ALT Invasion at Taisha Sho

ALT Invasion at Taisha Sho - 2
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

The two classes of soon-to-be 6th graders at Taisha Elementary will be going to Hiroshima on a class trip in late April. So, just like last year, I gathered together a few of my friends and local ALTs and we all converged on Taisha Sho to joint-teach a lesson and help the kids practice their English.

As part of their trip, the students have to go up to foreigners in the Peace Park and ask them a few simple questions in English - "What's your name?", "Where are you from?" etc. Not tough stuff per se, but daunting for 11 and 12-year-old Japanese kids.

So to get them used to meeting new foreigners I brought with me Mark (England), Ang (England), Chris & Susie (America), Mark (Ireland) and Rusty & Lisa (America). No Aussies, Canadians or Kiwis this time, but I did try.

I'm sure for many of my small-town students, this was the largest group of foreigners they've ever encountered in one place - you have to remember I'm the only non-Japanese person in my town - No Chinese, No Koreans, No Brazilians - just me.

And the kids had a great time - we did a we short self-introductions, played an easy warm-up game ("Cowboy Showdown") and then all got in a big circle and sung and danced "The Hokey Pokey." After that we split into groups and practiced the target dialogue before turning the kids loose to go up to all the adults in the room (The 8 foreign teachers and the 2 Japanese homeroom teachers) and practice the dialogue and gather signatures. About 3 kids were able to talk to all of us and get all 10 signatures - earning them a much-coveted SpongeBob sticker.

I wish these two classes the best of luck on their trip to Hiroshima and I hope they have nice weather, so there'll be lots of foreigners milling around the Peace Park.

Click on this pic to see more pictures from this day.

-Jason