Here we are, it’s this time of the year again. We had our Family Sports Day on Saturday, in the morning and the afternoon.
Thank you to all the parents who came along to participate in our event. It was a greater success than ever before!!
I would like to introduce some of the highlights from the event.
Entrance March
The students came marching in to the field with their class flags shining bright with their original designs.
It was quite a spectacular to see the students gather even though this was only half the elementary school.
So it begins…after the principal’s speech.
Warming-Up Exercise
This is a Japanese ritual for a sporting event, that we do a short exercise along with the piano and the male, one-two cadence.
In case of AMICUS, the male voice part is done all in English.
If you ever get to hear the Japanese version, you will find out how well the voice is fitting in (quite naturally) to make it sound close to the original one.
Relay Race
Relay race, throughout the world, is always an exciting event.
The first-graders, even though it has only been 2 months since they’ve started, they all behaved well, waiting for their turn.
In the heat of Okinawa, it becomes necessary to have a big fan like this, and it is of course, a natural reaction for them to go “Aaaaaaaaaaaaahhh” to the fan to enjoy their voice distortion.
The sixth graders raced with parents. It’s an AMICUS thing that we have parents enjoy and participate. The race was nip and tuck until the last moment. It was the G6 students’ team that won the close game.
Grade 5 – The Big Jump Rope
“It doesn’t matter if we haven’t practiced or not. Let’s just have fun with the kids anyway.” was the call from the parents. They all had fun jumping for the points!!!
Then it was the students’ turn. They jumped efficiently and quickly with their brilliant coordination. They went in from left to right in a “∞”-shape, with their rhythmical “Hai, hai, hai” call. It was just like one of those documentary shows you see on Japanese TV how they show elementary school students’ jump rope competition.
Their coordination was so beautiful, they received a big round of applause from the parents.
Grade 2 Dance
All grades practiced their dances for this day, and so did the second graders. Their dance was the famous Maori dance, “Haka”, as you may have seen on rugby matches. Some students were really into it, they left their paintings on.
The girls danced to the song, “Tinsagu-no-Hana (The Flower of Tinsagu)”, an old Ryukyu (Traditional Native Okinawan) Song that sings about how important to follow the good teaching of parents. The choreography comes from the teachers’ homeland, and they coordinated well with the music.
At last, both boys and girls danced to the upbringing tune which reminded us of the Southern Islands. Both costumes matched really well to the music.
Finishing Off with “Dschinghis Khan”
The final dance was performed by the sixth graders, with their hand-made street style costume, and their sharp moves. The dance was amazing, they even got a call of encores. The dance coach joined in and they all danced together.
As the G6 dance finished, we started hearing a tune, familiar to the Japanese ears, an old song from the 70s, “Dschinghis Khan” (EN: Genghis Khan, but spelled “Dschinghis Khan” because the group was from former West Germany).
“Ooohhh!!!”
“Huhhh!!!”
Moms and dads, who probably danced to this music when they were back in elementary, had no hesitation to dance together. The music was just so catchy even those who never heard of the song before, just joined in anyway.
We are going to have our orientation on the 4th of July. Please make your reservation through here.