Sucking Face.

Happy Shrove Tuesday/Pancake Tuesday/Carnivale/Mardi Gras! I have no idea how to make pancakes (sorry I never learned) so I picked up a few at the combini on my way to work this morning. Once a coworker explained to me that though it looks like a pancake, it's actually stuffed with Unko -oops- Anko. (Sorry: Unko is poop; Anko is a bean paste. I can't really discern the difference.) I popped into see my doctor after work and gave the Pancakes to he and his nurses as a gift.

Today also began a week's worth of Valentine lessons. As my Japanese Teaching Partner was absent today with a fever, I had to run the show solo. I don't know how much English the kids learned today, but they (and their teachers) did have a ton of fun.
First game: Love is blind: Put the kids in teams, blindfold them and then ask the first kids to draw a shape on the board. So I'd yell out, "Draw a circle please." and they'd oblige with a close approximation. The second round, they'd draw a square then a rectangle, star, diamond etc. and the last round they'd draw a Heart. Grades 1, 3 & 4 were too giggly to take the lesson seriously but the Grade Sixers managed to draw a Cupid's arrow through their hearts.

Second game: Matching Hearts: Give each kid one half of a severed heart and have them strike up a conversation, stating, "Show me your heart!" with other kids until they find their match. Yet again, a ton of fun and lots of giggling. (Dumb pun alert: I would demonstrate with the teacher in a successful match and proclaim, "Match!" I'd do the same with erroneous halves and proclaim, "Matchigatta" which means, "I made a mistake." More giggling ensued, mostly from the teachers.

In the final minutes, I played the third game which admittedly had little to do with English communication but rather cooperation. Breathless: Put them back into teams and begin a relay race using straws and a Paper Towel-Heart. I demonstrated with the teacher (females, natch) and sucking in on the straw causing suction on the heart, I'd pass it to her as she sucked in as well. The Grade Ones loved it and the Grade Fours squealed with embarrassment until we decided to make same-sexed teams rather than co-ed ones. The Sixers did a great job and finally the Grade Threes were a bit too giggly to perform well. To my credit, only one wimpy kid cried mainly because of the hyperactive screamer on his team.

I shall do the same or similar tomorrow with another school and on Valentine's Day proper, I'll be doing the same games with the entire gamut of Elementary kids at a small school. All ages will participate on the same team, I'll let you know how it goes!