学園ブログ

Aug 7, Sunny

The first lesson after the long weekend was on the First Nations in Canada. “First Nations” means the indigenous peoples, who lead their traditional lives long before the Westerners arrived. The students discussed their traditional clothing and housing by comparing them to Japanese kimono and houses.

Students wrote;

Today, I gave a presentation about houses.  I thought that I was better at it than last time.  I was happy.

I didn’t know that First Nations lived underground.  This is the same as ancient Japanese people. Old peoples thought the same things even if they were far from each other.  

It was nice to know more about the houses in Japan and in Canada.

In the afternoon, a First Nations instructor appeared in a ceremonial blanket and a traditional hat. She talked about their cultures. Then she taught them how to make a dream catcher. She explained that dream catchers, when hung above our beds, will catch bad dreams in their nets while good dreams will slide through the feather and flow into our lives.

Making dream catchers was a lot of fun. I want to use mine for my good dreams.

I made a dream catcher for the first time.  Knitting was so difficult, but I made a perfect one with my teacher.  It looked very cute.

The instructor also taught them how to dance a traditional dance. Some students played various animals and danced to  the drums other students played. They all sang the way the instructor taught them.

We put on a lot of kinds of masks.  There were some animals. I put on a mask of a wolf.

3連休の後、久しぶりのレッスンとなった火曜日の午前中はカナダの先住民（ファースト・ネーション）について学習しました。日本の伝統的家屋や着物と先住民の住宅や衣類について調べ、プレゼンテーションも行いました。生徒たちは英語での発表にも次第に慣れてきた様子です。

午後は先住民の講師を迎えて先住民の民芸品であるドリームキャッチャーを製作しました。ドリームキャッチャーは子どものベッドの上に吊り下げられるお守りです。悪夢を上部の網で捕らえ、よい夢だけを下部の羽をつたって現実の生活に送り込むとされているそうです。

そのあと講師は伝統的な踊りを紹介し、みんなで踊るよう促しました。生徒とバディーたちは太鼓と歌に合わせて熊や狼、鷲、鯨などの仮面をつけて動物になりそれぞれの動物の踊りを踊りました。
生徒たちはみな毎日のレッスンを楽しみに、元気に通学しています。

（引率　富田・田中）