The Machine

A really cool thing happened at school last week.  

I was spray-painting the "rust" onto Maurice's machine, one of the props to be used in TIS's upcoming musical "Beauty and the Beast Jr." 

(Side note: Is this not a thing of beauty itself?  It's the result of much cumulative effort on the part the grade 1 and 2 class as well as my secondary Arts block, with a touch of guide-by-the-side from yours truly.) 

(Second side note: If you are in the Sendai area, please come to our June 7th production very near the Izumi Chuo subway station.  Contact me if your interested and I'll happily forward the details.)

As the smell of the paint wafted into the grade 5 and 6 classroom, everyone gathered at the window to ask me about the curious-looking contraption.  Since neither I nor any other students I'd asked to that point were able to think of a good function for the invention that was also doable on stage, grade 5 and 6 took on the challenge and wrote this brilliant back story!  Please enjoy:

The Invention

by Grade 5 and 6

Tohoku International School

It was close to midnight when Maurice finished his masterpiece.  

Outside the cottage an owl was hooting.  Inside the cottage Maurice was pacing around the machine, staring and thinking.  Back and forth.  Around and around.  All that remained was to give his pièce de résistance a name.

He took off his glasses and put them down on his desk.  It was made of fine wood, pine perhaps, but it looked aged and used.  Scattered all over the desk were bits of crumpled paper covered with ideas that never were.  Maurice rubbed his balding head and sighed.

“A great machine needs a great name.” he said, sighing deeply. “A cup of coffee would be nice."

He grabbed the bronze crank on the left side of the machine, pulled it out slightly, turned it twice, and then pushed it back in.  The machine started to vibrate gently.  In the shining brass ball on the top of the machine he added water, and slowly it began to bubble and boil.  Next, he opened the hatch on the top of the machine, and threw in some whole coffee beans.  Maurice switched a couple more dials and levers, and then gave the silver fan a mighty turn.  

The entire machine jumped and rubbled, and made a noise that woke up every creature in the woods around his cottage.  A moment later, murky brown liquid poured out into a white cup, its steam was floating to the ceiling.  Maurice picked it up and took a sip.

“Meh.  Its too bitter.  I guess I need to adjust the settings and add a sugar option.” Maurice said, half pleased, and half disappointed. He sat down on his favorite rocking chair and sipped his too bitter coffee.  His eyes closed, and he fell into a deep sleep.

At that moment Belle came pounding down the stairs and ran into the workshop.

“Papa, what was that noise!?” she yelled.  She was wearing a flowing blue and white nightgown and dressing cap and carrying a book in one hand and a candle in the other.

Maurice awoke with a start and screamed, “Knick-knacks!”

Belle handed him his glasses and rubbed his shoulder.

“It’s okay Papa, its me, Belle.” she said calmly, “what happened?”

“I was just testing my latest invention, it works but....” his voice trailed off and he gestured to the cup of brown water on the table.  Belle picked it up and took a sip.

“Papa, its not terrible.  Its better than the last one!  What do you call this invention?” Belle said with a smile.

“Well, its, uh, you see, umm, hmmm.” 

“How about Sir Percival?” Belle said clutching her book closely to her heart, and staring dreamily out of the window.

“Yes, Sir Percival.  Just what I was thinking.” Maurice smiled.

trying this art journal thing

Today was a lovely day off.  The weather was beautiful; sunny with a gentle, cool breeze that made the curtains dance for the first time after a long, cold winter.  It was just the type of day that makes a person want to do more than just play or rest on a day off, but to use the gift of time to create.

I grabbed an old copy of a book I've carried around with me since college (which I now also have on my Kindle) and commissioned it to be my art journal henceforth.  Teaching art for the first time this year makes me wonder why I didn't start this last summer.  

It's not as intimidating as I made it out to be!  It may be a good idea insulate myself a little from the ocean of Youtube videos by professional artists with arsenals of top-of-the-line supplies and vow just to have fun and use what I have, or I'm in danger of putting myself (further) into the poorhouse!  But, my, this fun.

First official entry.  Mark 6:31.  Quiet, restful place.

Quote from a dear friend: "God is my strong, strong, strong, strong tree."
I used a linoleum block I carved in one of my first classes with my secondary students this year.

Made this border using hiragana stamps I unearthed when I moved all the way in to my current apartment.

This was time well spent!  I'm definitely doing art journals in my future classrooms, even if they are not art rooms.  And, yes, I will definitely be making this my own Sunday afternoon escape from time to time as well.

read more or die (yikes)

多読 (たどく) (read your face off)

From my experience, at the beginning beginning of language learning there's not much more one can do than learn short phrases and repeat them until they roll off the tongue.  Before I achieved a level of comfort with the most basic vocabulary and phrases, I was pretty much only capable of speaking practice with friends and basic writing practice.

I'm so glad to have reached a level (pseudo)fluency that at least allows for better conversation, as well as other types of activity in besides just sitting down with a Japanese textbook.  Although I do enjoy studying grammar as well, it is nice to be able to accomplish something like preparing a Japanese recipe or writing a note to a friend.  Some practical.  Something that contributes to community.  Something I enjoy as a hobby.

My latest endeavor with Japanese is to read a novel!  It's one you all may know:

That's right!  Harry Potter and the "Wise Man's" Stone.  賢者, or kenja, for wise man (or philosopher, or, apparently, sorcerer) was already new vocabulary for me.  

When I'd pick up any article or magazine in Japanese before now, I'd usually have my electronic dictionary or phone (or a friend :)) handy to help with on-the-spot translation.  By stopping every time I happened upon an unknown word or phrase, though, I'd be robbing myself of a chance to figure out the meaning of the word by context.  This is, I'm pretty sure, how I bolstered my growing list of sight words when I was learning to read English books as a child.

To my surprise, I learned several of the words on page one by said context, getting to the end of the page in about 15 minutes before going back to define the remaining 29 unknown words.  Had I stopped for dictionary duty each time I got stuck, the list would have been more like 40 words.  Hooray for small victories!  

Enter ReadMOD (read more or die). My friend Amy let me know about an online (friendly) competition that lets you keep track of the amount of pages read for language learning.  You can keep track of your progress and ranking, and, most beneficial of any of these in my opinion, see that there are other people out there reading not only Japanese, but many other languages as well!  Click here to read more about how extensive reading boosts comprehension.

Amy has a goal that averages out to 30 pages a day and is in the middle of a different Harry Potter book.  My goal averages out to 10 pages a day.  Judging by the one page that took me about 45 minutes total today, I think I'll need to either revisit my goal of 300 pages by January 31 or skip the dictionary part all together and count on my prior knowledge of the plot to help when I'm stuck.  Whatever I end up doing, I'll keep underlining and hopefully see the number of underlined words go down gradually.

If you're wanting to learn another language, reading is a good way to reinforce vocabulary you're learning, and even a good place to start with language learning in general!  When I was a kindergarten teacher in a completely EAL classroom, I was constantly telling parents one of the best things they could do was grabbing any book with simple, repeated text and then, when appropriate, pointing their kids toward more difficult text in a book that grabs their attention.

Same goes for adult learners, too, eh?  Happy reading!

明けましておめでとう happy new year

Happy New Year!  May this time of renewal and rest be a blessing to your bodies and souls, and may the holiday season bring each one of you opportunity to strengthen relationships and center your life's focus.

Creator of the Dawning Sun, draw me with your eternal energy.  Filter your transforming glow through every inner fiber of mine until I am transparent with the power of your enlightening beauty.
-Joyce Rupp

Grade 3/4 project with lines and shading

I have to share this great project my grade 3 and 4 students are working on!

Since I've become an art teacher, following the blogs of other art teachers is a profession development fixture in my week.  Las week, I came across this wonderful project that the kids have really had fun with so far!

If you, like me, find doodling therapeutic (and fun!), try it out!! It's much easier than it looks, it just takes a little time.  Perfect activity for an afternoon at the park.  Click here to see the process step by step on art teacher Ted Edinger's blog.

vegetable stands

Even when I lived in Saitama, I saw them everywhere: little stands with vegetables you could buy for about 100 yen, everything from a big zucchini to a bundle of cute little eggplants.  I loved the sign on this one. オール１００円 = Oru 100 en = All 100 yen. 

Really nice variety at this one!

the walk to school

It takes about 45 minutes from my apartment in Nakayama Yoshinari to the school in Yakata, just enough time to really clear my head and get the energy boost I need for the day.

From the top of one hill, you can see the school through the break in the trees.

At the bottom of the last hill in the walk, this scene is breathtaking.  The rice is, in my opinion, the most beautiful color a few weeks before harvest, when it is this yellowy green, a tertiary color on the color wheel.  Art connection.

Watch where you walk.  The spiders are biggest at this time of year.  I couldn't resist snapping a picture of this little community.  There's a lot of them, but I'm sure they all stay well fed.  I almost walked into this gigantic web myself!

The blessings of beauty on my daily walk are numerous!