connection

My last class of the day today is a junior high class with two students. The boy was gone today, so Nanami and I were on our own. I asked her a few questions in the beginning...what she did today and things like that. Poor Nanami. She says, "huh?" a lot and overall has a blank expression on her face. After I had gotten everything out of her I could, I asked her to ask me a few questions. She asked me what I did today and when I will go to America. Then she paused, thought a little, and said, "Do you know Sponge Bob?" I said yes, so she unzipped her bag, which had what looked like a small animal attached to the zipper. I guess it was a stuffed animal, but it sure looked real. She pulled out her pen case, and then her Sponge Bob pen. She told me about his friends, and what kinds of animals they were. Actually, she didn't know many of the words in English, but that was fine. It was a teachable moment. After this, she started telling me about all the other characters that are popular in Japan (many of which were hanging off her cell phone and various other zippers)...Elmo, Miss Bunny (the rabbit from Bambi?), Lilo & Stitch, Charmy Kitty, etc. I listened like it was news to me, but really, you can't miss the prevalence of characters here. We ended up talking almost the whole class about these things. The cool thing is, I had started to feel today that I was never going to get her to talk about anything in English...and then we hit upon something she was verrrrry interested in. It felt good.

After I got home from work, Jesse and I stopped by the 100 yen store. I bought a pencil case for myself that says "friendry sea" on it. My other options were "fancy bear," "pretty flower," and "monkey friend." Another said, "Let's make the flower bloom in the mind. People who spent always the same time." I bought flashcards for studying Japanese...the ones I normally use say, "You are also perfect at this flash card!" Yay!! Very encouraging. Then, I bought stickers for my students. I bought the summer-themed stickers that have fireworks, yukata, goldfish, wind chimes, and wooden clog sandals.

Tomorrow I am giving a presentation at a seminar for Junior High School English teachers. Should be interesting, as I would tend to think they'd be the experts, not me. My notes for the presentation are in a pink strawberry notebook that says "Fruit Ranch: The coming of wisdom with time." Let's hope that wisdom comes forth from that little book for me tomorrow.