Yumi’s School Year
Our School Year starts in April. I hear that a new school year starts in September in the United States and most of the European countries.
I have an uncle who lives in Singapore. He told me that a new school year starts in January there. Our ALT, who is an Australian, told us that a new school year starts in February in Australia after summer vacation.
April is in the midst of spring. Cherry blossoms are in full bloom. I think April is the best time to start a new school year in Japan. We get excited and are full of expectations for the new school year.
Entrance Ceremony
A new school year starts with an entrance ceremony for the new first graders. The entrance ceremony is usually held on the first week of April. This year it was held on April 6th. At my school all the students attend the entrance ceremony and welcome the new students.
At some schools only the fifth and sixth graders attend the entrance ceremony to welcome the new students.
Parents of the new first graders accompany their children at the ceremony. After the ceremony the parents take the pictures of their children or the parents and children. Recently many parents use digital cameras or digital video cameras to take those pictures. I think they will send those pictures to their relatives on the Internet.
A Japanese school year
A Japanese school year is divided into three terms; the first term, the second term and the third term. This system is called a trimester system.
In Japanese trimester system, the first term is from the beginning of April till the end of August, the second term is from the beginning of September till the end of December, and the third term is from the beginning of January till the end of March. There are long vacations between the terms.
The summer vacation usually starts on July 20th, which is a national holiday, Marine Day, and usually ends on August 31st. The winter vacation usually starts on December 24th and ends on January 7th.
The spring vacation usually starts on March 21st and ends on April 5th in the next school year.
Opening Ceremony of the First Term
On the next day of the entrance ceremony, the opening ceremony of the first term is held. During the ceremony, new class teachers and new class arrangements are announced. When we start a new school year, we have a new class teacher and new classmates. It is sad to part with the old classmates from the year before, but at the same time it is exciting to have a new class teacher and new classmates.
The first day of a new school year is always exciting. We have new textbooks. We have a new timetable. We move to the new classroom.
Physical Checkup
The first big event in a new school year is physical checkups. Every year we have physical checkups in April. On one of these days, a school doctor comes to school with a nurse. The doctor listens to our heart with a stethoscope and checks any irregularities. Then the doctor looks into our mouth, pressing our tongue with a long thin too. The doctor also examines our eyes and nose.
On another day, a school dentist comes with a dental assistant and checks our teeth. If the dentist finds any cavities, he advises us to go to see the dentist.
Then on another day, an X-ray bus comes to our school from the public health center. We are called into the bus one by one. An X-ray technologist asks us to stand in front of the X-ray machine. Then the technologist asks us to breathe in deeply and then to stop breathing. While we stop breathing, the technologist takes the pictures of our lungs.
Then the technologist tells us to breathe out. That's it. When I saw the X-ray machine for the first time when I was a first grader, I was scared. Now that I know that X-ray examination is not painful at all, I'm not scared at all.
Physical Measurement
Again at another time, our physical measurements are taken. Our height, weight, chest and sitting height are measured. Our vision and hearing are also measured. For the eyesight test, we stand three meters from the eye chart. We cover one of the eyes with a ladle-like thing. The chart has three columns of circles. The circles in the top row are the biggest. As you go down the chart, the circles become smaller and smaller. The circles in the lowest row are almost dots. Each circle has an opening, either in the topmost part, the bottommost part, the leftmost part, or the rightmost part. The examiner, usually one of the teachers, points at one of the bigger circles with a stick and asks where is the opening.
We answer by saying, “up” if the opening is in the topmost place, “Down” if it is in the bottommost place, “Right”if it is in the rightmost place or “Left” if it is in the leftmost place. If we answer correctly, the examiner points to the smaller circle and asks the same questions. The questions continue till we give the wrong answer. The lowest row we can give the right answer to determines our vision. After the vision of one eye has been measured, the vision of the other eye is measured. If we wear glasses, our visions are taken twice; once without glasses and then with glasses. I wear glasses. My vision without glasses is 20/100, but my vision with glasses is 20/30.
Physical Fitness Tests
We also have physical fitness tests. Our physical fitness is tested with various exercises such as sit-ups, forward stretch, simple jumping, standing long jump, 20 meters shuttle run, 50 meter dash, and softball throw. We are also given a grip test. To take a grip test, we use the instrument called the hand dynamometer.
Whenever we have these check-ups, measurements and tests, we have to leave our classrooms. It's fun.
Home Visits by Teacher
In early May, our class teachers come to visit our homes. On the day our class teacher visits our homes, we get very nervous. Since home visits by teachers are on weekdays, our fathers are not at home, and our mothers greet the teachers. If mothers are working, they get a leave of absence to greet the teachers.
We are very anxious about what our teachers tell our mothers about us.
School Excursion
One of the events all of us look forward to is the school excursion. It is usually a one-day picnic to a park, or some scenic sights for first graders to fifth graders. On that day my mother makes a picnic lunch for me. We meet at school and then start for the picnic site on foot. All of the students look forward to lunchtime. After the lunch we play various games.
On our way back we feel very tired, and the way back to school seems longer than the way to the picnic site.
School Trip
Six graders go on a two-day, one-night trip to historic sights. We usually go on these excursions or trips by chartered buses. This year the sixth graders will go to Kyoto for two days and one night. We will visit many famous old temples and shrines.
Now we are planning our trip. We are divided into small groups and studying about Kyoto. There are many interesting sites on the Internet. We access those sites and make a report about the places we are going to visit. It's fun.
I heard from my older brother that the greatest pleasure during the trip was pillow fights among friends in the room of the inn. Teachers don't like that. But I'm sure they also enjoyed pillow fights when they went on a school trip in their school days.
School Visits by Parents
On one of the Sundays in June, our parents visit our school to observe how we are doing in class.
On this day we have to go to school even on Sunday. Then we have no school on the next Monday.
Our fathers seldom visit our school, but on this day many fathers come to see our class activities. We get nervous, but I think our class teachers are more nervous than we.
On this day even the naughty boys try to behave well. And the teachers never scold us. On this day all of us become good students and all the teachers become good teachers.
Parents observe only the first period class. At our school both parents and students go to the gym after the class and attend the concert or the drama performance.
This year a female chorus group from the nearby high school gave a performance of many nice songs.
Summer Camping
Every year the fifth graders go camping in the mountain area for two days and one night in the middle of June. When we went camping last year, we didn't stay in tents, but stayed in the camping house. We wanted to put up tents and sleep in the tents. But the camping site didn't have the facilities.
On the first day we were divided into groups and cooked curry rice for dinner. It was lots of fun. The curry we made ourselves tasted a lot better than the curry made by our mothers or fathers. The most memorable event was the campfire at night. The first step in building a campfire is gathering wood. We gathered firewood from dead and downed trees. We were told not to cut live trees or branches. Then we piled up the firewood. It was a little difficult to light the fire. When the wood finally caught fire and started to burn vigorously, we cheered loudly. We sat around the campfire, and sang many songs. Then we danced folk dances. The children's faces glowed in the light of the campfire.
After the folk dance, we enjoyed fireworks. We played with sparklers and also mouse fireworks. The mouse fireworks were very fun. They darted about on the ground and then expired with a big bang. It was the most pleasant time in my fifth grade year.
General Cleaning
The last day of the first term is July 19th. It used to be July 20th. In 1996, July 20th became a national holiday, Marine Day. Since then, our summer vacation starts on July 20th. I hear that summer vacation starts a few days later in some areas in Japan.
About a week before the last day of the first term we have the general cleaning. It usually takes more than two hours.
We clean every part of the school buildings, and schoolyards. We also weed the gardens and the schoolyards. We dust every corner of our classrooms.
We don't have to clean the windowpanes of our classrooms. The windowpanes facing outwards are likely to be dirtier than those facing the classroom. To clean the windowpanes facing outwards, we have to stand on the windowsills. If the classrooms are on the first floor, it isn't dangerous to stand on the windowsills, but if the classrooms are on the second or the third floors, it is dangerous to stand on the windowsills.
My parents told me that when they were school children, they had to stand on the windowsills to clean the windowpanes facing outwards.
Now the people from a professional cleaning company clean the windowpanes during the vacations.
Closing Ceremony of the First Term
We have a closing ceremony of the first term in the gym. The principal gives a speech. He or she makes comments on what we have achieved in the first term and then gives us advice on how we spend the summer vacation.
Every year the principal tells us the same story; spend the days regularly; don't sleep late, don't stay up late, don't watch too much TV, keep a diary, study regularly, don't eat too much, don't drink too much soft drinks, help your mothers with housework, and many other DOs and DON'Ts. We listen very carefully, but once the summer vacation starts, we forget everything.
Report Card
After the closing ceremony, we get back to our classrooms. This is the most anxious moment for the students. After giving the same kind of advice about how to spend the summer vacation, our class teacher gives us a report card. The teacher calls the students one by one to the teacher's desk and hands the report card. We are most concerned about the marks in each subject.
At our school, a double circle means high mark, a single circle means average, and a trinagle means low marks. We are so anxious to look at the report card that we can't wait till we get back to our desks. We open it on the way back to our desks.
We look at the card secretly so that our classmates can't have a look at it. However, we can know what kinds of reports our classmates get by the look on their faces. If they get many high marks, they can't stop smiling. If they get many low marks, they look disappointed.
The report card tells how we have been doing in class in the first term. And our parents are looking forward to looking at it. If we have been doing well, they are very happy. But if we haven't been doing well, they are not happy. Some parents, especially mothers, are very concerned about how their children are doing at school. The children are scolded severely if they get many low marks. I hear that some mothers get angry if their children get low marks, even in one subject.
My parents are not so concerned about the report card. Even though I get many low marks, they just smile and tell me to do my best in the next term. I'm happy to have good parents.
Still I think that our school life would be much happier, if there were not for such a thing as a report card.
Summer Vacation Project
The other great anxiety for us in the last class before the summer vacation is how much homework the teacher gives us during the summer vacation. We don't want much homework. But teachers always want to give lots of homework.
I wonder if they want much homework when they were school children. If I become a schoolteacher, I will not give any homework for the summer vacation.
The most important homework during the summer vacation is a handicraft project or a research report on a subject of the students' choice.
When I was a second grader, our class teacher assigned us to keep a picture diary during the summer vacation. I remember writing in a picture diary every day was lots of work.
When I was a third grader, I grew morning glories. I observed and recorded their growth.
When I was a fourth grader, we learned to make many things out of papier-mache in the handicraft class. Therefore many of us made various things out of papier-mache for the summer project.
I made very colorful dolls. My best friend Mayumi-chan made a fancy house.
Last summer, when I was a fifth grader, I did a research on the lives of two great composers, Beethoven and Mozart.
This summer, I plan to make a necklace with beads. I have been collecting many beautiful beads.
Summer Vacation Ends
On top of these projects, we are given two drill books on math and Japanese. We are expected to do one drill each day during the vacation. There are some students who do all the drills and also the project in a few days right after the summer vacation starts, and spend the rest of the vacation without worry about drill books or the project. However, most of the students forget about the drill books and the project once the summer vacation starts.
They enjoy the vacation every day. And then toward the end of the vacation they remember the drill books and the unfinished project. They panic. They have to stay in their room all day and stay up late every night to finish the homework.
Some smart students use the Internet to make a report on the subject of their choice and make a good report in a few days.
I am the type of student who does the homework regularly every day so that I don't have to panic when the vacation is going to be over.
Which type of student are you?
The Second Term Starts
September 1st is the first day of the second term for most of the Japanese schools. I hear the second term starts a few days earlier at rural areas in Japan, where summer is cooler than other areas. It is sad that the long summer vacation is over, but it is good that we can get together again with our classmates and teachers.
We have the opening ceremony of the second term in the gym. The principal gives a speech and welcomes us back to school.
Before and after the ceremony we talk with our classmates about how we spent the summer vacation; what we did during the vacation, where we went on a trip or trips, and so on.
Field Day
The most important and also enjoyable event in the second term is the field day. Soon after the second term starts, not only in PE classes but also in other class hours, we start to rehearse for the field day.
Every year the field day is held on Sundays or on national holidays so that our parents can come to observe the events or even to join us in some of the events. The most popular events of the field day is a basket shooting contest (tamaire) for the first or second graders, a cavalry-battle (kibasen) for the fifth and sixth graders and a relay race from the first to the sixth graders.
Other popular events are a three-legged race, an obstacle race, a tug-of-war, 50-meter dash, a spoon race, a folk dance, and a group gymnastics.
One of the events we students really like is a balloon race for mothers. In the balloon race, mothers run to one of the chairs with a balloon, put the balloon on the chair when they reach the chair, sit on the balloon until it pops, then run back for the next teammate.
The mothers with big buttocks do better in the balloon race than the mothers with small buttocks.
Field Trip
One day in October, all the students in our school go on a field trip. Each grade goes to different places. This year we the six graders will go to the Meiji Village. The Meiji Village is an outdoor museum. We are now doing research on the Meiji Village on the Internet.
This museum looks like a small town in the Meiji era.
Historic buildings, which were built in Meiji era, have been gathered from all over Japan to this special museum. Houses, a church, a theater, a bank, a schoolhouse, part of a hotel, a post office and many other buildings have been restored to look as they did over one hundred years ago. The post office is actually in operation. We can buy stamps and mail postcards or letters to our families or friends. We can see the pictures of all the buildings on the home page of the Meiji Village.
There is even a streetcar from Kyoto in the Meiji era, which is operated for a short distance. The driver and the conductor are dressed in Meiji fashion. It's fun to ride the streetcar. Now we can hardly wait for the day when we visit the Meiji Village.
When we were fifth graders, we went to Toyota Automobile Museum in Toyota, Aichi. There are exhibited many old-styled classic cars, such as the first Datsun and the first Ford Model T. We could learn lots about the history of cars and car manufacturing.
At the museum we were told that we can see all the models on the homepage of the museum.
When we were fourth graders, we went to JR Gifu Railway Station. The stationmaster showed us around the station and told us how the station stuff is working.
When we were third graders, we visited the local post office to learn about the postal service. When we were second graders, we went mandarin orange picking. It was fun. I remember I picked more than thirty mandarin oranges and ate more than ten mandarin oranges. Of course we learned how the mandarin orange farmers grow mandarin oranges.
Winter Vacation
The last day of the second semester is December 26th in our school district. I hear that it is a bit earlier in the areas where the summer vacation is shorter. The closing ceremony is held in the gym and the principal gives the same kind of speech as he gives at the closing ceremony of the first term.
After the ceremony we get back to the classroom and get the report card for the second term.
The report card of the second term is very important for us. The winter vacation starts the next day, and New Years Day comes very soon. It is the time of otoshidama, a special allowance for the New Year. If we have done well at school in the second term, we can get much otoshidama. If we have done poorly, otoshidama may not be much.
The winter vacation is not as long as the summer vacation. It is only two weeks long; from December 27th to January 7th the next year.
Very few teachers give homework for the winter vacation. It's good. Some teachers may assign a New Year calligraphy, or kakizome in Japanese.
The best thing during the winter vacation is that we don't have to get up early to be in time for school. We can sleep late in a warm futon or bed every day, though mothers don't like that.
Many people make a New Year resolution on the first day of the year. I haven't decided yet what kind of resolution I will make.
The Third Term Starts
The third term starts on the 8th of January. It is a New Year. Though it is not the start of a new school year, we can start school with a fresh resolution to do better in classes.
The third term is the shortest of the three terms. It ends on March 26th. However for the sixth graders, it ends on March 8th, because the graduation ceremony is held on that day. So for the sixth graders, the third term is only two months long. But it means a longer spring vacation for the sixth graders till they enter a junior high school.
Graduation Ceremony
Graduation ceremony will be the most impressive event in elementary school life. It is conducted in a very solemn manner.
The principal opens the ceremony with an address to the graduating sixth graders. He or she praises them, mentioning how well they have done at school and thanks the parents who are attending the ceremony for what they have done for their children throughout the six years. On this day, the principal never criticizes or blames the students. The graduating students are heroines or heroes of the ceremony.
After the principals address, one or two of the guests give a brief congratulating speech.
Then the principal hands the certificates to each graduating student one by one. The head teacher calls out each of the graduating students' names. The student called stands up, and answers “Hai” in a loud voice. Then the student proceeds to the stage in front where the principal waits across the podium. The student goes up the stairs and stands in front of the podium. The principal takes up one of the certificate and reads out the student's name and the text in the certificate. Only for the first student is the full text read.
From the second students on, the principal reads out only the students' names and omits the rest.
After receiving the certificate, the student turns back, goes down the stairs, returns to his or her seat, and sits down.
This lasts till the last student goes back to his or her seat. It takes a long time. Since the ceremony is held in the beginning of March, and there is no heating system, it is very cold in the gym. Sometimes the students and also the teachers, the guests and the parents shiver with cold.
After the certificate award ceremony, the representative of the fifth graders gives a farewell speech to the graduating sixth graders. Then the representative of the six graders makes a replying speech, thanking the teachers, parents, and all other people who have helped them through the six years of elementary school life. I hear that in some schools, not the representative student but all the sixth graders speak one sentence after another to make a total speech. It must be more impressive for the graduating students.
After the speeches, the sixth graders sing songs in a chorus. The most popular song sung at the graduation ceremony is Auld Lang Syne (Hotaru no Hikari)in Japanese. And then they sing the school anthem for the last time.
While they are singing these songs, many of the sixth graders, especially girls, start to sob. The sounds of sniffling are heard here and there. This is the most impressive moment in our elementary school life.
Good-bye to the Teacher and Classmates
After the ceremony we go back to the classroom and get the last report card in elementary school life. We exchange autographs and photo stickers with the classmates.
Finally there comes the moment we have to say 敵ood-bye・to the classmates and class teacher. It is sad to part with the classmates, but most of us advance to the same junior high school and get together again.
Start for a New Life
I think my six years of elementary school are blessed with good class teachers and good classmates. I think I did well both in academic activities and after-school activities.
Now I am looking forward to my life at junior high school. I hope my junior high school life will be as fruitful as my elementary school life.
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