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."
Profile
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}
