Yukuhashi City

Today we checked out and traveled to the city of Yukuhashi. First we went to the Fukuoka University of Education. We met with the University President and Dean of Education. They wanted to tell us about how teachers become certified as well as ask for suggestions and comments from us based on our experience. It was very U.N. like if you ask me, we sat in rows facing the representatives of our respective countries, until our coffee break when we grabbed the chance to speak to English-speaking students one on one. After break they decided discussion worked so much better that way, we broke into little groups. I spoke frankly with some lovely students who had wonderful english and were very helpful! Then, off to the actual city.



I met the Mayor, Superintendent and Board of Education! It was great to hear what they wanted us to know about their city, and we also had the chance to ask some questions about what we had learned in Tokyo. A large part of our discussion at the end of the meeting was about school safety and security. I think that's sort of a sad state of affairs, but it was interesting to hear how other schools in our own country handle it as well as that of another country. The Superintendent also discussed his "bragging" points for improvements to his district, and they really were great. I look forward to seeing a real school! It was a long meeting because we just couldn't stop asking questions of each other. The Board of Education was very interested in our technology, discipline, and special education resources.



After that, another hotel. We got here with enough daylight to explore the city a little and we picked a nice ramen noodle shop for dinner. The five of us had a rough time with the menu because we couldn't read it, so we chose from the picture menu and hoped for the best. Our waitress did a great job while we furiously paged through our books to find the right words for drinks and side dishes.
Only once we were leaving did we understand the vending machine type thing at the door, we were supposed to pay the machine when we came in and only hand her the ticket when she walked by our table. Laughing at our ignorance, after they thanked us profusely for coming and asked us to come back, we thought about how our situation might have been handled at home by some disgruntled waitress, myself being one of them in my college days. Admittedly, this is a much more calm and relaxed society that I'm visiting.
Tomorrow I get to visit the elementary school. This is the part I think we're all looking forward to the most!