed over the years. You can see in the early pictures, the effects of the devastation from the war (no cohesive uniforms, the school still being constructed, etc), gradually changing to the modern society of today. Plus, it's nice to be able to see the ALTs who have been here before me, and to know that one day my sucessor will be able to see me too ^_^
So, after the homeroom meeting we all made our way to the gym to take the picture
And this is what it looks like. Can you find me? I do tend to stick out here a little ^_^
After that we all lined the hall to send the graduates and their families off in style
And then, as the other teachers went back to the office or with their homeroom classes, I ran outside to take pictures with the 3rd grade.
And then they were gone! *cries*
Elementary school graduation was a week later, on March 21 (a Friday). This year I went to Miya elementary. This ceremony, although heartbreaking I'm sure for those who had been together for 6 years, wasn't that sad for me - since both Miya and Kuguno are so small and each only have 1 ES and 1 JHS, I'll get all the 6th graders next year in JHS ^_^
"arigatou roku nen sei" (thank you 6th grade)
On ceremony day, since the elementary school is bigger than the junior high (6 grades vs 3) we packed the gym a bit more
we still froze though -_^
Interestingly enough, they wore their new JHS uniforms for the ceremony
I guess to symbolize moving on to the new school. After their final homeroom meeting we all lined up outside to send them off, same as at JHS. Except it was really cold that day. And outside (>.<)
And that was it! I spent the rest of the day there planning lessons for next year's English classes. I'm glad my last ceremony was the only one where I'm not actually saying goodbye to anyone. Cause April 7, when they come to JHS, I'll get to say "hello!"
No comments:
Post a Comment