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tobu_ishiAhoy, mateys! Today be already dawned upon that right boist'rous 'oliday, International Talk Like A Pirate Day! An' in th' true int'rest o' internationalism, I be harfway threw givin' th' wee swabbies o' Uryu Village a lesson in REAL English!
Seriously, today has been AWESOME so far. It's almost lunch break, and everyone in the office is waiting for a fire drill to happen, so I've popped on to briefly catalog the awesomeness that's happened so far.
Rarely have I wished so hard that I had my camera already. Today I arrived at Uryu Middle School in my black-and-white striped sweater and similar knee socks, over my black leggings with a black skirt to match. To top it all off, a red kerchief tied Jack Sparrow style and a brown paper hat with my own invented crest on the front (thrown together last night), a sparrow on the wing over a crossed sword and bone. Arr.
Since no good pirate arrives without booty, I also brought four other paper hats and a huge bag of Oreos (over 100, one for each student and a few extra in case of breakage). Waiting for me was the stack of worksheets I'd designed and asked Ikeda-san to print out in bulk: a quick entry-level instructional sheet to Pirate Lingo.
Basic words covered: AHOY, ARR, AYE-AYE, CAPTAIN, LASSIE, and MATEY. Basic phrases: Ahoy, matey!, Ahoy, lassie!, and Aye-aye, Captain!
Early humor included Onodera-sensei nearly having a heart-attack on double-taking to see me standing by his desk in pirate regalia (I presented him with his very own hat, the biggest one in the batch), and Kakizaki-san doing the same when she showed up to take me to my introduction meeting to the entire town council, which I'd forgotten about in my piratical glee. Fortunately, doffing my kerchief and hat made the outfit look fairly normal, except for the stripy socks. Also fun was trying the hats on my coworkers, which was when I started to long for a camera...
On returning, it was time for class, and then the real fun began! Onodera-sensei and the special needs teacher both donned their hats, and we swaggered into the classroom, where all the kids immediately let out cries of disbelief and cracked up hysterically. When they'd calmed down, Captain Onodera had me briefly explain the holiday in Japanese, and then we all practiced the "vocabulary words", then launched into the real lesson with a special piratical flair.
Awesome memories already made today include leading a class of thirty-three giggling Japanese preteens in a chorus of "ARR!"s, complete with fists thrown into the air; watching the ordinarily quiet and mild-mannered special ed teacher solemnly mentoring her charges in a paper hat with a hook-hand and sword on it; trying not to crack up while watching Captain Onodera write on the board (his giant hat made him look a bit like the Pope, or Mr. Ponciface if anyone reading this knows/remembers who that is) and failing; handing out the spare hats to the kids and having two of the boys get frustrated with them falling down around their necks and resizing them with the clips of a pair of highlighter pens each, then proudly accepting the names Captain Pen-Head I and II; the spontaneous use of "Aye-aye, Captain!" and "Ahoy!" in classroom situations by a good third of the class over the course of the lesson; and, finally, going down the rows with my sack of pirate "treasure" (Oreo cookie "coins") and handing each kid a share of the booty in return for one shouted piratical word. (The most popular were "AHOY!" and "ARR!", and there are few greater joys than a tiny twelve-year-old Japanese girl piping a growly "ARR!" at you that would make Barbossa proud.)
It's lunch break now, and I have some swabby third-years ter join in th' galley. More updates'll be comin' after me day is done, yer scurvy dogs, ye!
Seriously, today has been AWESOME so far. It's almost lunch break, and everyone in the office is waiting for a fire drill to happen, so I've popped on to briefly catalog the awesomeness that's happened so far.
Rarely have I wished so hard that I had my camera already. Today I arrived at Uryu Middle School in my black-and-white striped sweater and similar knee socks, over my black leggings with a black skirt to match. To top it all off, a red kerchief tied Jack Sparrow style and a brown paper hat with my own invented crest on the front (thrown together last night), a sparrow on the wing over a crossed sword and bone. Arr.
Since no good pirate arrives without booty, I also brought four other paper hats and a huge bag of Oreos (over 100, one for each student and a few extra in case of breakage). Waiting for me was the stack of worksheets I'd designed and asked Ikeda-san to print out in bulk: a quick entry-level instructional sheet to Pirate Lingo.
Basic words covered: AHOY, ARR, AYE-AYE, CAPTAIN, LASSIE, and MATEY. Basic phrases: Ahoy, matey!, Ahoy, lassie!, and Aye-aye, Captain!
Early humor included Onodera-sensei nearly having a heart-attack on double-taking to see me standing by his desk in pirate regalia (I presented him with his very own hat, the biggest one in the batch), and Kakizaki-san doing the same when she showed up to take me to my introduction meeting to the entire town council, which I'd forgotten about in my piratical glee. Fortunately, doffing my kerchief and hat made the outfit look fairly normal, except for the stripy socks. Also fun was trying the hats on my coworkers, which was when I started to long for a camera...
On returning, it was time for class, and then the real fun began! Onodera-sensei and the special needs teacher both donned their hats, and we swaggered into the classroom, where all the kids immediately let out cries of disbelief and cracked up hysterically. When they'd calmed down, Captain Onodera had me briefly explain the holiday in Japanese, and then we all practiced the "vocabulary words", then launched into the real lesson with a special piratical flair.
Awesome memories already made today include leading a class of thirty-three giggling Japanese preteens in a chorus of "ARR!"s, complete with fists thrown into the air; watching the ordinarily quiet and mild-mannered special ed teacher solemnly mentoring her charges in a paper hat with a hook-hand and sword on it; trying not to crack up while watching Captain Onodera write on the board (his giant hat made him look a bit like the Pope, or Mr. Ponciface if anyone reading this knows/remembers who that is) and failing; handing out the spare hats to the kids and having two of the boys get frustrated with them falling down around their necks and resizing them with the clips of a pair of highlighter pens each, then proudly accepting the names Captain Pen-Head I and II; the spontaneous use of "Aye-aye, Captain!" and "Ahoy!" in classroom situations by a good third of the class over the course of the lesson; and, finally, going down the rows with my sack of pirate "treasure" (Oreo cookie "coins") and handing each kid a share of the booty in return for one shouted piratical word. (The most popular were "AHOY!" and "ARR!", and there are few greater joys than a tiny twelve-year-old Japanese girl piping a growly "ARR!" at you that would make Barbossa proud.)
It's lunch break now, and I have some swabby third-years ter join in th' galley. More updates'll be comin' after me day is done, yer scurvy dogs, ye!
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no subject
Date: 2007-09-19 03:49 am (UTC)♥ jess
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Date: 2007-09-19 03:52 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-09-19 04:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-09-19 04:42 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-09-19 05:19 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-09-19 05:46 am (UTC)You're awesome. *squirming to refrain from exclamation points*
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Date: 2007-09-19 06:10 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-09-20 11:30 pm (UTC)