July 13 , 2003

This past week I had two great days in a row; on Friday, I gave a short lecture and played a game with a great bunch of middle school students, and on Saturday I went to Hiroshima to see a professional baseball game.

Sensei for a Day
My trip to Ube Chuugakkoo was awesome. Yuji and Momoko, two of my Japanese teachers, went along with me. The whole trip was a reunion for Yuji, since we visited his old school and his old teacher’s class.

Before heading into the classroom I was a bit nervous. I didn’t know what to expect, and I wasn’t sure how the kids would respond to me. I walked into the classroom and found about 40 sixth-graders sitting on the floor. This was more than I had expected. I think they could tell I was nervous, because I saw them whispering to one another. I set things up for my lecture and took a big breath before beginning. Gulp.

As soon as I started talking in Japanese, of course, the kids were amazed. Their little faces were glowing as they focused on what I was saying. This made me feel much more comfortable and relaxed. Whew. I gave a 20-minute lecture covering various topics. I began by introducing myself and talking about my interests and hobbies. Several of the kids

laughed when I said I liked to gamble on horse racing. After that I discussed some basic differences between America and Japan. The kids were surprised by all of them. From this I