Hello Teacher, it’s lunch time !

English was my part time job when I first came to Japan, not so many years ago. 

Children, businessmen, career women, and some senior citizens were my students at school or at their homes.

After teaching for a few years, I went back to the job that I love the most,  “showbiz and entertainment.”  Working as a manager for foreign talents was the job that got me closest to film and t.v. production.

I come from a  family of teachers and film-makers.

My grandmother, my sister, my brother, my aunt and her 2 daughters, my sister-in-law, are all teachers.

My father, my mother, my two brothers, are in film production and show business.

I am so happy to be a part of these “two worlds.”

This 2010, I went back to my “other-love”, teaching.

So, it is back to school. 

We bike to our schools most of the time.

In Japan, we are often referred to as the  “ALT”,  Assistant Language Teacher.

Teaching is so demanding and tiring, but it is rewarding and so much fun because of the children.

Getting along with all the children and teachers at school is so important.

One way to get close to the children and teachers, is having the school lunch with them.  The school lunch is very reasonable.

Typical healthy school meal... milk is served everyday

Lunch time in schools in Japan is “so cool”.  Each class has a group in charge for the lunch everyday.  Lunch is brought to the school by a company that provides lunch to schools.  And these lunch carts are brought to each door of each classroom just before lunch time.   The kids-in-charge, wear aprons and hats, like little chefs…then they push the  food cart to the front of the class. Then  those in charge,  put the meals on the tray, and serve their classmates.

When there is more food or some extra dessert or milk, they play “janken”  to determine who wins the last piece of dessert or milk.

During lunch time, the children also do another “janken”  -  The winner’s group gets the ALT to sit and eat with them… they try to “speak English” with me… and it is so much fun to know how much they all like to get to know their English Sensei.

After lunch, they all  brush their teeth.  Then, they all go out and play in the school yard until the bell rings for their afternoon classes.      In most cases, it is usually cleaning time that starts their afternoon session.  That will be discussed later on.

Thank you everyone… have a great lunch !