The dreaded English festival is over and done with for this year! (and never again for me!!) The reasons why it's so dreaded? (1) Because it's on a saturday afternoon. (2) Because we have to spend a sunny saturday afternoon listening to English speeches by Japanese children and try to decipher what they are actually saying. (3) Because the foreign English teachers have to do an embarassing 5 minutes of drama/song/dance on a huge stage to entertain the kids.
But anyway, it turned out well, and the kindergarden kids were so cute. Japanese kids are so tiny and enthusiastic. They sang a song about the Very Hungry Caterpillar, and 'This is the way I wash my hands, wash my hands, wash my hands, this is the way I wash my hands so early in the morning... This is the way I brush my teeth,' ... etc. Sometimes I wish I could teach Kindy and just sing songs all day with enthusiastic cute kids, but 'behind the scenes' I'm sure it's a very hard and tiring job. Oh, but once they're at high school, they can be so jaded!
My High School Drama club and English club combined to do an English version of 'My Neighbour Totoro' (the very cute and well-well loved Japanese animation movie). It's about a 2 sisters who move to the country, and find the (very cute) gods and spirits of the forest near their house. The god of the forest is called Totoro, and he helps the trees to grow, and befriends the children. He uses a 'Cat Bus' to get around...this cat bus rides on the winds, and grown-up people can't see it, they just think a strong wind is blowing past. Anyway, basically Totoro helps the children out when they're in some trouble. Can't tell you the whole story in case you want to watch it, right?! It's the cutest movie, and not just for kids! Here's some pics.
Yes, Totoro is the huge grey animal.
The Cat Bus scene had an unexpected complication! Totoro had practiced getting 'in' to the bus without his costume, but on stage, with his costume on, he was too fat to fit in the bus properly! haha.
And us 3 AETs (assistant English teachers) did our drama. A Japanese folk tale acted out in English. (I already told you the story in a previous blog). It turned out well, and got lots of laughs when Irena rolled around the stage pretending to roll in and out of a mouse's hole. Lucky she's good at doing rolls... with a long white beard and an old man hat, it was quite a challenge! (no photos sorry!)
