Nagoya Day 2

Today was the day we visited Japanese schools. But before we go there, how about a morning view of the ultra-modern Nagoya skyline?

The first school we visited was Nagoya Junior High School. Like the old jr. high in America, it is for grades 6-9. Once students reach 9th grade the must take a difficult year end exam to make it to high school. This school is also a teaching lab for Aichi University of Education, so we saw many students observing classes as we toured. This school also specializes in helping returnee students. In other words, many Japanese work overseas and take their families with them. This school helps students reacclimate to Japanese "lifestyle and behavior," according to the school's brochure.
Like Japanese homes, you are required to remove your shoes in Japanese school. The school let us borrow these fake crocs as we walked the hallways. However, to enter the music room, we had to walk only in our socks. I do not know why that is.

One of the classes we visited was a science class. The students here were more talkative and animated than they were in the Chinese school we visited, but still well behaved and respectful fo their teacher. I do not know the name of the science teacher in this class, but you Notre Dame people out there can just call him Irvin San.

We traveled some distance to visit a Japanese high school. On the way there we stopped at a park, that turned out to be a Shinto shrine, to have lunch. When it is open, local people come to honor the local kami, or gods, and ask them for favors.
Since we were eating on the run, our bus driver was nice enough to provide us with hot water in a thermos so we could eat a Japanese favorite, ramen noodles. The noodles are available in a various flavors at every convenience store. They give you a pair of wooden chopsticks with each purchase, so all you need to do is add water. Here I am slurping my noodles Japanese style.
The picture below is of Aichi University of Education Attached High School. Obviously, it also serves as a laboratory school for the local teaching college. We again had to remove our shoes, but this time we had to wear ill fitting green slippers. We toured the school and met the English club and told the students about life and school in America. Most them understood English well, but they were too shy or hesitant to speak. We then met with a handful of Japanese teachers who have worked with foreign schools over the internet. I am going to try and work with a junior college teacher to help her students learn English. Hopefully, my students will soon be able to communicate with Japanese students.
After we left the school, we came back to the hotel for a fancy 5 course dinner. By the way, one of the courses was sashimi (raw fish). Some of the teachers joined us, and we talked further about electronic collaboration.

Tonight we must pack because tomorrow morning we are taking the bullet train (not as fast as the maglev) to Nara, an old style Japanese city.

Chuck Newell
Nagoya, Japan
10/20/08