Adventure in Other Classroom Observation

I observed two English classes taught by Kato-sensei and Mr. Compter. For a little background, Mr. Compter is originally from America and has been teaching at this school for over a decade. In his class, the students were focusing on English communication. Each student was given a piece of paper with a specific topic, which they handed to the teacher. The teacher would then ask questions based on that topic for two minutes. Afterward, it was the students' turn to ask the teacher questions for another two minutes about a different topic from the paper, but this time without looking at it. Interestingly, this class only had about 10 students, making it much more intimate than the others.

After this class finished, I moved to Kato-sensei's room. He was teaching about planets and the rotation of the Earth and the Moon. A unique takeaway from both Kato-sensei and Mr. Compter was their immense enthusiasm and how effectively they used body language to match their teaching materials. For instance, when explaining the Earth's rotation, Kato-sensei made circular motions with his hands. Similarly, during the conversation practice, Mr. Compter used his entire body to express himself, making the communication feel incredibly real and relevant to the topic. These were the valuable insights I gained from both of their classes.

Kato-Sensei English Class

Mr. Compter English Class

Aside from English, I also visited several other classes. The first was an Agriculture class. The students were presenting their research projects on livestock farming. One student had even traveled all the way to Australia to observe livestock farming firsthand!

Presentation in Agriculture Class

Mechanic Tools in Engineering Class

Next, I moved on to my second class: an Engineering and Robotics class. The room was filled with mechanical tools like lathes, presses, and cutters. When I arrived, the students were working on a project to build a mobile, car-shaped robot. With programming guidance from their teacher, they had to assemble the parts using precise arrangements and calculations so the robot could move exactly as intended.

Robotics Project

Clothes from Sewing Class

From there, I headed to the third class: Sewing. Here, the students were busy sewing various items like bags, pants, and shirts, all made from recycled or repurposed materials. I was also shown a variety of their previous creations, as well as the raw materials used to make fabrics, such as wool and other fibers.

Raw Materials to make fabrics

Sewing Tools

After that, I visited the fourth class, which was Business. They were studying business graphs, and some students were actively calculating and processing data.

Business Graphs in Business Class

Books in Business Class

Indonesian Language Vocabulary

Finally, my last observation was in an Indonesian Language class taught by Bu Arum. The students were practicing their Indonesian vocabulary and conversation skills, and I was even given the wonderful opportunity to join in and converse with them.

Indonesian Language Classroom

These were just a few of the classes I observed at Tsukusaka. This school offers a wide variety of elective classes that students can choose based on their interests. Every single class here is fascinating because the students dive straight into hands-on, practical learning, and I felt incredibly lucky to be able to learn right alongside them.