Let's Enjoy a Happy Halloween Time!

Happy Halloween, peepz!

This year, I'm going as this fine young woman right here:
Gokusen- the Gangster Teacher!

She teaches math AND kicks bad guys' butts!

So at the end of each exam, I ask the student a "fun" (for me) extra credit question. It helps keep me sane when I'm grading! (For the last final, I asked for the 2008 Presidential Candidates: Very few kids knew McCain (or "Makein" in Japanese) but lots of kids knew "Balack Obama" and "Hirari" (Oh, that wonderful L/R mixup!)!

So the 10th Grade Midterm Exam Question was: "What Halloween Costume would you choose and why?"

• "A pumpkin. It's very cute." (answer from several male students)
• "A zombie. It's very cute." (answer from several female students)
• "[Female J-pop singer] Ayumi Hamazaki. I respect her a lot." (answer from a male student)
• "A Ghost. It's very cheap."
• "What will you be for Halloween, Pam-sensei? Will you go to a party?" (I gave him a point for appealing to my vanity! And actually writing something....)
  
• Other popular ones: Jack Sparrow/Johnny Depp, Dorakura (a.k.a. Dracula - took me a while to figure that one out!), cat, and one kid even said he would be the Grim Reaper!! ("shinigami" in Japanese. "shinu" = death and "kami" = god)
  
• A couple students said this to me in person, "I can't dress up for Halloween! I'm Japanese!"
  

So what will you be for Halloween? Will you go to a party?

Cosby Got Nothing on My Kids!

Some random stories about my crazy kids... As some of you may know, I teach at two very different high schools. One's a high academic school which has a reputation for being "the nerdiest school in Shiga Prefecture" (prefecture = Japan's answer to a state) and the other one is a lower level school with kids who are known for being kinda punky.

At my punky school:

• One of the kids comes into class one morning and goes:"Hey, do you remember me? On the train yesterday, I saw you! " (He crouches down, waves and yells "Hey!") "That was ME!!!"

• A pair of friendly, middle aged women sell sweet and savory pastries from the back of a minivan in the school courtyard. One boy, whose usual stoic expression rivals that of my dad, says "Gee, I wish I could eat everything! It all looks so good!" with this genuine shy smile. The women were super flattered and happy and I stood there beaming at him with my hand over my heart.

At my nerdy school:

• One boy was walking to school all slowly and such. His friend comes up behind him, offers to take his heavy bag, puts it in his bike basket*, and rides away on his bike as Stevie Wonders' "That's What Friends Are For" plays in the background.

• As I'm walking out of class, a boy hands me his speech to correct. I walk downstairs to my desk and just as I sit down, the same boy asks me to give him back his paper. I wanted to be like "Um, dude, you gave it to me literally 2 minutes ago!" But then I asked his name, looked among the corrected speeches, and lo and behold...there was his red ink covered paper! As I hand it back to him, I go "Holy carp...Yamazaki...and Yamazaki... your (identical twin) brother just..." and before I could finish, he shot me one of those tired "heard it a million times before" looks! (I bet you thought I couldn't tell my students apart, huh? No way! I can recognize the faces, names and socials of all 800+ uniform-wearing kiddos!)
  

*Yes, most bikes in Japan are "mama-charis" a.k.a. "Mama Chariots" with baskets in the front and sometimes back and with 0-3 speeds. Sadly, no ribbons.