winter break's over and school starts

 Trying to keep up with my one blog post a week 2023 resolution.

So yesterday winter break is finally over and school started for Rayyan. I find it so nice that they make the kids return to school on a Friday after 2-week long holiday, so that they have more time to adapt to new school routine rather than having them start on a Monday. We all know how much we hate starting work or school on a Monday. So I think it's nice. (Malaysia should follow suit.)

Rayyan had to bring his books he brought back before winter break, so Daddy accompanied him in the morning. While Rayyan's school had started yesterday, Rafiy and Daddy will start theirs on next Tuesday as next Monday is a public holiday in Japan (seijin no hi). 

So a day before school starts, guess who was the busiest person in the household?

Mommy of course.

Settling laundry so that his gym clothes are in order. Making sure he finished memorising kyuu-kyuu hyou (multiplication table). Making sure he finished doing his homework - kanji, hiragana, katakana and sansuu (mathematics). Making sure he finished doing his fuyuu shiori (winter break sheet - sort of like a homework/journal).

If you're wondering what it looks like:

The first one is 2023 new no mokuhyou (2023 goals). So Rayyan wrote his in English first, and used the Pocketalk and Google translate to translate them into nihongo. I think his kanji is so beautifully done (well looks better than mine at least). 

He wrote:

1. Undou (physical activities): nawatobi wo motto jyouzuni yaritai (I want to do jump rope better)
2. Seikatsu (life): motto jyouzuni kaki tai (I want to draw better)
3. Gakushuu (studies): motto jyouzuni nihongo wo hanashitai (I want to speak Japanese better)

The bottom part is 2022 nen watashino 3 day niyuusu (my 3 big events for 2022).

He wrote:

1. Watashitachiwa nihon ni hikkoushimashita (we moved to Japan)
2. Ie de taisetsuna mono wo kaimashita (we bought important things for our new house)
3. Atarashii gakkou ni itte, atarashii tomodachi wo dekimashita (I went to a new school, and made new friends)

This is the journal part. He has to write his thoughts for winter break. By this part he was already so tired of translating, he wrote everything in English instead.

Crossing fingers that his sensei won't mind.

I think this practice is really good - it trains the kids to better articulate their thoughts and feelings into paper. I don't think Malaysia's school system has this yet - but I think it should. I uploaded this to my IG story and a friend who is a teacher said she'd like to do the same for her students.

That's the sign of a good teacher, I think.

So Rayyan said yesterday was a good first day. He even had kanji test but he said it wasn't so bad lol.

Akemashite omedetou gozaimasu!