Chiba Prefecture Sawara Senior High School

This has been my favorite school visit day. We started the day as we did at the other schools with formal greetings and a tour of the building. The building is very large with 360 students per level, which meant class sizes of 40 students. The high school is for students in levels 1, 2, and 3. This would be the same as grades 10, 11, and 12 in the United States. High school is not compulsory. There are two types of high schools in Japan. Students can attend a vocational high school to learn job skills or they can attend a university prep high school. The students do not select which school they attend. Acceptance is determined by an entrance examination taken at the end of Jr. High.

We were allowed to visit any classrooms we wanted. I selected an English class. The teacher was writing sentences in English on the board and talking about subject verb agreement in Japanese to the students. She would read the sentences to the students, but the students did not try to read the sentences out loud. This makes me wonder if they teach more written English than speaking English. It explains why people often know what we are saying in English, but do not always know how to answer us in English.

The next activity was for each United States teacher to go to his/her assigned classroom. We each would read questions for a game show type activity called “How much do you know about America?” Two students acted as hosts to the game show. It was so much fun. I did a little teaching at the same time because the questions were all Social Studies related. Some example questions were; What is the capital of the U.S.A.?, When is Independence Day?, When did the U.S.A. declare the Independence?, What is the longest river in the U.S.A.?. There were 15 questions worth two points each. All the teams scored either 19 or 20 points. I thought that was pretty good for level 1 students (10th graders).

Students were very respectful and stopped talking anytime I said something. They seemed to really want to hear what I had to say when I explained the answers to the questions. They were very impressed when I said I lived near the Mississippi River. A student asked me if I had ever taken a boat on the river. When I replied “yes” I got a response from the class of “wow”.

The students gave me a card with Waldo drawn on it. I was later told by our interpreter that Waldo is very popular with Jr. High and High School kids. I found that interesting because it is younger students in the United States that are attracted to Waldo books in the United States.

Lunch time was the best part of the day. The students quickly organized lunch. The girls put desks together in the middle of the room and escorted me to my chair. The boys formed small groups around the outside of the room. Again the girls are more friendly and the boys somewhat shy. The girls chattered during lunch. Sharing food and drinks with each other. I was surprised how many students had cans of cold coffee. I have had some of the vending machine coffee and it is very good.

During lunch we talked about cell phones, clothes, shoes, and other “girlie” topics. Many girls were texting on their phones. I asked about texting during school. They said “tapping” was ok at lunch, but never during class and then giggled. I am sure they try to sneak in a message during class just like students in the U.S. I gave each student a meishi (business card). The girls were excited and thanked me very politely. It is a very big deal to get a meishi from someone. The boys tried not to act so excited. They thanked me politely and quickly put them in their wallets.

After lunch we took group pictures. The girls were excited, but would not let the boys be in the same picture. One girl had a picture taken with her cell phone. Within minutes every girl in the class had a copy of the picture on her cell phone.

I asked the boys to take a picture. They agreed, but very reluctantly. Then when posing for the picture they acted really silly. I am surprised by the shyness of the male teenagers. I don’t see U.S. teenage males to be this shy.

We were given more time to observe in the afternoon. Again it was amazing how students started cleaning with brooms and clothes after lunch time was over. Now how do they get high school students to do that?

We had time in the afternoon to talk with high school teachers. They told us it was in the school rules that students could not have jobs during the school semester. If a family had financial difficulties they student could get special permission to work. They also offered night classes for students who had to have jobs or for students with unacceptable grades in the day time class.

They told us about 96% of Jr. High students do attend high school. This is very high considering that high school is not compulsory. Tuition for Sawara High School is 8000 to 9000 yen per month ($80 -$90). The high school is supported by the Prefecture, while the elementary and jr. high are considered city level schools.

The biggest problem the teachers face in regards to behavior is “social networking” using cell phones and internet. They know bullying takes place, but they are unable to catch the students. Wow! I again am amazed at how teens can be so similar when they are an ocean apart.

From 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. we watched club activities. The students participated in sports, music, traditional arts, even dance, just to name a few. The options seemed endless. I chose to watch a teacher and student perform traditional Hawaiian dances. Then the student performed a dance she choreographed herself. The last club I attended was students performing a traditional Japanese tea ceremony. It was so nice to see traditional customs be taught in the school system.

The day had ended and it was time to board the bus. We all chattered about the school visit and our adventure tomorrow, the home stay. We are all nervous, excited, and a little anxious. But first we must pack. Our large suitcase will go back to Tokyo on a truck. We will only be taking a carry on for the next 3 days. Packing will be a challenge.