Earthquake....

At 10:20 last night, I had just gone to bed. I was awakened by a TREMOR! Whahoooooooooo! It lasted only for a few seconds. What a feeling.... I am on the 4th floor of the hotel. It felt like we were on a boat! I am glad I got to feel one, and no one was injured or hurt. Apparently there were 2 tremors, and I slept through the second one. OH well!

Today we visited Fukuwara High School. We were able to sit in on many classes and watched how things were being taught. I saw a cooking class, music class, math, english, and science class. The style of teaching is extremely different in Japan then it is in the USA. Teachers lecture in Japan, at least in the high school, and the students participate when asked. Students work really hard, all day long. It is amazing how obedient the students are. They are extremely polite and well mannered. Students are really friendly and love to talk. We ate lunch with the students and chatted for a while. It was really cool! It was a pleasure to be in their school.

It is interesting- American's have the perspective that Japanese schools are perfect and their systems are the best. Well, they really are amazing systems, but have problems of their own. While they have no problem of good grades, obedience, and high success rates academically, many of the Japanese students don't have the creativity or independence that USA students have. USA school systems tend to lack in obedience, overall success, and success rates, but there is creativity, iniative, and exploration from our students. As technologically advanced as we think Japan is, the technology isn't always in the schools. At least in the school we visited here in Osaki so far, I have more technology in my classroom (smartboard, several computers, etc...) We both share budget problems however!!!!!! Learning about the education system here is interesting.