We all Scream

I was walking to meet my conversation club after school the other day and I had in my hand some English games that I thought we could try together. We had only met a few times so far due to a slow start this year and the numerous exam periods that our school has. As such, I haven’t had much of a chance to figure out what I’m doing in this club.

It was as I was walking to the classroom that I realized this was the last meeting we would have before out Halloween party next Friday. We had planned to get together with Sakura students and their ALT for a Halloween celebration. Because this was the last day that we would all meet, I realized that we should probably do something to prepare. As I approached the door to the room, I tried my best to think of what a good Conversation Club leader would do.

The only thing I could think of was ‘decorations.’ We needed decorations to make this Halloween party seem like authentic. Of course we would need candy and such, but these treats could easily be bought later. We needed decorations that would give us a real cheesy Halloween atmosphere.

“Do we want to make some decorations for the party next week?” I asked. The seven of nine girls that showed up to the meeting looked at me blankly – maybe even a bit scared. “Do you know how to make any Halloween decorations?” The club last year had made some great decorations, which I still had in a box, so I ran quickly to my office to grab these. The students were eager to dive into the two boxes of fabrics, construction paper, threads, and old decorations. Lucky for me, the previous ALT had prepared well. Unlucky for me, I had no idea what to do with it all.

We started sorting and sifting through the material when I came across a piece of fabric that resembled burlap. An image of a scarecrow came to my mind. I suggested we make a scarecrow, but this concept obviously did not translate and no images of scarecrows could form within their minds. With a bit of explaining, and awkward chalk drawings, we realized that Japanese farmers use similar figures to protect their rice crops. Now that I had the fabric for the face, it was time to build a scarecrow.

They all looked at me. I looked at my fabric. I thought of asking if any of them knew how to build a scarecrow, but then I thought better of it. Instead, I wrapped the fabric around my head and marked it off as an appropriate size for a scarecrow head.

Next, I ran back to my office quickly and grabbed some scrap paper to scrunch into fill the head. We had cut the fabric as was marked off, but it appears that although my head is about the right size for a human, it is way too small for a scarecrow’s. Luckily, the piece we had cut our head from was the perfect size. Still, the head needed some shape to it.

I ran back to my office quickly where I remembered there being some sort of cylindrical antenna, which I grabbed and used amidst a ton of paper to form the head. We tied this off and our scarecrow was beginning to take shape. The students started to get excited. I was more excited.

We needed something to put the head on. I ran back to my office quickly where in a closet, I remembered there were two brooms. We tried to tie these two brooms together in a makeshift crucifix in order to create a spine with two arms, but this was difficult. We needed something to keep the angles.

So… I ran back to my office quickly where I remembered I saw some plastic cups sitting under the sink. I cut a hole in the bottom of the cup and slit it up one side. I put the vertical broomstick through the bottom of the cup and then rested the perpendicular broom across the top of the rim. We taped it all together and we had our torso. Once this came together, the students got to work cutting out a face and some clothes for our scarecrow and the energy in the room grew. Meanwhile, I grew uneasy at the thought of how we could stand this makeshift concoction in a decent and presentable manner.

I ran back to my office quickly where I remembered I had an extra wooden chair. The vertical broomstick slipped nicely between the seat and the back of the chair, which took care of one axis, while the floor took care of another. I now only had to worry about the lateral movement of the apparatus.

I ran back to my office quickly, where I remembered one more box of crafts that I hoped might contain something that I could use to fix our new friend in the making. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much help here. Instead, I found some twine in another box and began tying a few knots together with little success. It was at this point that the girls took over. They tied strand after strand from one leg to the next until finally, only a knife could release the poor fellow.

It is good to know that my club members, if needed, can securely tie someone to a chair.

Everything came together after this. The only thing missing was a hat. I asked if anybody knew how to make an origami hat, which they all got excited about, but didn’t know how to do. I grabbed some black paper from the box, which looked suitable, and decided that I should know how to make a hat out of paper. After a couple of experimental folds, my mate had a cap.

We took name suggestions and then held a vote, and Mr. Scream was born. The good Conversation Club leader felt good.