catching up with all my pics - #3

2nen sei - Opt-A book reading - 9.jpg
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

Jr High kids...

As you can see from the dates on these pics, I'm bouncing all over time-wise.
The pic above is from just this past week.

I've been helping a small class of thirteen 8th graders prepare to read English picture books at local kindergartens and preschools.
They split up into groups and translated the English into Japanese and some groups even made props and hats.
I love classes like this - an elective English class - where the kids are really interested in English and usually a little less shy about speaking it.
I'm not at Hamayama Chu this week, so I hope I get to go with them in two weeks to see them in action in front of a crowd.
I do this same type of thing once a month at the local library, where I read English picture books to small kids from 4pm to 4:30. It's a nice volunteer job that I suggested about two years ago and it's become popular with the local moms.

The other Jr High pics are from sports competitions I attended - a track and field event and a soccer tournament.
Speaking of soccer, I stood out in the freezing rain for about 2hrs last weekend watching both my Jr Highs compete in soccer - it was cold!
But they both won, so that's cool! Maybe that's why I like Volleyball better... :)

The soccer tourney below was a special international tournament where a team of Jr High age boys from Ireland came over to Shimane and played against local teams made up of players from all the area Jr High schools. One of my Jr High teachers, and the soccer coach at Taisha Chu, was in charge of the "Izumo" team. I went out to cheer them on, and they scored first, but the Irish boys came back strong and ended up winning that game and the whole tournament.