古池

蛙飛び込む

水の音

furu ike ya

kawazu tobikomu

mizu no oto

Listen! a frog,

Jumping into the silence

Of an ancient pond!

One of the most famous haikus written by Japanese Poet Basho, which I first heard of when I was taking my Japanese classes at Churchill College, taught by the amiable Mikiko-sensei, who introduced the poem to us and asked us to do a translation of it. And now, I come across it again in the book: "Totto-chan - The LIttle Girl at the Window". I shall drop an email to Mikiko-sensei later. :)



Anyway, so I've been reading Totto-chan, and I find it to be such an inspiring book! I honestly can't remember if I've read it before - my sister claims we have the book lying on the bookshelf somewhere... But what the heck, I've already bought a copy.

If you're ever feeling down and out as an educator, I suggest reading Totto-chan for some inspiration. Though there'll never be a Tomoe Gakuen in Singapore, I think it reminds us that education should be about inspiring children and not just about rote learning. I don't want to give too much of the story away, but it's such a beautiful story that you should all read it (kudos to the translator Dorothy Britton!)

There were a number of beautifully translated verses I wanted to share, but i forgot to bookmark them and I can't seem to find them now. The only one I can find is:

"Something from the Oceans & Something from the Hills" - which was a requirement at lunch to bring something from the oceans and something from the hills in their lunch boxes - a balanced diet basically.

Labels: Books, Japanese