School Schedule

There are either five or six classes a day in junior high.  Some days there are five periods, some days there are five periods.  The classes are generally 50 minutes long, although some days they are shortened to 45 minutes for special events.


The average junior high student studies a number of different subjects.  Besides the main five subjects Japanese, English, math, science, and social studies, the students also study music, P.E., art, vocational classes (home economic and business, computers or wood shop), and many schools also have a general (or global) studies course (labeled G in the chart) that is sometimes also a meeting within the grade or homeroom.  The meetings can address some problem in the grade, introduce extra material (for example, about high school) or be used for extra classes, to name a few.  Some schools also have elective classes, but generally those are reserved for extra classes in one of the main subjects (and sometimes either English or math).  This is all during one term too – not spread over their three terms.  With only five of six periods it is numerically impossible to have those classes every day.  Once a week the students also have a moral lesson and a longer homeroom meeting (labeled study).  The longer homeroom meetings, grade meetings, or global studies can also be changed to extra classes, if the teachers desire.  Sometimes the teachers can ask for a specific class and then take that time.

Below are two sample schedules for two different homerooms at my school.

	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
1st	Vocational	English	Social Studies	Japanese	Japanese
2nd	Vocational	Science	Japanese	Math	PE OR Art
3rd	Art	PE	Study	English	English
4th	G	Math	Music	Social Studies	Science
5th	Moral	Japanese	Math	Science	G
6th	N/A	Social Studies	N/A	PE	G

	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
1st	PE	English	English	Math	Moral
2nd	English	Social Studies	Math	Art	Math
3rd	Science	Vocational	Social Studies	Elective 1	PE
4th	G	Science	Japanese	Elective 2	Science
5th	Elective	Japanese	Health	Music	G
6th	N/A	Study	N/A	Japanese

Lunch is almost always between forth and fifth periods, except on special occasions such as the entrance ceremony or last day of classes for the term.  There is a short break after lunch, in part to give the students some time to return the lunch materials.  Cleaning time can either be after lunch or after the last classes.  In elementary schools they all have a 20 minute recess after second period.  It is called ni-jikan me yasumi (break after second period).  Generally, the schools have homeroom twice a day – once in the morning and once in the afternoon (after their last class).  In many schools they have ten minutes between classes (except in the morning when it is five).


After their classes are over the students go to clubs (junior high) or go home (elementary – although some elementary schools have occasional club activities for the students).  There are some clubs in elementary school, but most join starting from junior high.  In junior high, they leave between four thirty and six, depending on the season.  In warmer weather, when there is more daylight, the students leave later than the winter, when the sun sets early.  On certain days, with some special events or a teacher’s meeting, the students may leave as soon as the classes are done.  Students may also leave earlier during and just before mid-terms and finals so that they may study.