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| The opening ceremony begins |
Back when I was a junior high school student, I can remember my school’s annual "open house". It always happened on a weeknight for a few hours, when parents could stop by after work and check out what their children had been up to at school. Teachers decorated the rooms with selected projects and students' work. Parents could casually chat with teachers. As a student, I don't remember having to do anything in particular—besides perhaps eavesdropping on what my parents and teachers were chatting about hoping the discussion stayed positive. In Japan, the rough equivalent to this is the annual school festival. Similarly, the festival gives parents a chance to see what their children are doing in school. But compared to my junior high school experience, it's carried out in a completely different way in Japan.
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| Students watching an informal quiz game |
Here, the school festival takes much more preparation. Teachers and students start getting ready for the event many weeks in advance. Teachers plan which projects they want to showcase and how they want to decorate their classrooms. Teachers also have to manage and oversee the preparations related to the various student organizations and activities at the school. Students are very busy with all sorts of things, including making decorations for their classrooms, creating class newspapers, planning performances for the festival, practicing for the chorus competition, and more. The festival spans a full weekend, starting early in the morning on Saturday and finishing late in the afternoon on Sunday. The ceremonies, performances, and activities take place in the gymnasium; students work and projects can be viewed in the school's classrooms and hallways; and lunch is eaten in classrooms on a designated floor.
This year, the event started with a typical opening ceremony, including several speeches and singing of the school song. Next, students tried some activities like quiz games and watched some performances such as a fun glow-stick dance routine.
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| Glow-stick dance performance |
For lunchtime, students had to stay at the school and eat during specified time slots, one for each grade. Various food and drink items could be ordered, including a variety of items that the students' mothers cooked/baked.
After lunch, the first- and second-grade chorus competition began. Each class sang two songs; the first was a standard song which every class was required to sing, the second was an original selection chosen by each class. In regards to this system, hearing the same song over and over got old really fast in my opinion, but still I really enjoyed listening to the original songs. And more generally-speaking, the simple fact that Japanese schools are able to get virtually all students to participate and take the competition seriously, is nothing short of amazing. Looking back to when I was a junior high school student, there's no way that would ever happen--especially for us boys who were "too cool to sing".
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| Chorus competition |
The second day of the school festival started with the English speech contest participants presenting their speeches again. Several months ago they had participated in a city-wide contest (see my blog post here), but for most of their peers it was the first chance to listen to their speeches. As an English teacher, I was delighted to see them give their speeches again. Following a short break, the drama club then came on stage to present their original play titled, Yakusoku (約束, meaning "Promise"). Starring an all-female cast, the play was a teenage-girl drama which revolved around a group of friends attending a dance school and preparing for a big event. The story may have not appealed to me but no matter, I just walked around and snapped pictures. Unfortunately for the boys on the other hand, they were required to sit and watch the whole thing.
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| The drama club presents their play, Yakusoku |
The play took up most of the morning, and then the students ate lunch. The schedule for the afternoon began with the third-grade and school-wide chorus competitions. Being the final year for the third graders, their songs were more difficult than those of the younger grades and students really seemed to bring their voices together powerfully. Shortly following the impressive competitions, an awards ceremony took place. During this, the school principal formally gave out various awards and trophies to a selection of student groups/classes, such as the chorus competition winners. Upon winning, the students cheered and shared high-fives in celebration.
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| Left: the school principal gives a speech; Right: award ceremony |
Once the gold trophies and stylized glass plaques were all handed out, the festival started to come to a close. Students representing each class came on stage to give small speeches about the school year, important life lessons they have learned, and what they hope for in the future. For many of the third graders, it was emotional and some of them couldn't help but shed a few tears as memories of their past three years undoubtably rushed through their minds. Finally, all students and teachers stood up straight, and sang one last song together to finish the year's school festival.
I think the school festival is a special time for schools in Japan. It marks a halfway point in the school year; it happens just as the leaves are about to change colors and the temperatures start to drop. For the strained third graders, it's a fresh reminder that graduation is around the corner and the pressure to get into a good high school is building. For first graders, it's a bit of a turning point in which they have now adapted to life as a junior high school student. Perhaps second graders may realize that just a year later it will be them on the stage with tears running down their faces. What are teachers thinking? Is this damn thing over yet?
