Junior Life 1 My Profile

Yumi's Profile

　My name is Yumi.  I am a student.  I am eleven years old.  I am in the fifth grade.  I attend Sakura Elementary School.

 

  My birthday is August 23rd.  I am a Virgo according to the Western zodiac.  
Virgo means 'virgin' in English.

I was born in 1991.  It was the year of the sheep according to the Chinese zodiac.

rat, cow, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake
horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog, pig

My blood type is O. My father is also type O.  But my mother is type A.  A person with blood type O is supposed to be outgoing.  But I am not so outgoing.  I am a rather shy girl.

　　I am one meter 45 centimeters tall.  I am not very tall.  My eyesight is not so good.  When I was a first grader, my vision was perfect 20/20. It is getting poorer.  Now it is 20/40.  I wear contact lenses.  Sometimes I wear glasses.  

  I have good teeth.  I don't have any cavities. 
 
I brush my teeth four times a day; after every meal and before going to bed.

  We are a family of four; my father, my mother, my older brother and I.  I love my family.  We live in an apartment in Fuji City.  Our apartment has five rooms; a living-dining room, three bedrooms and a kitchen.  It is called mansion in Japanese.  It is on the third floor of a big apartment building. The apartment building has ten floors.  There are ten apartments on each floor.

  I like playing sports.  I play volleyball, table tennis, and badminton. Recently more and more girls like playing baseball. I don't play baseball.  I play softball in PE classes at school, though.

  In summer I like swimming.  I can swim the crawl, breaststroke and backstroke. I'm very good at the breaststroke.  I can swim two hundred meters with the breaststroke.  I'm not so good at the crawl or the backstroke.  I hope someday I can participate as a swimmer in the Summer Olympic Games.

  In winter I go skiing with my family.  I am not very good at skiing.  I like snowboarding better than skiing.  My father is a very good skier.  My mother is not so good at skiing.  My brother also likes snowboarding.

  I like watching pro baseball games on TV.  My brother doesn't like watching pro baseball games, but he likes watching the Inter-high school baseball games in Koshien during summer vacation.  My father often watches pro baseball games on TV.  His favorite team is the Orix Bluewave.  My favorite team is the Giants.  

 We girls don't sumo wrestle, but I like watching sumo on TV.  My favorite sumo wrestler is Miyabiyama.  I liked Wakanohana before.  But he retired in March, 2000.

  I like reading storybooks.  I can't read story- books in English.  I'd like to read storybooks in English someday soon.  I don't like reading comics very much, but I like reading Kenshui Natsuko (Intern Natsuko) and Otanko Nurse  (Nonchalant Nurse).  I want to be a doctor or a nurse in the future.  If I become a doctor, I want to be an eye surgeon and study how to cure nearsightedness.

  I can play the violin.  I started learning to play the violin when I was a first grader.  I attend violin lessons once a week on Saturdays.  I can also play the recorder.  I learned how to play the recorder in music class at school.  

  I like listening to music.  I have a good portable stereo.  It is a SONY CD/radio/cassette recorder.  I usually listen to music on CDs.  I seldom buy CDs, but I rent CDs at a CD rental shop in the neighborhood.  I often listen to music while I am doing my homework.  Sometimes I listen to FM radio programs in my bed before going to sleep.  My favorite kind of music is violin music and Japanese pop music.  I often record good FM radio programs with the cassette recorder on my portable stereo.

  I like watching movies on TV.  I seldom go to the movie theater.  My favorite kinds of movies are Disney animated movies.  Next month a new Disney animated movie will be shown in the movie theater in the next town.  I will ask my father to take me to see the movie.  I hope he will take me to the movie with my brother on a Sunday next month.

  I like cooking very much.  I often help my mother cook dinner.  I like every kind of vegetable, especially potatoes and eggplants.  

My favorite dish is croquette.  We can buy croquettes at supermarkets, but my mother never buys croquettes either at supermarkets or meat shops.  She is very good at making potato croquettes.  Everyone in my family likes her croquettes.  



Her curry rice is also very good.  It is not so spicy.  I don't like spicy curry.  But my brother likes spicy curry rice very much.  

  






My mother often bakes cakes and cookies on weekends.  It's fun to help her bake cakes and cookies.  My brother and I eat cakes and cookies to our heart's content.  However, my father is careful not to eat her cakes or cookies too much. He doesn't want to get fat.  He wants to stay skinny.  

Koji's Profile

  My name is Koji.  I am a student.  I am twelve years old.  I am in the sixth grade.  I attend Sakura Elementary School.

 

  My birthday is July 22nd.  I am a Cancer according to the Western zodiac.  Cancer means crab in English.  That is why I like crabs.

  I was born in 1990.  It was the year of monkey according to the Chinese zodiac.  

  My blood type is AB.  I am the only one who has the blood type AB in my family.  My father's blood type is A.  My mother's blood type is B.

 That is why I have the blood type AB.

  I am one meter 60 centimeters tall.  I am the tallest boy in my class. I have perfect 20/20 vision.  I don't have to wear glasses.  

 We are a family of six; my grandfather, my grandmother, my father, my mother, my younger sister and I.  My grandparents are the parents of my mother.  My grandparents on my father's side live in the next town.  We often visit them.  I love my family.  

  We live in a two-story house in the countryside.

  My room is on the second floor.  I have my own TV set in my room.  I also have a good stereo system.  I watch TV and listen to music in my room.  

  There is also a family TV set in the living room.  My grandparents always watch TV in the  living room.  They like watching Mitokomon and Abarenbo Shogun.  Sometimes I join them and we watch those dramas together.  

  I never miss the telecast of the pro baseball games of the Dragons.  I have never been to the Nagoya Dome to cheer for the Dragons.  I will ask my father to take me to the Nagoya Dome during summer vacation.  

  At school I belong to the baseball club.  I am the pitcher and bat fourth.  Last year, when I was a fifth grader, I played first base and batted sixth.

  I am planning to join the baseball club when I enter junior high school.  Then I want to go to a high school that has a strong baseball team.

  I want to play in the Koshien Stadium.  I want to be a pro baseball player in the future.  

  My mother always tells me that the boys in our generation should be able to cook and share housework.  She always asks me to help her clear the table and do the dishes after dinner.  

　She has also taught me to cook a few dishes.  I can cook spaghetti, ramen and curry rice.  

  I clean my room with a vacuum cleaner.  I do my laundry.

After I play baseball, I wash my baseball uniform and socks.  I also wash my underwear, sweatshirt, sweatpants, and T-shirt.  

 

It is very simple.  I just put in the dirty stuff in the washer.  Then I hang my washing out in the backyard.

  I like reading detective stories.  I don't like reading comics very much. On Sundays I often  go to the town library to borrow detective story- books.  Once I start reading detective stories, I can't stop. I often stay up late reading detective stories.  My mother doesn't like that.  When she finds that I am staying up past eleven, she comes up to my room and tells me to go to bed soon.  I don't like that.  However, on Saturday nights she allows me to stay up till twelve.

  I like playing video games.  I have a SONY PlayStation 2.  I don't have many video games.  Sometimes I borrow video games from my friends.  My friends often come to my house and we play video games together.  We can play DVDs on PlayStation 2.  

  We can rent DVDs at video rental shops. Last Sunday I rented a suspense movie and watched it with my friends.

  It was scary, but interesting.  American movies on DVDs have not only Japanese subtitles, but also English subtitles.  I think it is very useful for English learning.  I'd like to see lots of American movies on DVDs.

  We have a dog.  It is a male miniature dachshund.

 He is seven years old.  We bought him at a pet shop.  We named him Sebirth,  because we bought him on my seventh birthday.  'Se' stands for seven and 'birth' stands for birthday.  

  We keep him in the doghouse in the front yard.  There is a fence around the front yard.  He can't go out of the yard.  So he is not kept on leash.  

  When he was young, he was very active. He ran around in the yard.  Now he is getting old.  He sleeps in the doghouse most of the time.  He needs exercise.  It is my duty to take him for short walks around my house.  

When I come back from school, he runs up to me and wags his tail vigorously.

　　　　　　

　







　When a mail carrier or newspaper deliverer comes to my house, he barks at him or her.  But he is so tiny.  He is not threatening at all.  

   He is very clever.  When he was young, I trained him to do many things.  He sits down when I say, "Sit."  He lies down when I say,  "Down."  When I say, "Hand," he shakes hand with me.  He can fetch a ball I throw, and give it back to me.  When I give him food, he never eats it if I say, "Stay."  　

I love Sebirth very much. I hope he will live for a long time.

Junior Life 2 My House

  Yumi's House

We live in a residential area in the suburb of Fuji City.  This is my house.  It is new.  My parents bought it last year.  It is much bigger than our old house.  It has two floors.  It is a Japanese style house.

  This is a plan of our house.  There is a living room with a dining area, an eight- tatami mat room, my mother's room, a kitchen, a bathroom and a toilet on the first floor.  There is a sewing machine on the table in my mother's room.  

  She makes many things with her sewing machine. There is my room, my brother's room, my father's study and a toilet on the second floor.  My room is bigger than my brother's.  My father's study is the biggest room in the house.

  In the living room, there is a coffee table, a sofa, and two armchairs. In the corner of the living room, there is a dining table and four chairs.  On the wall of the living room there is a beautiful landscape painting.

  There is a bed in my room and in my brother's room.  My bed is wider than my brother's.  There is no bed in my father's study or my mother's room.  My parents sleep on a futon in the tatami mat room.  At night they take out the futon from the closet, and spread it on the floor.  In the morning, they put it away in the closet.

  The tatami mat room has an alcove and a closet.  On the wall of the alcove, a scroll with Chinese writing hangs from the ceiling.  I cannot read the writing, but I think it is beautiful.  The floor of the alcove is about ten centimeters higher than that of the room.

On the floor of the alcove there is a flower arrangement.  My mother arranges the flowers every week.

  We eat breakfast and dinner at the dining table.  We also eat lunch there on Sundays or Saturdays when we are at home.  Mother cooks meals in the kitchen.  I often help my mother cook meals and do the dishes.  My brother sometimes helps my mother do the dishes, too.  My father seldom helps my mother.

  There is a big television set in the living room.  Each member of the family also has his or her own small TV set in his or her own room. Sometimes all the family gathers in the living room and watches the same TV program, but we usually watch our own favorite programs in our own rooms.  

  There is a small garden in front of the house.  There are some trees and shrubs in the garden.  Only one or two of the trees are tall.  The other trees are short.  A camellia tree bears beautiful red flowers in winter. There is a small low table in the garden.  On the table there are many flowerpots.

 

  There is a yard in back of the house. My mother dries the wash in the backyard.  In one corner of the yard there is a flowerbed. My mother and I take care of the flowerbed.  We grow many kinds of flowers in the flowerbed.  There are some fruit trees in the backyard, a fig tree, a persimmon tree and a cherry tree.  Mother makes jam from the figs.

  

  At the side of the house there is a carport for two cars; my father's and my mother's.  My father's car is a sports car with two seats.  The color of his sports car is purple.  He loves sports cars.  My mother's car is a four-door sedan.  The color of her sedan is light green.  

  When I ride in my father's car, I take the passenger's seat and never forget to fasten my seat belt.  But when I ride in my mother's car, she doesn't allow me to take the passenger's seat.  I have to take a rear seat.  Then I don't fasten my seat belt.  It is more fun to ride in my father's sports car than in my mother's sedan.  I want to have a sports car when I get my driver's license.

Koji's House

  We live in an apartment.  Our apartment building is new.  It is one year old.  It is in the center of Sakura City.  It is a tall building with ten floors. Our apartment is on the fifth floor.  We moved to the apartment last year.  Before that, we lived in a house in the country.  The apartment is smaller than our old house, but we like it very much.

 

 This is the plan of our apartment.  It has three rooms, a living room, a kitchen with a dining area, a bathroom with a shower and a toilet.  

  In Japan a central heating system is not so common.  Instead a room air-conditioner with the heater is used to cool and warm the rooms.  In our apartment, there is a heater-air-conditioner in every room and also in the kitchen.

  In our old house there were no heater-air-conditioners.  We used electric fans to cool ourselves in summertime and used kerosene heaters to warm the rooms in wintertime.  

  There are two refrigerators in the kitchen. One is big, and the other is small. There is a dining table and four chairs in the dining area of the kitchen.  My mother is very happy when there is lots of food in the refrigerators.

  The toilet is a Western style flush toilet.  In our old house, we used a Japanese style toilet without flush.  We didn't like it.  Now all of us are happy with a flush toilet.  

  I hear that in the Western countries, a toilet is usually in the bathroom together with a bathtub and a shower.  In Japan, a bathroom and a toilet are always separate.

  There is only one toilet in our apartment.  Everybody uses it in the morning.  Sometimes I have to hold it in a long time waiting for my turn.  When I can't hold it in any longer, I rush out of our apartment and rush into the public toilet in the small park in front of the apartment building.

  In the bathroom there is a bathroom scale.  I weigh myself after my bath.  I usually weigh fifty kilograms.  If my weight is more than fifty kilograms, I try not to eat much the next day.  My father also weighs himself after his bath.  He is careful not to get fat.  

  My sister and I have our own rooms.  My sister's room is a little bigger than mine.  In my room there is a desk, a bookcase and a bed.  There is a closet in the wall.  I study and sleep in my room.  On the desk there is a PlayStation 2.  I play video games on it.  I also play DVDs on the PlayStation 2.  I like watching movies.  I often rent DVDs from a video rental shop in the neighborhood.

  My father and mother share a room.  It is the biggest room in our apartment.  In their room, there are twin beds, a chest of drawers and two desks.  On each of the desks, there is a computer. One is my father's desktop computer, and the other is my mother's notebook computer.  

  My father uses a computer in his office all the time, but he seldom uses his computer at home.  My mother uses her computer very often.  She enjoys surfing the Internet.  She is good at English.  So she accesses the U. S. Web sites and orders CDs and books from the U. S.  Sometimes she orders children's books for us.  

  In the living room, there is a stereo set, a big sofa, two armchairs, a low table, and a TV set.  We often watch TV, listen to music and chat after dinner in the living room.

  In our old house there was a backyard.  My mother could dry the wash there and also air futon.  Now she dries the wash on the balcony and airs futon on the railings of the balcony.  A satellite dish is attached to the railing of the balcony.

  There are many potted flowers on the balcony.  My mother takes care of them.  She waters them every morning and evening.  

Sometimes I water them for her.

Junior Life 3 Japanese Elementary School Life

  I go to Sakura Elementary School.  It is a very old school.  I hear it is more than seventy years old.  My grandfather and my father also went to this school.  My mother didn't go to this school, but went to another school in the next town.  However, the school houses are not so old.  They were rebuilt about twenty years ago.

  There are two school buildings; the south building and the north building.  Both buildings have three floors.  There is a principal's office, a faculty room, and a nurse's office on the first floor of the south building.  The principal's office and faculty room face the playground so that teachers can watch us playing on the playground.

  There are two classes for each grade. The classrooms for the third and fourth graders are on the second floor of the south building.  The classrooms for the fifth and sixth graders are on the third floor of the south building.  There are also four classrooms on the first floor of the north building.  They are for the first and second graders.  On the second and third floors of the north building, there are special classrooms such as a science lab, a homemaking room, a music room and a computer room.

  A wide, covered walkway connects the north and south buildings.  We can go from one building to the other without umbrellas when it is raining.  There is a gym to the west of the school buildings.  There is a courtyard surrounded by the buildings, the walkway and the gym.  In the courtyard there is a flowerbed and a circular pond.  The pond is not deep.  It is shallow.  It is not dangerous at all.  It is quite safe.  There is no fence around the pond.  In the center of the pond there is a fountain.  We keep goldfish in the pond.  The six graders take care of the goldfish and the flowerbed.

  School starts at 8:20 a.m.  It takes about twenty minutes to get to school.  We are not allowed to go to school alone.  We have to go to school in a group.  The students who live in the same zone meet at one place and go to school in a group. We meet at 7:30 a.m. every morning.  It's only five minutes to the meeting place from my house. I always try to leave home at 7:25 a.m.

  When I oversleep, I don't have time to eat breakfast.  I shove my school stuff into my school satchel, put it on my shoulders, grab a piece of bread, and dash out the door.  I eat the bread on the way to school.

  We walk to school in single file.  One of the sixth graders is the leader of the group.  He or she walks at the front of the line.  Another sixth grader walks at the end of the line.  We always take the same route.  The parents on duty, mostly mothers, stand at street corners or at crosswalks. They stop the cars or the other vehicles for us to cross the streets safely.  When we cross the street, we have to raise our right hand.  Since I am left-handed, I feel awkward when I have to

raise my right hand.

  We usually arrive at school a little before eight o'clock.  If we get there too early, the school gate is still closed.  We have to wait till the teacher on duty opens the gate.  We have only twenty minutes before the first period starts.  We go directly to the classrooms and then rush out to the playground if it is not raining.  When it is raining, we stay in the classrooms and read books or magazines.  

  There are many kinds of play equipment on the playground.  There is a sandbox, a slide, a jungle gym, a seesaw, monkey bars, three horizontal bars, and three swings.  There is also a tire obstacle course.  Some students slide down the slide. Some climb on the jungle gym. Some play on the swings.  Some ride on the seesaw.  Some play on the horizontal bars or on the monkey bars.  First graders make castles or other things in the sandbox. Some girls jump rope in a group.  Some boys jump rope by themselves.  Some play dodge ball.  Some ride a unicycle.  Some jump over the tire obstacle course.  At this time the playground is full of cheerful voices.  

  We usually have six classes every day, except on Mondays.  On Mondays we have five classes.  The sixth period is assigned to the special classes, such as the committee meetings, club activities or other special activities.  There is no school on Saturdays and Sundays.  Until 2002, there was school on the first and third Saturdays of the month.  It is good to have two days off in a row every weekend.

  

  In our school, each grade has two classes.  I belong to class 6A.  When I was a fifth grader, I belonged to class 5A.  There was no class reshuffle when we became six graders.  When I was in the fourth grade, I belonged to class 4B. There was a class reshuffle when we became fifth graders.  

  My teacher in the fifth grade was Mr. Mori.  

  He was in his late thirties.  He was very strict.  When the class got noisy, he got angry.  We were very afraid of him.  He gave us lots of homework.  Sometimes I had to stay up until midnight to do the homework.  Then I felt sleepy during class the next day because I didn't sleep well the night before.  I didn't do well in his class.  I didn't like him very much, though there were some students who liked him very much."

  My teacher this year is Ms. Kato.  She is young. She is in her early twenties.  She is very kind. When the class gets noisy, she gets sad.  We don't want her to be sad.  We try to be quiet. She doesn't give us much homework. Some of our mothers don't like that.  They ask her to give more homework.  We don't like that.  I think I am doing better this year than last year.  

  Our principal is Ms. Hayashi.  She is plump, medium height, medium build in her mid-fifties.  She became our principal this April when the new school year started.  I hear she was a principal in a smaller school in the next town before she was transferred to our school.  When she gives a speech in the morning assembly, she speaks very loudly without a microphone.  Her speeches are always

  She always wears a broad smile. When we meet her in the corridor or in the hall, she always smiles  at us and talks to us.  We can visit her office at any time.  She always welcomes us and enjoys chatting with us.  She always serves us English tea.  She never serves us coffee.  She says coffee is not good for our health.  We love her very much.  

 

  The principal till last year was Mr. Tani.  He was an overweight, pot-bellied man with a shining bald head, in his late fifties.  He became the principal of our school when I became a third grader, and retired at the end of my fifth grade.  His speeches were always long and boring.   It was very hard to stand still for a long time in the morning assembly, listening to those boring speeches.

  This is my class schedule. We have four Japanese Language classes, four math classes, three science classes, three social studies classes, two art classes, two music classes, two PE classes, two homemaking classes, one moral education class, and three comprehensive studies classes.  

  For one of the comprehensive studies classes we move to the computer room and learn English with a computer.  It's fun to use a computer to learn English. Now we are learning how to make a homepage in English.

  My parents have promised to put my homepage on the Internet.  I hope some boys or girls in other countries will access my homepage and send me e-mail.  Then I can make friends all over the world.  If possible, I'd like to study in a U.S high school, and advance to a U.S. college or university.  It's my dream.  To make my dream come true, I'll study harder to learn more English.

  We have four classes in the morning. After each class there is a break.  The breaks after first period and third period are only five minutes.  

  We don't have time to go out to the playground.  The recess after second period is twenty minutes long.  Most of the students go out to the playground and play if it is not raining.  If it is raining, we can't play outside.  We hate rain.

  We stay in the classroom, and there are not many things to do.  We are bored.  However, in wintertime, if it snows, we go out and throw snowballs or make a snowman.  It's lots of fun.

  

  After fourth period, we have school lunch.  We have to wash our hands before lunch.  Some of the boys often forget to bring their handkerchiefs to school.  They ask the girls to lend them handkerchiefs. We girls don't like lending our handkerchiefs.  They get our handkerchiefs dirty. I have never forgotten to bring a handkerchief to school and had to borrow handkerchiefs from my classmates.

  At lunchtime the students on lunch duty serve the rest of the class.  They have to wear a surgical mask so that they don't contaminate the food.  They distribute lunch on a tray to each student.

  It is fun eating lunch together.  Everyone eats the same thing.  I usually like school lunch, but when the foods I don't like are served, I don't want to eat them and want to leave them.  However, Ms. Kato never allows us to leave the unwanted foods.  So I gulp them down without chewing them.

  After the lunch we brush our teeth.  We have our own toothbrushes at school.  No one wants to use someone else's toothbrush.  After brushing our teeth, we rinse our mouths with a glass of water.  We use our own glasses to rinse our mouths. We put our names on our glasses so that other students will not use our glasses.  We keep our toothbrushes in the glasses.

  After school lunch, we have the longest recess of the day, which is thirty-five minutes long.

  This is the best time in the school day. Again we go out to the playground.  Some go to the gym. This time, since the recess is longer, we usually play ball games such as dodge ball, basketball, volleyball or kickball.  Those who play basketball or volleyball go to the gym. Again the playground is filled with the cheerful voices of the students.  Strangely enough, our teachers seldom come out to the playground.  They stay in the faculty room.  I think they should come out and play with us. Then they could get to know us better.

  

  After the long recess, we have cleaning time.

  I don't like cleaning time.  I always wish there were no cleaning time at school. Mr. Smith, an ALT, who often visits our school, told us that the students don't do any cleaning at school in the United States.  I envy American students.

  In cleaning time, we are divided into groups and each group is assigned to clean various parts of the building and the ground.  We don't like cleaning the lavatories.  Although we use vacuum cleaners at home, we have to use old-fashioned brooms and dusters at school.  We have to wipe the halls, corridors and stairs with mops or floor clothes.  I hear that in some junior high schools students have to be silent during the cleaning time without uttering a word.  We don't have to be silent, but we are not allowed to be noisy.  We try to keep quiet.  There are some students who are chatting all the time and never clean.  I don't like those students.  

  We always feel tired and sleepy in fifth period.  

  I like PE class, art class or music class better than the other classes in the afternoon, because I don't get sleepy in these classes.  

  After fifth period, we have a short class meeting for fifteen minutes.  In this meeting, we talk about our activities of the day.  If there are any problems in our school life, we discuss how to solve them. Our teacher tells us about the next day's schedule, if there are any changes.  

  We have sixth period on Wednesdays and Fridays only.  We have club activities during sixth period in the afternoon on Wednesdays.  We choose a club at the beginning of the first term in April and again at the beginning of the second term in September.  We belong to the same club in the second and the third terms.  Club activities are more interesting than classroom activities.

  Our school has both cultural and sports clubs.

  The cultural clubs are chorus, marching band, calligraphy, arts, crafts, science, and computer. The sports clubs are track-and-field, gymnastics, baseball for boys, softball for girls, basketball, volleyball, soccer, badminton, and table tennis.  

I chose calligraphy in the first term.  I am planning to choose one of the sports clubs in the second term.  I haven't decided yet which sport club I will choose.  

  We always feel very happy when sixth period is over.  We say good-bye to our teacher and classmates and start to go home.  Somehow the school satchel on my shoulders feels lighter on my way back than on my way to school.  On our way back home we don't go back in a group.

  We go home by ourselves.  Some students prefer to go back home alone.  Others like going back home by twos and threes with their good friends.

  I usually go back with my best friends who live in the neighborhood.

  This is my last year at elementary school.  

  I enjoy my school life very much.  I think a good class teacher, a good principal and good classmates are very important to enjoy school life.  

  I hope my first year at junior high school next year is as good as my school life at elementary school.