School festivals

Each of the schools hosted a festival that showcased choir performances, plays, art work/projects, awards, and individual student’s written works (some in English). These were similar to an open house but the students mostly ran the festivals with the occasional speech by the principal and teachers. These events, just like the morning assemblies at these schools, were very formal and organized. The festivals were basically a chance to allow the community see what has been happening at the schools. Remember that the schools are halfway through their school year. I came in at the beginning of their 2nd semester.

I've posted some video of the festival from Kozuya middle school. This is a link to my 1st year (7th US) student's performance. My 2nd year student's did "Asian Dream Song", a really beautiful song that is popular among many pianists. The video of their performance is below this text. For the festival's closing ceremony, the underclassmen (1st and 2nd years) thanked the 3rd year students with a cheer. They finished by singing the school song and opening the Japanese piñata. Click on the colored words to view the videos.