落語絵本「そこつ長屋」
二学期が始まり学校での読み聞かせも再開。今朝は４年生の教室へ。落語絵本の「そこつ長屋」を図書館で見つけて思わず吹き出したので「これにしよっ！」と決めました。教室はエアコンが効いて涼しいけれど子供たちはお疲れ気味。要所要所で反応して笑ってる子もいるけどな～んか今ひとつです。夏休みが短かった上に朝の登校で疲れ、教室に着いてからも色々することがあって忙しいのだとか。お子さん方も厳しい毎日で同情しますが、体力なくなっているとしたら心配です。ところで、粗忽（そこつ）というのは私にいつもついて回ります。
用事があって二階へ上がってふと「あれっ？何しに来たのかな。」、向こうから友達が来たので手を振って近づいたら知らない人だった、お客様がないので変だなと思っていたら表のサインが「閉店」のままだった、とか切りなし。見た目は違うらしいのですが私をよく知る人は私がドジをすると「ああ、また…」と笑います。何歳になっても何をやってもそそっかしいのはなかなか直らず自分でも苦笑しますが、子供達が笑わないのは私の実力不足が一番の理由とはいえ、慢性疲れやストレスも原因なのかなあと思ってしまいます。
The second semester started a couple days ago and the morning story-telling started, as well. This morning, I went to a fourth grade class to do it. The other day when I was searching for books at the library, I found a picture book named “A row house where careless people are living.” which was a story from traditional Japanese comic storytelling. It’s a funny story and I couldn’t help laughing, so I decided to make it the upcoming storytelling book. They have AC in their classroom to make them comfortable to study but they actually looked a bit tired. While I was reading the story, some of them laughed at the funny scene of the story, but I didn’t get as much reaction as I expected. According to the school coordinator, children had abnormally shorter summer holidays this year due to the coronavirus and they are already tired of the morning commuting under the hot sunny day. Moreover, they are busy doing their daily chores in the morning before class starts. I sympathize with the kids but also worry about their lack of physical strength. By the way, the word,”careless” always follows me. Ex.1: When I come upstairs with the matter, I sometimes forget and think “why am I here and what was the matter?”. Ex.2: I waved my hand to the distant person because I thought he/she was my friend, but I realized it was not when he/she came near me. EX.3: When I was in the cafe and puzzled why no customers were coming, it was because I hadn’t turned over the shop sign to “Open” from “Closed”. The example goes on and on. My friends who know me well, laugh at me saying “Oh, you did it again.” I try not to do it but I often do it again. Probably it is because of my nature. The reason that kids didn’t laugh much was lack of my reading skill, but it might have come from chronic fatigue or stress on them and it is a serious problem.
2020/08/26
