Self-Introductions

The 8th graders at my visiting school today had to fill out a worksheet about my self-introduction.

(1st let me tell you about self-introductions).
We have to do a self-introduction if we are in a new class - so, for example, when we have a month of Elementary School visits, where we have 4 classes a day, and go to a different school every 2 days, that means, in a given week, you have to give your self-introduction 20 times. then do that 4 weeks in a row = 80 times.
Then, go to a JHS visiting school the next month, where there are 6 classes per grade (JHS here is comprised of 7th-9th grade) -- that means another two weeks of 18 more self introductions.
O, and in my particular situation, because the school year in Japan begins in April (not September), my base school had 8 new classes of 7th graders (40 students each) -- which I also spent a week reciting my now perfectly rehearsed "all about me" speech.
So actually, that means, in the past 2 months, I have performed AT LEAST 100 self introductions, if not more.
NOW, on top of that, it's incredibly common and standard that after you give your self-introduction, the students give a short one themselves -- usually just "hello, my name is. Nice to meet you." Sometimes if the kids are really challenged and shoot for the gold, they'll add in a "I like strawberry."
So, classes here, on average, are 35-40 students. That means....for example, in elementary school, I "meet" 160 new students a day, times 20...that means within a given month or two, I've shaken the hands of 3200 sweaty nervous shy students with a big smile and flip of the ponytail.
Sure, it's no presidential election tour...but...it wears a girl's psyche out, for sure.

Usually, this is what an elementary school lesson is comprised of.

Back to JHS now. So, in JHS, sometimes, the teacher will just ask the students to summarize what I've said, in Japanese. Or the students will ask me additional questions like "what do you like sport?" or I'll hand out a simple worksheet asking questions about my introduction, or the teacher will have a handout already, etc etc.

O, and what do I mention in my self-introduction?
well...
in fact, here ya go, here's my boring little speech.
Good morning everyone!
My name is Janine Erickson. Please call me Janine. (write my name on the board in English and katakana - CURSE katakana...but sometimes you just gotta use it).
Nice to meet you!
(students say: "Nice to meet you too!")
I'm from America (I point to a map of America). I'm from California state (I point to a pink California). I'm from Los Angeles city. (I point to the dot and arrow pointing in the direction of LA).
haha, etc etc etc.
I show a picture of the American flag - I ask them if they know how many stars there are, I ask them if they know why.
This one kid the other day in 5th grade (did i already say this??) he asked..."is it because in America, the sky is always beautiful and you can always see stars?"
so cute!
then i go on showing a photo of my family. I say my mother is chinese. my father is american. so I am half chinese, half american (with a gesture of splitting my face or body in two). and all the students freak out - because meeting someone of "half-origin" is only heard of in legends.
that's right, I'm a LEGEND in Japan.
I giggle.
I ask them to guess how old I am - I've gotten 38, I've gotten 16. and everything in between. Usually, they guess 24 - because it's the only number they can easily recall in english - because of the show. And then when I say yes, the kids freak out and scream "jack bauer jack bauer" a ton of times.
Then I tell them i like swimming, movies, and sushi. and the kids can't believe I've said the word sushi AND that I like it.
and...that's about it. It's a good 15 minutes.

Anyhow...so today, for the 8th grade classes, the teacher had them fill out a short worksheet about my introduction. A few fill in the blanks. And then they prepared questions for me. And on the worksheet they had to draw something about the lesson.

Here are a few of their drawings. (don't mind my comments in red, heh)

Above: It's me writing my name on the board. Some of the kids intrepret foreigners as faceless. (i kid, i kid)

In japanese - it says...something about introducing my name on the board in the front of the class for my introduction. and at the bottom, she wrote, "Janine wrote in katakana real pretty" (i think?) heh.

Above: It says in Japanese "Janine-san's gesture" - because when I introduce my favorite sport - I make a swimming gesture in front of the class until someone screams out what I'm doing. Most of the time it works. sometimes, I just look like an idiot while the class stares at me, wondering what I'm doing. But i thought this was a nice capture of the moment. =P

Above: Why yes, I do many pets have. In fact, I 2 cat pets have. Yata!

Above: I'd like to think my eyes are that big, cute, and cavernously black. juuuust kidding. I wanna be a cute anime character every day!!

Well, so that's all. There have been better portraits of me =P, but the idea of ever posting any of them online only occured to me now.

Usually they can be quite funny and oddly introspective -- for instance, a 10 year old drew a picture of me -- I look like a happy heroine addict ready to knife someone in a back alley - I've got big baggy tired eyes and a hoodie. Yet....the drawing still has a signature Japanese cuteness to it. when the little girl handed it to me, she was like "Janine sensei!!! You so CUTE!" So it wasn't meant to look like I was severely hungover for 92 hours, but...it does. lol. I keep it as a bookmark actually - a constant reminder of how others perceive me. =P

Maybe it's a sign that I need more than 3 hours of sleep with this job. ;)

So yea, those drawings above are kind of tame. But cute (かわいい) nonetheless!!

<3,

j9