School's Out for Summer?
がんばる (gambaru): v. hold out, work hard; (popular translation) fight (to win). Luther High School and Junior High have been officially on summer vacation for one week now. However, most students have not had a break from school and many will not stop taking classes this summer. No, our honors/ college-prep students will take 5, 80 minute classes 4-6 days each week for the duration of the summer. For people in the States this might sound crazy, but the extra classes do help these students get into top universities. がんばれ (gambare/gambale): what one says when one is cheering for others who are working hard; this form of gambaru is more of a plea for another person/team to hold out or keep going. Our college-minded students are not the only ones working hard this summer. For our athletes, summer means game time. Our high school swim, baseball, what we translate as "Soft-baseball"--different from softball, and soccer teams all start tournaments this summer in hopes of winning the ...