On Thursday I attended the elementary school graduation. This was a much more elaborate affair than we have at home and lasted most of the morning. I was slightly apprehensive expecting tears and the like (I had heard this might be the case from other JETs) but it was a surprisingly pleasant affair with no tears at all! After all the kids are only going about 100 yards up the road to the Junior High school. They will of course be my new first year class at the JHS, quite looking forward to teaching them. One of them mentioned English in his farewell speech; I hope it was in a positive way. One minor curiosity was that one teacher pointedly sat down for the singing of the national anthem, she/he shall remain nameless but she/he was stood immediately before and after the anthem so I must assume it was a meaningful gesture. Potentially a strong one in this conformist and unquestionably patriotic (or so it seems to me) country. It still seems a little odd to me, all the flag flying and anthem singing, oh and the bowing to the Japanese flag before and after speeches. I don't think I have ever stood for the British national anthem except shortly before or after standing up to belt out 'oh flower of Scotland' at Murray field (our national rugby stadium) and I certainly don't know the words. At least they don't have flags in the classrooms here. Anyway! Yuko sensei (the teacher of the graduation year) looked quite splendid in her Kimono and other bit which I can remember the name off. Today (Friday) is the last day of term so the teachers who will be leaving all gave speeches and were given flowers, this time there was crying. The 3rd years (JHS students) turned up so say goodbye again which was nice. My favourite speech was by M.Sensei and went along the lines of;
'I taught the 3rd years for 3 years, the 2nd years for 2 years and the 1st years for 1 year. Do your best please. Thank you. That's it!'
Short and sweet!