The Snake Game

Many of you back home might not know this yet, but starting this new contract year with Mito City (April), I have been teaching at another school close to the other two schools I taught at last year. So that makes three schools – Iitomi Jr. High, Iitomi Elementary, and Watari Elementary, that I am now teaching at and it keeps me relatively busy. The Iitomi schools are two of the smallest in Mito City (I have only 87 students at the Jr. High and 167 at the elementary) and I feel like I have a special bond with my co-workers and especially the students because we have a year together under our belt, they speak a little more English and I speak a little more Japanese, and, well, the small school atmosphere allows you to know each other more personally. My new school is a little bigger (somewhere between 550 and 600 students) and this is their first year to officially have AETs (I and another AET alternate days within a week), so the students are pretty darn happy to see me when I come during the week. I am really enjoying getting to the know the students and I am having a lot of fun with the teachers as they learn to teach English with a foreigner who doesn’t speak much Japanese and who does things a little differently than they are used too.

Well, yesterday was just a very enjoyable day because my 5th and 6th graders really enjoyed an English game that I planned. Actually, I stole the idea for this game from other AETs, but I was still very happy to see it work so well. This game is known as the “Hebi Gamu” to the Japanese, but we call it the Snake Game in English. The version I used yesterday actually derives from a very simple game that children learn and play in kindergarten. In this game, there are two teams that stand at opposing ends of a curvy line (which resembles a snake). A person from each team runs at each other along this line and when they meet in the middle, they Janken (the Japanese version of Rock, Scissors, Paper). The winner continues forward and Jankens the next person who runs up to them from the opposing team while the loser goes back. The team to get the most people to the other side wins.

My six classes of the day all played this game except the line consisted of English vocabulary cards that they had to say as they passed. They also had to play English Janken (Rock, Scissors, Paper) when they met in the middle. Almost every class did not want to stop the game when class was over. Every student was into it (which is simply amazing that 30+ students in any class would be so much into a game that makes them speak English) and it broke my heart to stop the fun they were having with English.

And my goodness, they love Janken, even when it is in English. After I taught them how to Janken in English a couple of weeks ago, I can’t walk down the hall without some student challenging me to English Janken. Gosh, I love it when my students are so excited about English. It refreshes me and encourages me to be a better English teacher for them.

Ministry

This past weekend, an acapella choir from York Christian University came to Mito City and the surrounding area to perform. I never realized it until this weekend, but Japanese people really, really love acapella music. Both of the shows that I attended were almost sold out, and they were performed in big auditoriums! The York choir came on invitation from the Sendai mission team and church and they have been touring several cities throughout the Eastern part of the main island for about two weeks now. If I remember correctly, they are supposed to do about 9 performances altogether.
Well, anyways, I saw two of their performances this last weekend, and I must say that they are very, very good. It was amazing to hear their beautiful voices, to admire their God-given talents, and to listen to many great songs to God mostly in English (some were in Latin and other romance languages). But the most amazing thing was to see the effect the performances had on the Japanese people. I was going to invite the Iitomi community center woman that I have English conversation classes with, but they showed me the flier and asked if I were going. Of course I was going and we all had the time of our lives together! One of the women took a long while to translate into English that she "was deeply moved". They especially loved the gospel songs.
So here is my big callout to anyone who reads this blog or speaks to people who have even a small stirring on their heart to do some form of mission work. Come to Japan! These people need you. If you can do an accapella music tour, come do it in Japan. If you are in a gospel music singing group, come to Japan and do a tour. (Of course I mean come do a musical tour only if you are doing it for the Lord and only if you don't suck :-P ). If you want to do Let's Start Talking, come do it in Japan. Everybody wants to learn English here. Come teach English for the Lord. And if you can't do anything but still have it on your heart to go out and do something for God, pray to God (first, because even God can do miracles and use you in some way) and then come to Japan. Even if you don't come to Japan, get off your butt and just do what you know God has called you to do.
I just realized how much some simple accapella songs can really touch people's hearts and even cause them to ask questions about our wonderful Creator. God uses so many simple things to speak to us in our complex lives. If Japanese people can hear Him, anybody can. How can God use you/us/me right here, right now, today?

cleaning time

**For those of you who don't know, students and teachers clean there own schools in Japan.
Today, I had yet another profound thought during cleaning time (I always have profound thoughts during cleaning time). But this one has been brewing a while. I have noticed, especially at the elementary schools I teach at, that the cleaning supplies for cleaning time aren’t so good. The brooms are small (which are perfect for the students) but they don’t sweep up a thing. Sure, they move the dirt around, but never into a pile – only into little streaks behind the path of the broom. Of course, it isn’t like the students do any constructive cleaning during cleaning time. Most students just clean in random places, sweeping here and then over there, never into the same pile. But my prevailing thought is, well, things would more likely get cleaned (or cleaner than otherwise) if students had better cleaning tools. For goodness sake, I can’t even clean well using what the students use and cleaning is what I am really good at.
Today, while sweeping the floor (one of my favorite things to do - seriously, I love putting dirt in its place), the thought of how much better I could clean this floor if I had a better broom came into my head again. But then I started applying it to other things as well. I have been here over a year, and I consider myself a tool for the Japanese schools to use. I am here to be used by Japanese English teachers to teach English and I am here to give my students contact with a foreigner who speaks native English. I wasn’t a very good tool when I first came because I had never taught before (nor was I given the education to learn how to teach) and because I had come into this totally opposite culture not understanding it and not speaking the language. But over the past year, I have slowly been shaped into a better tool. I have gone through a year of cultural immersion and have thus learned an incredible amount about this culture simply by working in the place where culture is most taught – the schools. I am slowly but surely learning Japanese. And as I understand a little more everyday, I understand how to teach my students better everyday. I have gone through a year of teaching without fully knowing what English my students have been taught. But now I know. There are so many other things that have shaped me into a better tool, and though I have so much more to learn, I have learned many things that help me to teach my students better. I know why they hesitate when asked to speak English, I know the English they should know so I can encourage and push them to speak that English and to learn more, I know cultural things that help me understand their minds and hearts better, and I know basic, huge grammatical differences between Japanese and English, which helps me to understand their learning difficulties better (English is hard people!). I may sound all high on myself about how much I know, but just know that I am fully aware of how much I don’t know, especially about Japan. I would be lucky if I have even learned 40% of what is “Japan” (i.e. culture, world-view, etc.), even without considering the language (I have probably learned 15% of that). But the little I have learned has sharpened me into a better English teaching fool.
And looking at the bigger picture, I am being sharpened everyday to be better used by God. I will spend the rest of my life being sharpened by God, but coming to Japan has certainly done a lot of sharpening in the cultural adaptation and teaching English departments. I can see how God is molding me and preparing me for any future services for Him (*Mexico*) while still using me here.
To read my good friend Peter's hilarious description of cleaning time, check his Souji Time Part 2 blog.
May God be giving you also great thoughts as you do the usual, daily thing.

Guess who has a blog?!

Yep, I have finally joined the blogging world. I always enjoy reading the blogs of my friends simply because it has helped me to keep up with them better than otherwise. I am by no means a writer and I am very hesitant to start this blog, but I wish to keep anyone who cares updated on how God is changing my life. God has been and continues to be working in my life in incredible ways. Whether it is the typical day of teaching English in Mito City, Japan, or a more surreal day as I get to know this culture better through travel or simply through conversation with a Japanese person, God is changing me and making me into something that can better be used by Him (which is a pure miracle simply because I take so many backward steps).
Hence, I have taken the title of this blog from a song that I feel is incredibly powerful. The song is titled "If you want me to" by Ginni Owens. The lyrics say it best, so please check it out to understand my meaning.
My prayer is that the people who read this blog can be impacted by God just as I am as I go through the fires in my daily life with Him by my side (and many times carrying me).