School Clubs

Today's topic is school clubs.  I'll be talking about elementary school clubs, which are rather different from junior high school (and beyond) clubs.


First off, there are two different kinds of clubs.  The first kind take place during school hours, usually once a month, and are manditory.  The second kind are out of school hours and are only for students who want to join.  These are competitive sports clubs such as baseball or badminton.


What kinds of manditory clubs are there?  These vary from school to school, according to the interests of the general student body and teachers.  Of course, there are sports clubs.  Some are specific sports while others are general "outdoor sports" or "gym sports" clubs.  Computer clubs are quite popular.  There are also various arts and crafts clubs, including origami, "kirie" (cut paper art), and sewing.  Other clubs include cooking, ecology/recycling, traditional Japanese games such as shogi, sign language...the list is nearly endless.  One of my favorites (though I've never seen them in action) is comedy club.  I can't imagine what a bunch of elementary school kids can come up with!  I heard they sometimes have performances for senior citizen groups... 


With such a variety of clubs, anyone can find something that interests them (which is good since they're manditory, right?).  What kind of club do you think you'd like to join?  Personally, I'd join the sign language club.  I'm interested in Japanese sign language (shuwa), but no longer have anyone to practice with. My daughter's special needs school teachers all use shuwa to support students with limited verbal skills.