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"Children's Day"

On Monday, May 7th, our Japanese 2 class invited 40 first and second graders from Park elementary school in Casper to celebrate the Japanese festival, "Children's Day (May 5th every year in Japan)." The Japanese 2 students were divided into five groups, and each group had their own station in which they would teach the children some aspect of Japanese culture: sumo, origami, calligraphy, chopsticks, and food. Below are the comments from some of the Japanese students.

[SUMO STATION]

"We told 40 elementary students a little bit about the origins of sumo, the rules and other various things. We rented a sumo suit in town and we had a student wear it and play sumo with all of the kids. It was a lot of fun."

"I was dressed in a large Sumo suit, and would lose sumo matches to all of the kids. As we were having matches we would tell them facts about sumo, and try to answer all of the questions that they had. I think this was a really good way to expose younger kids to Japanese culture."

[CALLIGRAPHY STATION]

"Generally, the kids wanted to write their own names, or the name of a family member or friend. Animal kanji (Chinese characters) were also popular, such as dragon, cat, dog, etc. The kids picked up on things rather quickly and demonstrated some surprising skill in the writing of Japanese, and some even knew some words in Japanese. Overall, I think that this was well worth it, and I look forward to doing it again."

[CHOPSTICKS STATION]

"My station taught kids how to use chopsticks. The object was to take cereal (Fruit Loops) from a bowl and put into another bowl. We also tried to do a relay race after the kids got it down pretty well. The kids enjoyed learning how to use chopsticks: most got the idea down pretty well in 10 minutes."

[FOOD STATION]

"We served green tea and rice balls. I enjoyed teaching them what I knew, and I think for the most part they enjoyed it, too. Maybe the children will never have another experience with Japanese culture but I believe that they benefited from this. The kids were really cute and were willing to experience things that they had not before. The little kids were more open to Japanese food than I was the first time. I thought that it was really cool hearing them say how much fun they were having and that they wish they could stay all day."

[ORIGAMI STATION]

"They liked everything we did. I taught them how to fold an origami helmet. I think kids should be taught Japanese when they are young because it helps them learn about different cultures and they are always interested. We only had about a hour and a half with them and they didn't want to leave. We could have entertained them the whole day. I loved working with the kids and they seemed to have lots of fun."