This post title is actually the name of a story in our curriculum. However, I've gotten more of a chance to hang out with our immersion kindergarteners over the past few weeks and I'm just blown away by them.As some of you know, I always enjoyed working with kindergarten as a sub. It always starts with crazy stares and kids whispering "we have a boy teacher" within minutes we somehow become friends and the kids want me back the next time. Its partially because I always grew up with that age group because my mom does daycare. For the past week or so I have been sitting in on the 4 year old Japanese class (kind of like how American schools go to a special) to get a better perspective on Japanese class. In Japanese class, those kids are way better at Japanese than me. They've had 4 more years of practice than I have. It was pretty funny to see the stares I got. Every time I'd attempt to say something about twelve 4 year olds would look back at me and kind of laugh.
On top of Japanese class, I was also lucky enough to go to the Aquarium with the 5 year olds last week. I basically acted as a parent volunteer for the kids in one class. I noticed right away how proficient they are in the English language. These kids have barely had 2 years of English exposure and are completely coherent of everything in English around them. I know with my 3rd graders I can hold a pretty normal conversation about anything and even use big words around them and they soak it right in. Its really amazing to see the difference between them and even the high schoolers who did not have the advantage of 6 days a week of English instruction. Also, as a Japanese student myself I can really start to see how polar opposite the two languages are. 90% of the time I try to say something in Japanese I end up saying it wrong so I just make up my own Japenglish (Daijo Not Bu or Suyoumasen). Back on to the point of the story. Those kindergartners are amazing at their abilities. The first random conversation I had was a kid trying to tell me how he loves "High School Musical." Other kids thought it was funny to call me "Miss Greg" because they understand the difference and others just assume Miss is just a formal way to say any teacher name because they've had little experience with male teachers.
We went to Matsushima to ride the ferry boat and feed seagulls then went into the aquarium. I wasn't too excited about feeding seagulls being from Michigan but the kids loved it. They'd come flying up and swoop the snack right out of your hand...the seagulls that is, usually. At the aquarium, we saw a pretty great seal show and then checked out all the fish. All in all it was a pretty great day.
On top of Japanese class, I was also lucky enough to go to the Aquarium with the 5 year olds last week. I basically acted as a parent volunteer for the kids in one class. I noticed right away how proficient they are in the English language. These kids have barely had 2 years of English exposure and are completely coherent of everything in English around them. I know with my 3rd graders I can hold a pretty normal conversation about anything and even use big words around them and they soak it right in. Its really amazing to see the difference between them and even the high schoolers who did not have the advantage of 6 days a week of English instruction. Also, as a Japanese student myself I can really start to see how polar opposite the two languages are. 90% of the time I try to say something in Japanese I end up saying it wrong so I just make up my own Japenglish (Daijo Not Bu or Suyoumasen). Back on to the point of the story. Those kindergartners are amazing at their abilities. The first random conversation I had was a kid trying to tell me how he loves "High School Musical." Other kids thought it was funny to call me "Miss Greg" because they understand the difference and others just assume Miss is just a formal way to say any teacher name because they've had little experience with male teachers.
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