new school, new friends, and new teacher..

After a long thought :D we finally decided to chose HIGASHI YOUCHIEN as a place for Diego to spent his days during his stay in Akita.

Youchien here means kindergarten in English or Taman Kanak-Kanak in Bahasa Indonesia :D

why we love Higashi Yochien ??

1. It is located very near to our dormitory. It took about 15 minutes by walk slowly, and not more than 5 minutes if we use bicycle. We consider this as our first preference. i know exactly it will be so cold during the winter here in Akita, so the nearer the better :D 

2. The staffs are really nice. I admitted that most of the staffs cant speak English, but they tried so hard to explain everything for me during the first week (with help from my friend of course that can speak japanese fluently :D) but recently, i usually comes to school alone and now between me and the administration staff can communicate quite well with a simple japanese :D (with the help of google translate and body gesture hihi) but at least they don't give up on us.

3. Diego got a male sensei :D it is very rare for me to see a male teacher in kindergarten :D especially as a home room teacher, alone, and handling 27 children for almost school time.. :D by the way, Diego's teacher is really a great teacher.. He tried so hard using English every time we meet and not only that, sometimes he makes special announcement in English just for Diego. He can communicate with Diego ( i dont know how and what language since Diego can only speak Bahasa Indonesia and maybe simple english at first). He is a lovable teacher, even Diego likes him very much. He teaches the students with heart, i can see it from the student's reaction when seeing him. Good job sensei. I will definitely share it to my fellow in Indonesia, especially the kindergarten school teacher :D 

4. The uniform looks soooo cool, especially the winter edition hihihi :D i never thought a kindergarten student can go to school with a suit, sooo cuteeeee... 

5. They have pool in the school and also scheduled swimming time :) although only 10 times maybe in a year but Diego always excited to go to school during the swimming time and never skipped it.

6. They provide healthy food for the students every day (except Wednesday). They gave us the menu every week so parents know exactly what food that their children ate at school. Carbohydrate, Vitamin, Protein, and also milk are always provided during the lunch time.  

7. It has a playground, although its not really big but children loves it, including Diego. School actually finishes around 2.20pm but Diego usually goes home around 3.30 to 4pm, even sometimes 4.30 :D He always plays at the playground, sliding, swinging, playing with sand and ball, or just running around with friends.

8. It has a very well scheduled program, i can see it from the weekly announcement which is very detailed, sometimes too detailed for me :D (because i can't read too much kanji, so many times i just skipped it hihi)

9. They have Parents Association that worked together with the school for some events. I surprised seeing how parents really involved in school activities. Not only collecting fund, but also as a organizer and committee. ( will tell you more about this later, since i once helped the sport day event so i know exactly how parents involved in one event).

10. The school is open. Open here means they never restricted parents to come and see the classroom. Mostly, me or my husband always take Diego to school and takes him until his classroom. The school gives us change to drop our child between 8.30-9.00. During the time, Diego will change his shoes and clothes (by him self)  and also prepare his daily agenda and hand towel which is not more than 10 minutes. After he is ready, he will go to his classroom and i will go home as well. Sometimes sensei will come out and greet the parents :) Although the school is open, not all parents come every morning. Some students goes to school by bus school with no parents.

And many more things that i might share in the next blog.

11 April 2015, was the opening ceremony for the new students in this school. (The school year is different with Indonesia. Indonesia starts school year in July, but in Japan, it starts on April)

The opening ceremony that day was only for the new students in this school. Because kindergarten is not a compulsory thing in Japan, so it is common here to enter Kindergarten in any age between 4-6 depends on the parents (with no entrance test of course).

We were so nervous. Not only Diego, but me and my husband should came and wore a formal suit for that event. 

First the introduction by Diego's sensei in their own classroom, and then together parents left the children in the class room with sensei and went to the hall. After  a while, the students in line form came to the hall and sat on the chair that already provided. Teachers did some music performance and the principal gave some speech. After the ceremony finished, we went back to the class room and got the final announcement from sensei, and students got some souvenir from the school.

It was a relieved for me, since Diego well behaved during the ceremony. Little bit crying the moment we left him, but i guess its make sense since he cant understand everything hihi (by the way, now Diego can understand and speak little japanese :D, proud!)

Here are some pictures that we took :

2 April, we officially enrolled Diego to Higashi Yochien

our first formal picture together :D

look how nervous he was :D

Thats HIM in front of the line, next to sensei :))))

looking for us hihi 

Teacher performance (gurunya dikit yaa padahal muridnya banyak bener :D)

Each students has their own tools box. With their name written on all the things. Since the kindergarten student cant read, so each student will get their own symbol. Diego's symbol is trumpet :)

they have their own pianica. The school lend this pianica for the students. The parents only need to buy the tube or pipe for it. 

Sink in each class room, provided with soap

A place to hang their own hand towel, so after they wash their hands they will use their own towel

Shoes rack. So Diego should prepare 2 extra shoes, 1 for indoor and 1 for sport.

each sticker shows the location where they should seat

classroom decoration for this month. on the whiteboard written : congratulation for the new kindergarten enrollment  

Each fish represent for each month, the student's birthday date was written on it. This is March Fish, and on 17 will be Diego's birthday. SO that is Diego's name in Japanese letter, DIEGO SAMUERU :D 

clothes and hat racks, outside the classroom. Here they hang their uniform, apron, hat, bags, and bottle drink. 

This is for extra clothes. So each semester we have to prepare extra clothes (not uniform) from shirt, pants, socks, and underwear just in case something happened and they need to change their clothes. Of course, it should come with NAME on each thing. 

of course, mini library in each room. Not to mention piano in each room hihihi

Well, that is my little introduction about Diego's school. Keep hoping that i can catch up our stories in Akita, since today is actually September :D

See you in my other post :)