Yes we can

Since the 7th graders are doing a lesson on some fake junior high school in Canada, the teachers asked me to talk a little about my middle school in class. They have learned some phrases like “How many classes do you have each day?” and “How long are the classes?” So the teachers encourage them to ask me their questions in English. It mostly works out. The best part though, is that the teachers themselves are pretty unfamiliar with non-Japanese education systems, so a lot of the times they are more surprised than the kids. One of the funniest things to explain is the lunch situation. The kids are always so jealous when I tell them that we have a cafeteria. I guess cafeteria in Japanese society doesn’t bring up the prison like food quality image most Americans will recall. They don’t believe me when I tell them that no one actually wants to eat cafeteria food, we are just forced to. I guess I just have to leave it to the kids to perhaps discover one day when one of them decides to study abroad and eats the mystery meat.

As a part of the parent-teacher conferences going on right now, the students are displaying their artwork around the school. The seventh graders have to do some sort of poster about a public issue or something. This kid used the popular “Yes we can” Obama meme to tell the school about the importance of recycling aluminum cans. Here, Obama is saying “Yes we can”.