By Shanti Shoji | Vice President & Co-founder
In December KAC President, Ayako Smethurst, and I visited seven high schools around Japan that are participating in Global Classmates. As always, it was a joy to meet the teachers and students participating in the program and learn more about how they are implementing the program into their classroom and the impact the program is having on them.
What quickly became clear is that students truly enjoy being able to connect with teens in the U.S. and learn English in a natural and practical way. Their stories provided insight into what it is that moves them. Below are several fun examples:
A boy from Toho Jr. and Sr. High School (Tokyo) lit up as he talked about the “Takis” (spicy tortilla chip) that he received as part of the omiyage gift exchange project. Soon after consuming them, he scoured the internet to find where he could buy it in Japan, but soon realized he can only get it in the U.S. With a big smile he proclaimed, “Now I just need to go to the U.S. to buy it!” He is also enjoying English now, proclaiming, “last year I hated English, but this year I get to talk to American students and learn from them. It’s fun!”
A girl from Yamasaki High School (Tokyo) proudly showed me her weather app on her cell phone saying, “I added the weather for where our partner school is located in California because I’m always curious how the weather is where they are.” She said she checked it daily and hopes she can go there someday.
And two girls from Himeji Shikisai High School (Hyogo) talked about their personal connections to specific students at their partner school in the U.S. One girl talked about her new friend and said, “I think she knows more about Japanese games than I do! Now we’ve become close over this and share various things with one another. I love being able to talk with her.” Another girl revealed through giggles how she wanted to talk more with one boy at her partner school, but didn’t know what to say. She said, “When we wrote our self-introductions he said he liked Pokemon, and I do, too. I got really excited and want to talk with him more now.” Then with a smile she said, “I need to figure out what to say to him!”
We hope this experience will motivate the students to continue their study of the foreign language, learn about each other’s cultures and even study abroad in the future. Perhaps one day, some of the students will meet each other in person!
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