Come Away with Me

A day at Iwaseura Elementary School

The principal of Iwaseura elementary school, Sato kocho sensei, invited dad & mom for a visit to his school the week that they were on the island. Knowing this school, they have a way of making you feel extra special and did they lived up to expectation when they threw an extremely warm welcome at the gym with the entire school population! You bet dad & mom were really surprised at the reception :p

After a brief introduction and greetings in simple English, they were invited to join the kids in singing and dancing! It was the first time in their lives skipping and prancing around with some 60 kids and boy was it a hilarious sight seeing the 2 of them trying desperately to be understood, especially with the younger students :P



After the short but fun morning session at the gym, we had a class with the 6th graders where I taught the students how to order food and some food related vocabulary. We then set up stalls pretending to be food vendors while the students went around clutching paper money and doing 'shopping' in English.

Here is a sample of how the conversation went:

A: Hi, how may I help you?
B: One burger and one coke please.
A: One burger and one coke, here you are.
B: How much?
A: 350 yen please.
B: Here you are.
A: Thank you. Bye!
B: Bye!

The school was even so sweet as to order 2 extra set of school lunches for us and so we ate with the 6th graders after class ended. By then the kids had warmed up sufficiently to their special guests of that day. The lack of verbal communication was more than made up by their friendly gestures and smiles throughout. Dad and mom even enjoyed special massage service! :D


The blackboard had been decorated with welcome messages and cute drawings by the students themselves. I was as surprised and touched as both of them were by the splendid and heart-warming company.


Class photo with 6th graders taken after lunch.

And if you think this is end of the story, you're mistaken for the hospitality at this school continued on. From the oldest kids, we went on to lesson with the 1st graders and they were the cutest bunch ever, a grand total of FIVE boys in the class, yes five boys ONLY!

Dad playing the Japanese all-time-favourite 'Rock Paper Scissors Go!' with 7 year old kid.

7 year old shouting happily after winning dad at the game eventually :P











Just when we thought we were done for the day, we were once again invited to join in a club activity! How could we turn down the sweet invitation of a 10 year old looking up at you with bright happy eyes? So off we went to the activity room once more where we were greeted with enthusiastic kids awaiting to teach us how to play traditional Japanese toys such as the Ken-dama (see picture below) and Otedama, which is our equivalent of the 5-stones.

Mom surprised all by outplaying everyone at the Ken-dama while the kids had a good laugh at my poor showing :P

And such was a day at Iwaseura elementary school. A day in which the warmth and generosity of the Japanese people in these little island school will always bring back fond memories for all of us for many years to come.

posted by テレサ @ 9:26 AM