The Outsourced Teacher: My first Field Trip in Japan

What better way to end 11 straight days of working than having a field trip? Before I jump into that I should probably answer the question...how do you teach for 11 straight days. Well, we usually work 6 days a week (Saturdays are just in the morning) but last Sunday we helped with the Friend's Day at Takamori, the other campus. For me, this meant that I would walk an occasionally obstinate pony around a circle carrying Japanese kids from about 2-8 years old for 4 hours. I estimated at about 400 rides I gave over the few hours. It was literally one of the most physically exhausting days of my life. Nothing like heading to work the next day for a nice full day.

Anyway, the point of my story. Saturday, I had my first field trip. All the teachers out there know that though field trips are generally a lot of fun there is also a lot of stress involved. "Where are my kids? Are they behaving? Is Billy breaking things? Did Tommy just wet himself? Sally stop tattling on Susie, etc." Going into the day I couldn't wait. We were going to Michinoku park and I kept hearing great things about the place. I was actually supposed to go with other teachers the day I got back but I missed my flight. However, a first field trip can't be all peaches and cream...

We were told that we would have a late start Saturday and only teach for 30 minutes before going to the park. I was thinking great I can sleep in and show up, do a little work to prepare for the next week and breeze on in to my field trip. As I casually stroll in at 9 AM, the assistant tells me "there has been a mixup." Generally, when she tells me something it isn't good news. Usually, its me doing to something that I was culturally unaware of. She tells me that the students letters home told them to show up at normal time and another teacher was teaching my class and the other third grade classes until I got there. So, instead of strolling in for a 30 minute class I had to jump in and teach for 2 more hours.

I get all the way up to my classroom and the kids were acting like they just had a bowl full of caffeine for breakfast with chocolate syrup to wash it down. After trying to force feed some curriculum to them, I decide to give them a little extra play time. The ironic thing is that all they did during playtime was complain about being too hot. I was thinking oh great we are going to a park outside for the rest of the day, this should be fun. To add a little wrench into the mix, I find out we have 2 second graders that are going to be joining my class for the rest of the day and I am responsible for them at the park.

We take the hour bus ride to the park and I'm having a great time having my students be interpreters for me. I would look at a sign and have them tell me what it was in English. I actually learned a lot. FINALLY, we get to the park and its just beautiful. The entrance reminds me of the setting for Teletubbies. Inside the park are all these slides and bouncy balls and crazy things you'd never see in the US because of "legal concerns." My favorite was the bouncy doughnut which was a big donut shaped trampoline. I probably had about as much fun as my kids while there. The weather turned out great and we had a great time. One of those moments that made me realize how great it is to actually get paid to do this.