Momochi-sensei: Dreams come true

Picture caption: "If you add up these apples, how many do you get?" Teaching arithmetic since her brother was in kindergarten (Photograph by Itou Yuiko)

Her aspirations come true
"Momochi-sensei"

Tsugunaga Momoko-san (21), also known as "Momochi", the idol aiming to acquire a teaching licence while continuing her activities in the entertainment industry. She announced in her blog that she had done her practical teacher training at a primary school in the autumn of last year. We get closer to Tsugunaga-san's thought on approaching children, through her work as an educator. (Tokyo Metropolitan Area 3rd year Kobana Rumi)

An entertainer that goes to university isn't rare, but we were told that Tsugunaga-san took a month-long break from almost all her work in order to concentrate on practical teacher training. Why, is it due to an interest in teaching?
"From the start, I've always loved kids, and I became interested in working as a teacher after meeting a cooperative homeroom teacher while simultaneously pursuing my activities as an entertainer. Having worked since I was in the 5th year of primary school, I'm really thankful to my teachers. I was very happy being able to come into contact normally without receiving any special treatment as an entertainer," she reflected.

She was put in charge of teaching 2nd year primary students for her practical training. She said that she underwent intensive training to fix her "bad writing habits" before she went for her practical training.
"2nd year students still aren't used to writing hiragana and kanji. Therefore I thought that it wouldn't be good from a teaching standpoint for my bad habits to turn up when I'm writing letters on the blackboard.I bought a hiragana exercise book, and practised writing by following the clean writing style of the copybook. Since I also had problems remembering kanji stroke order, I laboured to fix it."
She was in charge of the multiplication table in her class. "I had to carry out 10 classes, but the first time I ended up finishing in 30 minutes, though it was supposed to be a 45 minute class. Time allotment was difficult. I had to come up with things like making use of the fruit-shaped magnets that the children loved in order to maintain the kids concentration until the end. At the end when the principal and other teachers came to inspect me, I was able to hold a perfect class where the chime rang immediately after I said "class is over." Even if I do say so myself, I thought "I did it!"," she stretched the fact.

During the practice, talk of "Momochi" was a no go. Her trademark "Momochi Musubi" was also sealed. But on her last day of training, she was surprised to hear the children tell her "We love Momochi~." She seemed very moved. "After completing my practical teacher training I've come to like children even more," Tsugunaga-san told us. "The kids in the class I was in charge of are currently in their third year of primary school. I absolutely want to go and see the graduation ceremony for all of them!"she divulged.

At university, she usually hangs out in a group of six girls. "I'm bad when in noisy groups. They've been my good friends from since I entered university," she said with a smile. "We always get excited whenever the topic of currently hot shoujo manga, like "Strobe Edge," comes up.
The most problematic thing was balancing her activities in the entertainment industry with her attendance. Most of her professors knew of her circumstances, and she said that the was assigned reports for her absences. "The conditions laid on me were like, if the other students have to write 2 reports for a topic, I had to submit seven." Since she's bad with computers, apparently while riding on the Shinkansen she writes out the characters in a notebook, and her brother in the 3rd year of middle school types it out in Word.

"In the future, through my work as an idol, I'd like to work doing something related to children. It would be great if I could become an "Uta no Oneesan" (Lady who sings songs on children's shows). Because I love singing, speaking, and children! Be it after 10 years or a hundred years, I still want to be an idol," she made her "lifetime idol declaration."

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From Chiba Prefecture.Member of Berryz Kobo and leader of Buono!. Actively participates in commercials, television shows, as well as radio programmes such as "Tsugunaga Momoko no Puri Puri Princess" (Cho A&G Every sunday at midnight). Her photo essay book "Momochi no Kimochi" (Wani Books) is currently on sale. On November the 29th, Berryz Kobo will be having their first concert at the Nippon Budoukan.

{Japanese after break}




「「このりんごを足したらいくつになる？」と乙とが幼稚園の頃から計算を教えていました」（伊藤結衣子撮影）

憧れ　かなった
”ももち先生”

芸能活動を続けながら教員免許取得を目指すアイドル「ももち」事嗣永桃子さん　（２１）．昨年秋には小学生で教員実習を行ったことを自身のブログで公表した。教員という職業、子どもたちに寄せる嗣永さんの思いに迫った。（東京都市大3年・小塙瑠美）

大学に通うタレントは珍しくないが、嗣永さんは1か月間、ほとんど仕事を休んで教育実習に集中したという。なぜ、教員という仕事に興味を持ったのか。
「元々、子どもが大好きだったこと、そして芸能活動都の両立に協力的な担任の先生に出会ったことで教員の仕事に興味を持ちました。小学5年生から仕事をしていますので、先生にはとても感謝しています。特別に芸能人扱いせずに、普通に接してくれたことがいちばんうれしかったです」と振り返る。

教員実習は小学校2年生を担当した。実習の前には「くせ字」を直す特訓をしたという。
「2年生はひらがなや漢字を書くことに慣れていません。だから黒板に文字を書き、教える立場の私がくせ字ではよくないと思って.ひらがな練習帳を買って、手本通りのきれいな字を書く練習をしていました。漢字の書き順も間違えて覚えていたので、直しのに苦労しました」
授業では算数の九九を担当した。「10回授業を行きましたが、はじめは45分授業なのに30分で終わってしまって。時間配分が難しかったです。子どもたちが大好きなフルーツの形をした磁石を活用するなど、最後まで子どもたちの集中が切れないように工夫しました。最後に校長先生や他の先生が参観に来た時、「以上です」と言った直後にチャイムが鳴るような完璧な授業ができました。我ながら「やるな！」って思いました」と旨を張る。

実習中は「ももち」であることを話すのはNG。トレードマークの髪形「ももち結び」も封印した。しかし、実習最後の日、子どもたちから「ももち大好き～」と言われてびっくり。とても感動したそうだ。「教員実習を修了して子どもがもっと好きになりました」と語る嗣永さん。「担当したクラスの子たちは現在小学3年生。みんなの卒業式は絶対、見に行きたいです！」と明かしてくれた。

大学ではいつも女の子6人で行動している。「ワイワイした大人数は苦手。入学からずっと仲良しのメンバーです」と笑顔を見せる。「ストロボエッジ」など、今はやりの少女漫画の話題でいつも盛り上がる。
芸能活動との両立で一番大変なことは出席の調整だ。多くの教授は事情を知っていて、欠席分はリポートを課すという。「他の学生がリポート2枚の課題だったら、私は7枚提出という具合です」。パソコンが苦手なので、新幹線で移動中に自分でノートに字を書いて、中学3年生の弟にワードで打ち込んでもらうこともあるそうだ。

「将来はアイドルという職業を通して子どもたちと関わる仕事をしたい。「歌のお姉さん」ができたら最高ですね。歌うこと、しゃべること、そして子どもたちが大好きなので！10年後も100年後もアイドルをしていたい」と「生涯アイドル宣言」をした。

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千葉県出身。Berryz工房のメンバーでありBuono!のリーダー。CM,TV番組を始め「嗣永桃子のぷりぷりプリンセス」（超A&G+・毎週日欧日24時～）などラジオ番組でも活躍。フォトエッセイ「ももちのきもち」（ワニブックス）も発売中。11月29日にはBerryz工房で初の日本武道館コンサートを開く。