Playing at Recess

Today I went on my first elementary school visit. It was a busy day. There are six classes in the school (one for each grade 1-6) and I played with (I mean...taught) each class. These kids were insanely cute. I nearly died from cuteness overload. And they were so excited by everything I said and everything we did.

I showed up in the morning and quite a few kids on the playground immediately wanted to talk to me and be my friend. As the foreigner who visits occasionally I'm almost a celebrity to these kids.

They set me up in a nice big carpeted room that was labeled play room in katakana (I'm starting to be able to decipher some kana!). I mention carpeting because shoes don't go on carpet, so I got to spend practically the whole day barefoot! Yea, I'm easy to please and being barefoot is one of the little things that make me happy.

I had very similar lessons for each grade. I introduced myself and had them practice introducing themselves in English and shaking hands. Then I taught them either fruits or foods. I played a fun game involving running to the board and slapping a flashcard with some of them. The first class that played the game broke one of the props in their enthusiasm. It was one of those plastic fans and I have roughly 400 more, so no big deal. I sang a lot of head-shoulders-knees-and-toes. The kids got excited over everything! A picture of the Chicago skyline, American money, a picture of my family, everything I said or did. A lot of these things I showed to my JHS students and they barely cared. So it was refreshing.

During morning recess I literally ran around with the kids. Some second-graders would take me by the hand and start running. I jump roped with the kids, played on the swings (even jumped off them), went down the slide, flipped over on the monkey bars... During lunch recess I played dodgeball with some kids. I miss recess.

I was so active today. I ate a bigger portion of the 900+ calorie school lunch than I ever have. I heard a lot about how tiring elementary school is, but this is clearly coming from people who have never been camp counselors. Seven hours of high energy children was fantastic. No boring downtime like I have at the JHS.

I can't wait for my next elementary school visit!