First...thanks for the replies. I appreciate it!

Yao offered to take me to some historical sites around Sendai so we headed out on Sunday. First we went to Sendai castle. Currently it is a ruins site with a museum. I enjoyed looking at the artifacts in the museum and learning about the castle from the movie which I could listen to in English. Sendai Castle was built by Date Masamune around 1600. Though not a big castle it was magnificent. He was a very intelligent leader during his time. There is also a statue honoring Masamune and a beautiful view of Sendai from this high spot.

Next we went to Masamune's tomb. This is a beautifully ornate building but is not the original. The original was destroyed by fire during WWII.

Lastly we went to Sendai port. It was starting to rain so we didn't get out and about much but it was a nice panorama of the harbor.

Monday was back to school. I taught some more ASL students. On Friday, Yao had said that in the afternoon on Monday we would go to a textbook exhibition. Well, I was thinking in American terms what a textbook exhibition is...like at NSTA or other conferences where teachers walk around and publishers are hawking their wares. That's what I was expecting. This wasn't that. We went to Miyagi University of Education and entered what appeared to be a library. On some shelves were the textbooks organized by subject area. The teachers took various books, looked at them, and then wrote down the titles that interested them. It was a great opportunity for teachers to review various books in a relaxed environment. I also looked at the science books. I do like Japanese textbooks because they have a lot of pictures and appear to get straight to the point without all the fluff American texts seem to like to add. In the US there is fierce competition between publishers of school materials. That doesn't seem to be the case here.

Tuesday I presented about ISD to three jr high students. In the afternoon Yao and I traveled to the Sendai School of Medical and Welfare- a post high school vocational school. Here we visited a JSL class for hearing students. It was team taught by a deaf teacher and a hearing teacher (who had graduated from an interpretor training program). This class gave me some insight into JSL and I was able to see the similarities between ASL and JSL in regards to the use of classifiers, expression, hand shape and movement. After the class we sat down with two deaf teachers and another teacher who is a CODA, and therefore signs naturally, and talked about ASL and deaf education in the US.

Wednesday morning I was able to observe. Observation has been difficult because classes have been preparing for exams so a lot of review has been happening. I did go to a couple of HS science classes and then a junior high school multi-needs classroom. The teachers have a good rapport with the students I have noticed.

I met with one of the assistant principals in the afternoon. He had some good questions about US education.

After that I met with a girl who is interested in attending Gallaudet University. I found the application for international students and printed it off for her and also gave her a website for learning ASL.

For the evening dinner, Nakamura and his family took me out for a Sendai specialty....gyu-tan. Um...in English that would be cow's tongue. It's a bit tough but tastes like beef otherwise. Not so bad!

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I forgot to explain the picture of the girl and the top. I went to a class of HS students and they were trying to teach me how to spin a Japanese top. Needless to say I was lousy. However- the students could do some awesome tricks!

Sounds like fun times. I thought that the different meanings for the same signs in ASL vs JSL that you mentioned during the regional conference were interesting. I will have to remember some of them and tell my friend back at East who runs our ASL club about them. Jim East High