Sho mo nai!

SHOCK! I am shock!

I just did a game with the grade three elementary class to reinforce giving directions. Left, right, forward, back, et cetera. They get blindfolded and their team directs them around the class to the target on the board with the toy hammer in their hand. There were a couple minutes left so I got Hamada-sensei to give it a try. He is the same age as me and he's the temporary replacement for the teacher gone on long term sick leave. It was once the blindfold went on that the shock occurred. Those grade three boys were like sharks smelling blood. I have never seen so many kanchos and dick grabs directed at a single person in such a short time. It was fearsome. And because he had the hammer in hand he only had effectively one hand to defend with. I guess it's a testament to the Japanese "ganbaru" and "shikata ga nai" spirit that he just kept following my directions and didn't take off the mask to effectively stop the kids. This should be of some comfort for all the foreigners who think that they are the only teachers who ever get kancho'd. (O_o)

posted by Fletcher @ 7:17 p.m.