Hey guys -- something happened today that was too funny not to share...

Iwata sensei and I had our first lesson the fall semester this morning with a class of 35 third graders at Omotemachi Elementary. We were set for a fast-paced high-impact lesson/workout on action verbs. So, I started acting out the verb "run" and they, being the knock-your-socks-off EXCITED English students that they are, screamed out the answer in [theoretical] English: RUUUUUNNNNNNNIIIIIIIINNNNGUUUUUU!!!!!

Then, Iwata sensei steps up to the plate for the next verb: She struts her stuff across the front of the classroom like a 5-foot-tall runway fashion model... a pause at the other side of the classroom followed by a superbly executed Heidi Klum turn complete with an appropriately timed hair flip... [Iwata sensei may have missed her calling in life] .

And normally, the kids can guess WALK really easily... in fact, this is possibly the first time ever that they have NOT guessed walk... but Iwata sensei dazed them with her beauty, grace, and, of course, her appropriately timed hair flip. They looked genuinely perplexed.

Finally, one little adorable 3rd grade "I could squeeze your cheeks 'cause you are just so stinkin' CUTE" Japanese boy had what might be described as a moment of genius. He stood up on his knees and yelled out the obvious action verb that Iwata sensei, the normally shy, polite and modest Japanese mother of two, was illustrating:

"SEXY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

The two boys beside him nodded in agreement.

And so, if the homeroom teacher and I had not been FALLING OVER laughing, we might have had SEXY as a new 3rd grade English vocabulary word on the first day of school.

This is already shaping up to be an interesting fall semester...

: ) Jennifer