Innovation in Physical Education
Published:Sunday | December 15, 2019 | 12:00 AMAmitabh Sharma - Arts and Education Coordinator
“Make two teams, throw this ball, topple the peg, and run and collect the ball,” instructed Akira Kanehama, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) volunteer and Physical Education (PE) Assistant at the Core Curriculum Unit in the Ministry of Education Youth and Information to a group of kindergarten students of Tarrant Primary School, Kingston. They eagerly obliged.
The competition began. Then came the giggles and the glee, some pondering, oodles of excitement, peals of laughter, tons loads of innocence, which became the key ingredients of the whole exercise. As for the balls and pegs, they were made from recycled newspaper, tightly glued together, and plastic bottles filled with sand and pebbles made the pegs and the markers.
Ingenious – and his colleagues are heaping accolades on him.
“He is innovative, he shares knowledge and experiences, he assists,” said Thelma Porter, principal of Tarrant Primary.
Porter said that Kanehama went about getting things in perspective as soon as he was assigned to the school. The lack of resources was a primary challenge, so innovation was the name of game.
“He is focused on PE and works hard and assiduously to bring the children together, helping them to enjoy and at the same time get benefits from physical activities,” Porter said.
Kanehama, who has taught PE at high school level in Japan for seven years, and has international certification in Coaching, psychological Training strengthening and conditioning (physical trainer), said that he learnt to adapt and learn from a different environment in Jamaica.
Initial challenge
“My initial challenge (when he came in 2018) was language, I spoke slowly, and it took me a while to understand properly what was said to me,” Kanehama said.
He has overcome that hurdle, and over the course of his tenure, he has worked in schools in Kingston, and St Andrew, Ocho Rios, Port Antonio, Mandeville, and Montego Bay.
Kanehama’s teachings have had an impact on over 1,200 students to date.
“PE is as important as learning any subject in the classroom,” the JICA volunteer said as he took out a skipping rope that he had made by tying a string to two paint brushes.
“I like to make the lessons interactive, creative, and I always look to improvise,” he said.
“Akira is a constant source of inspiration,” Porter said, adding that she and other teachers in the school are impressed by his approach to teaching and the fact that the school itself faces numerous challenges.
Porter, who has been the principal of Tarrant Primary since 2010, said that the school has come a long way. The school is off busy Molynes Road, on a narrow path that opens to shrubs and bushes, and it would seem that a building is right there, in the middle of nowhere.
“The location (of the school) was a deterrent for parents, and then we had challenges with vandalism,” she said. “But that has been overcome, thankfully.
“When good is done and people see it, they want to be a part of that good,” she said.
In the basketball court outside, the group of kindergarten children resonate all the good that has made the school improve in many areas. They eagerly looked at Kanehama and their PE teacher Timol Stanberry, who encouraged them, to stretch, jump, and run after the ball.
Learning experience
It has been a learning experience for Kanehama too.
“If I had not come here (Tarrant Primary), I would not have been able to operate better in Jamaica,” he said, and taking a cue, he has employed the strategies that he uses here in other schools across Jamaica.
Also, he is developing a website, where he is placing all material for effective PE teaching, techniques which, he hopes, will be a key source of teaching materials.
“I want to leave back something lasting, a legacy, and I am also taking some techniques back home,” Kanehama said as he continues his work in Jamaica before his departure in March 2020.
As for Tarrant Primary, they would love for him stay.
“Why does he have to leave?” said Porter.
The bigger picture here is the spirit of volunteerism.
Kanehama, like all volunteers who serve across the world, overcoming the challenges of living and working in cultures that they might not be accustomed to, climates that they might not be acclimatised to, leave their everlasting impression, and likewise, their lives are changed as a result of these cross-cultural experiences.