All the kiddies

Getting ready for the big run up the hill.












Me with the little ones while they sing and do hand gestures (patting each others backs).






And littlest Kokolo...


One of the highlights of my job is that every week on Wednesday, from around 9 to 12, I go to Ubuyama's hoikuen (nursery) to teach English. But obviously academic rigor is low for the little ones, ages 1-5. Little Kokolo, one of my youngest students, took two months just to learn not to cry when I come to her classroom. She is still learning. I think that the marshmallows she had last Wednesday (see photo above) aided her in this process. The kids like to be picked up and sometimes they like to be tickled. Some like me more than others but they are all pretty happy when I make them play freeze tag or when I tell them to hug three friends at the end of my lessons. They have a great time in life and this seems to continue on through most of elementary school. Then things get boring and difficult. The joyful beginnings of puberty come at around the end of their elementary years and their society asks them to be more respectful and more controlled than they have ever been before. But what happened to those happy carefree years of early childhood? One time, and I may have mentioned this earlier, a principal told me that the main goal for Ubuyama's schools, and Japan's schools as a whole, was happy children. But perhaps as the children get older it becomes more and more difficult to live up to that goal. But I think they are doing it well for the younger ones: they seem truly happy.