As a substitute teacher, Josh got assigned many different classrooms at AEIS, wherever he was needed. He came to really enjoy being assigned to fill in for a "Specials" (PE, Music, Art or Japanese Culture) educator because it meant he got to work with 4 or 5 groups of kid in a single day instead of just 1 (sometimes it was a good thing & sometimes not, depending on the kids' attitudes & moods that day). He could then work with a "just-busting-at-the-seams-to-be-adolescent-middle-schoolers" class of 6th graders or with a "still-very-child-like-&-so-innocent" classroom of 4th graders. It was pretty fun to see the contrasts in developmental phases on the very same day like that.
But Josh especially enjoyed substituting for the educator in the Japanese Culture classroom, because of all the things he got the chance to learn myself. We're quite jealous of the kids here that they're getting exposed to this very different yet extremely beautiful culture, not only from just living here (like we do) but actually being formally educated. We're sure that most kids don't even realize what a wonderful thing it is (how can they, at their age & maturity level?), but we maintain the ardent hope that someday they'll look back on their days with Ms. Tawabata & appreciate what she taught them about human diversity.
On one such assignment in the classroom, Josh took a few minutes to snap some photos of the things that the kids here get to see & hear & learn & create & experience about the Japanese & Okinawan cultures that we wish we got exposed to at their age. Some pretty cool stuff!
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