Year 3 Secondary School 卒業式 (graduation ceremony) and the 'Meeting of Thanks'

Leaving school fever is still rife in Japan. Last Friday I went to the 卒業式　'graduation ceremony'　for the 3rd graders at the juniour high school. They are about 15 years old, and they are my oldest students, so the ones I can speak to the easiest in English (they have been studying it for quite a few years) and I won't teach them again as of now. It was actually a really touching ceremony (only because I hadn't had to go to any of the umpteen rehearsals...I'm sure that would have watered it down a lot). I managed to refrain from crying, which is more than I can say for many of the parents, some of the teachers, one of the women giving a speech and most of the students, most notably the super cool, super hard, super masculine baseball captain who was SOBBING his big fat face off and wiping it with a cloth for about an hour. I love him though so it was really sweet. There were a lot of speeches, a lot of singing and an awful lot of bowing. But I think the ceremony of it all is quite nice really...I wouldn't want to participate for fear of doing something wrong and causing a different type of tear, but watching safely from my seat, with only a few group bows to take part in was fine. Because it's a small town with a community feel, EVERYBODY comes to this ceremony...the mayor, all the education people from the town hall, the head of the police, the head of the fire brigade, all of the primary school head teachers, the butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker and co. It's all very dramatic.

On a personal note, I unfortunately didn't get to say goodbye to many of my students, even though I would have liked to. They sort of had about 40 minutes of free time in the very organised and regimented day to say their goodbyes to all of their teachers and I didn't feel it was really my place to get in the way of them and their parents thanking their actual teachers and sports club leaders (they all spend a lot of time (I mean A LOT) a their after-school clubs here). And of course they all had to thank the candlestick maker. Still, I got to say farewell and wish good luck to a few of them and waved at many more...I'm sure they all noticed that I was there anyway, which hopefully made them happy. I also received letters from two students, thanking me for teaching them and saying that they like English a lot more since I've been teaching them, that it's been fun and interesting etc and that they see the importance of English and will study it hard at their next school...which is pretty much the whole point of my job so that made me ridiculously happy.

Another leaving event of the week was the 'Meeting of Thanks' which I was invited to last week at one of my primary schools (see previous post). It was actually amazing...I was so chuffed to be invited. All of the leavers (and it's a small school, so when I say all, I mean 16) put on a comedy show, a dance, a magic show and cooked some (fairly rank to be honest, but the thought was nice, and it was better than school lunch) rice and other snacks. All the teachers and some other people who I didn't know (possibly acquaintances of the candlestick maker) sat around and ate and watched the show. They sat me with the boy who had written the invitation so that we could speak in English and you could tell how happy he was (he's my new favourite...I'm very fickle) Then we played dodgeball together, which I unfortunately haven't miraculously developed a skill for since the last time I played at the age of about 11, as I had hoped. I literally managed to lose 8 months-worth of built up respect and coolness in a 10-minute game of dodgeball...sayonara.