Rubbish bins ゴミ箱 ゴミばこ

(photos from internet for educational purposes)

Classroom 教室 きょうしつ

Gymnasium 体育館 たいいくかん

Library 図書館 としょかん

School time-table じかんわり じかんひょう

どうとく　dōtoku  =  Moral Education

A standard time-table for a Japanese school is 6 periods a day: 

For quite a few years there were no classes on a Saturday morning, but these days more schools and also the Japanese Ministry of Education is beginning to make noises about that again. “Youngsters out on the street – up to no good” – that sort of thing. Schools used as a convenient baby-sitting service. Ouch! That’s a bit harsh, but you get the idea. Time will tell what any government will decide. 

Don’t forget that many parents pay for sending their children to juku anyway, so this would be a cheaper option. Also, most parents work on a Saturday, so there is no reason why children shouldn’t work. 

Perhaps a more reasonable motivation is that parents and governments have noticed a slipping of standards (or maybe a realisation that their standards are no longer good enough) and therefore there is a wish to raise those. 

What is also clear is that there is more outside competition for standards, so it isn’t perhaps up to the Education Ministry of Japan anymore. Japanese youngsters want and need to get jobs in America; they may work in Korea, they may need a job in France etc.etc.

Anyway, the jury is out, so to say, for now.

じかんわりを つくろう = Let’s make a time-table!

Draw up your own time-table frame; make cut-outs of your subjects and glue them on. You could even make a large one in a group for the classroom wall. 

The word じかんわり literally means time-divide(r).

What do Japanese youngsters like to do?

But is it?

Well for the “Happy Few” it is, but most have to work – 

long hours and cheap wages: アルバイト arubaito.

800 – 1000 yen an hour

 

Cleaning at school そうじ sōji

Cleaning at school   そうじ　sōji

Cleaning is an important part of life at school. Every day at the end of the classroom lessons all students are involved in the cleaning process. The basic Japanese philosophy is: you make it dirty, you clean up your own mess. 

The boys clean as much as the girls. They may not like it, but there is no chance of avoiding it. The pictures above would make one think that it is fun to clean. Of course not!

The students even clean the toilets. Well… Well, at home someone has to clean the toilet, so someone has to do it at school. Boys as well as girls.

　

Of course, they do have commercial cleaners and every so often they come in to do a commercial clean. However, the basic idea is that children clean their own mess.

This cleaning is a bit unusual, so it maybe an Open Day fundraiser. Normally this cleaning is done by commercial cleaners. There must have been a special plan at work in this school. Still, no harm done teaching children that someone has to do the dirty job!

People clean and the commercial scrubbing machines are just not there.

The best cleaners get a reward.

Of course, you are thinking: “Yeah. Sure. But I’m not going to do it!” Well, the Japanese have even thought of that: そうじとうばん, it is called sōji・tōban, cleaning duty. It is very simple. Divide the group into sections. Each section has a job. Write the names of the students in each section. Put a time limit on it and presto! How do you know that each section is done? Because the next group on duty doesn’t want to do the earlier group’s job twice.

Or a more complicated version:









Teachers help a bit too.

If you learn this method of responsibility from an early age, you learn to look after yourself and the group. If western schools have a problem, it tends to be litter. 

Most students in the west are led to believe (subliminally) that staff are essential in order to clean up after them. Parents are there to clean up after the children and to pay for their life-style. Perhaps that is harsh and actually not really true, but you do get the drift of what we are saying, don’t you?

And when you are really good at it, when you grow up, you may do it for yourself at home and for your boss as well.

621 Level 1 NCEA Reading Graduation Ceremony そつぎょうしき sotsugyōshiki

621 Level 1 NCEA Reading School trips しゅうがくりょこう shūgakuryokō

The centipede game ムカデの ゲーム mukade no geemu

radio-controlled mukade, or centipede

This is the human centipede game in action; it is a wonderful group people co-ordination game. It is often used at school to get groups to co-ordinate and to share activities: it is the ultimate ice-breaker where everyone can join in, be silly and not stand out. The perfect group game.

Here is a variation on the game where the arm strength is tested.

Frivolous dancing at a party: fun for all.

A lot of fun on the dance floor.

Great in the swimming pool.

The sillier, the better!  Yeah!