Friday 22nd September - Yogo Gakko.

Today I visited my second visit school - Yogo Gakko, a school for chidren with disabilities. It was such an experience and one I'll never forget. The school is Elementary and Junior High School combined with classes of 5 or 6 students and maybe 50 students in total. There are so many teachers around the school, with some caring for individual children who are wheelchair bound or suffering from a more severe disability. The general feeling around the school is a very happy one. The day started with an "Ohayoo Gozaimasu" (good morning) song in the classroom and then the students were given their schedule for the day using flashcards and plastic clocks. They then hosted a Takoyaki (fried octopus) party where the children got together in little aprons and yellow bandanas (which I also proudly donned for the occasion) to make their own Takoyaki and then eat... all before 11am! Luckily for me, the Takoyaki wasn't actually made from octopus and just had slices of sausage in the middle instead!

After the party, my teacher and I went to get the children ready for lunch i.e. more aprons and bandanas. For those who are able, they are taught to set their own tables and dish out their own food so lunchtime is set from 11.15am - 1.15pm to allow time for everyone to take part. Teachers and students have their lunch together and I watched as a girl of about 8 or 9 with Downs Syndrome dished up my lunch for me. My teacher told me she would normally never go near a stranger, but by 2pm she was hanging off my arm. I couldn't understand their Japanese and they only knew 'hello' or 'ok' so communicating was left down to gestures and body language. Yuki-chan, the wee girl who served up my lunch wanted me to read with her so as you can imagine i struggled immensly!!!

After lunch (which was rice, miso soup, cold vegetable stew, eel tempura and a bottle of full fat milk) it was cleaning time where all the students did their best to help with the cleaning. The emphasis is not really on the actual cleaning, but more the concept of working together and doing 'normal' school duties. At 2pm there was some dancing and more singing, followed by study time. Each student had their own set of plastic drawers that had different activities depending on their ability. They all quietly got on with their work for about 20 minutes which was then finished off with story time. I didn't quite understand what was being said but at one point one of the teachers pretended to eat a blue fish (cuddly toy), stuffed it under his jumper to show it was in his tummy and then proceeded to act out going to the toilet which produced the story they were going to read!!!! Very funny, and the kids thought it was hilarious! After story time it was free time for the students to play in the park or gym hall with all the various toys laid out for them. At the end of the day, the teachers went to see off all the students onto their buses or meet their parents who had come to pick them up.

I met so many lovely children and hate to single any out but this one wee boy had his own language which only the teachers and his parents undersood. It was amazing to see the teachers communicate with him and know him so well. He was trying to tell them about a TV programme he had seen the previous night and they couldn't work out what it was called, so one of the teachers went to get a newspaper and went through it with him! He was 11 years old, but looked much younger and was so tiny and frail. He insisted that I help him with the mopping after lunch and he was blabbing away the whole time but didn't understand that I couldn't speak Japanese (or even his own special dialogue!).

It was such a memorable day and I enjoyed not having to deal with 17 year olds with big egos and attitudes! Roll on my next visit in October!