Student schedules (kendo boys with afros)
Recently the ichinensei had a test that involved them writing their daily schedule accompanied by pictures, which I had the distinct pleasure of marking. A typical page will read along the lines of ‘I get up at seven. I leave home at seven fifty. I come to school by bike. I get to school at eight fifteen’ etc. The delinquent students (those that actually did the homework) made no attempt to hide their tardiness, proudly scribing ‘I get up at nine. I come to school at eleven’. One student, edivently with the ability to time travel, wrote that he left home at eleven to reach school by eight.
Of course the best part by far was the illustrations. Most students simply copied the pictures directly from the textbook example. Actually, the same can be said about 95% of any English homework Japanese kids do (no seriously. I set a writing test for this class about their school trip, with simple questions like ‘Where did you go?’ and ‘What did you eat?’. But still the other teacher ‘improved’ the test by adding examples like ‘I went to _______. I ate ________.’ Essentially turning the ‘writing test’ into a glorified fill-the-blanks). But those that had at least 3 cells of originality in their bodies came up with some delightfully amusing doodles.
Many of the girls went with the predictably generic cutesy anime style. Apparently boys aren’t allowed to draw this way because they always tried for something more similar to Beavis and Butthead. Of course, some students weren’t comfortable with conventional drawing styles at all, and thus depicted themselves as something less personal, like a stick figure with the kanji for their name in the place of a face, or a dog or snowman.
One boy was so tied to his identity as a kendo club member, he depicted himself in his kendo armour all day, from waking up at 6am to going to bed at 12. Another boy drew himself with an enormous afro – I can tell you right now that none of my students have an afro, especially not the first years. If I didn’t have to give these back to the kids I would’ve kept them to put on my wall.
Of course the best part by far was the illustrations. Most students simply copied the pictures directly from the textbook example. Actually, the same can be said about 95% of any English homework Japanese kids do (no seriously. I set a writing test for this class about their school trip, with simple questions like ‘Where did you go?’ and ‘What did you eat?’. But still the other teacher ‘improved’ the test by adding examples like ‘I went to _______. I ate ________.’ Essentially turning the ‘writing test’ into a glorified fill-the-blanks). But those that had at least 3 cells of originality in their bodies came up with some delightfully amusing doodles.
Many of the girls went with the predictably generic cutesy anime style. Apparently boys aren’t allowed to draw this way because they always tried for something more similar to Beavis and Butthead. Of course, some students weren’t comfortable with conventional drawing styles at all, and thus depicted themselves as something less personal, like a stick figure with the kanji for their name in the place of a face, or a dog or snowman.
One boy was so tied to his identity as a kendo club member, he depicted himself in his kendo armour all day, from waking up at 6am to going to bed at 12. Another boy drew himself with an enormous afro – I can tell you right now that none of my students have an afro, especially not the first years. If I didn’t have to give these back to the kids I would’ve kept them to put on my wall.
You should have photocopied them at a convenience store before handing them back
-kit
ps, did you get my mail?
Posted by Anonymous | 7:40 AM
I love the Jaffro. I think more Japanese boys should be encouraged to Jaffro.
Posted by Zedstar | 7:15 PM