クリスマスしましょう! (Let's Christmas!)

As I have mentioned before, things borrowed from the outside world get changed a little when they get Japan-ified. I don't know whether I've mentioned this yet specifically with regard to Christmas, or not, but in case I haven't- our favorite Western holiday is no exception to the rules.

For example- My one shogakko held it's annual "Christmas Festival." It was great fun- students were given a "free pass" to go from classroom to classroom and see what each class had set up for the event. The attractions included two haunted houses, 3 game rooms, and something else that escapes me. In any event, the whole event didn't have anything to do with what would be considered "Christmas" by religious and secular standards alike (and it was a lot of fun). The "reason for the season folks" would have a thrombosis in this country...

Also on the docket was directing hordes of children in the production of snowflakes and Christmas cards- the snowflakes turned out nicely, but let's face it- you've seen one paper snowflake...

The cards were a different matter. I taught virtually no vocabulary, and just directed the kids to make cards with some Christmas-y ideas on them. The results are (once again) better done justice with pictures:


First of all, some of the cards were almost obscenely cute (these were 5th graders, but the other grades made good ones too)- I submit the following:




There was also no shortage of cute snowmen (in Japanese- "yukidaruma").






There were also some nice, traditional types (in spite of being written on the blackboard, theories on how to spell "Merry Christmas abound)-







...and at least one non-traditional type-



The child explained that it had something to do with Santa going to jail- presumably for breaking and entering (although this was not made explicit). This card shares company with one featuring a yellow "Christmas ghost" (which looked for the life of me like a Halloween ghost- but maybe more cheerful), and a card featuring a Mario-style Bullet Bill (both regrettably not pictured).

The card making was also a good activity, because, as something easy and fun, it was tackled with enthusiasm. It also gave the creative students a chance to shine, and several of the cards that I didn't get pictures of were also quite impressive- one student even made a cut-paper poinsettia, which was quite pretty.

So that was elementary school Christmas. It was a blessed relief from the more high-intensity teaching I usually must carry out, and a lot of fun too. Hope you enjoyed the pictures.

On a random interaction note- here's one more story-
one funny student (a 5nen from one of favorite classes) drew a parallel from the Japanese paper cutter I was operating (which I was joking reminded me of an invention by a certain French doctor), and Happy Tree Friends. For the uninitiated, well, there's the link. My question, however, is this- how did an elementary student get ahold of this?? Aside from being a bit on the violent side, I had no idea that Happy Tree Friends had made their way over to Japan. Who knew?

Alright- that's all he wrote for today. Stay tuned for whatever's next- probably pics of the truly impressive snow storm that can't be far away. Failing that, I am traveling to a couple of (currently undetermined) places around Japan for my winter break, and should come back loaded with photos Kyoto, Shikoku, Tokyo, or wherever. Mada sono toki!