Kawama elementary school

International Friendship Dept.

Kawama elementary school

International Education Program

Theme: International Exchanges

The international education program in Kawama elementary school was held on Thursday, February 10 in 2011, to have a new look at Japanese cultures, to understand foreign cultures, and to exchange with foreign lecturers.
Four foreign lecturers from four countries were invited and five NIA staffs joined.
Kawama elementary school has 278 pupils in total, and 48 fifth-grader pupils attended the program.

The lecturers and the persons concerned held a preliminary meeting to make arrangements about the agenda in the principal’s office.

The lecturers introduced themselves to attended pupils.

Mexico

The class began with a question “Do you know where Mexico is?”
Showing colored pamphlets, pictures, cloths, and the national flag of Mexico, the lecturer, Ms. Lourdes Alvarez, introduced Mexico in full of humor.
In the latter half of the class, listening to the cassette Mexican music, the pupils sat in a circle and got interested in children’s dolls and toys shown.

Romania

The pupils were impressed with a smile of the lecturer, Ms. Pina Satake who wore a Romanian native dress.
She gave explanations of Romania (location, food, festival, etc.) to the pupils who knew, regarding Romania, only a gold medalist of the women’s gymnastics and Dracula.
Her familiar and active lecture deepened their understanding of Romania.

China (Hong Kong)

Hong Kong is a special administrative region of China and its view at night is very famous. The pupils got explanations that 1) Hong Kong was returned from UK to China fourteen years ago, 2) it has a population of seven million, and 3) it has a structure of “one country, two systems”.
They practiced speaking numbers and some simple words (good morning, good afternoon, thank you, etc.) in Cantonese.
Some pupils were taking notes on the lecture. It was admirable.

Peru

At first, the pupils were attracted to hear that Peru is on the opposite side of the earth from Japan and it will take about 20 hours by plane. 　
Next, the lecturer, Ms. Nelly Bertha Chaqquere, talked about piranha in Amazon, vegetables originally come from Peru, lovely alpaca and lama, and Machu Picchu (world heritage).
Trying on Peruvian costumes and playing the quena excited pupil’s dream to the Andes.
Finally, they danced the Peruvian children’s play with a smile. It was cheerful and easy to do. We were surprised that they immediately got used to singing a song in Spanish

After the class, the lecturers and staffs tasted school-lunch.

This program would be fruitful if the pupils would find that there are a lot of countries which have their own climate and cultures, and that mutual understanding is possible.

The international education program that was carried out by all the members (lecturers, pupils and teachers) would be a very good learning by experience.

Kimchi Pickling Class

Event Dept.

Kimchi Pickling Class

The second Kimchi pickling class was held
on February 5 and 6 at Hokubu public hall.
The lecturer was Ms. Suzumi Kasai.　　　

Twenty people (11 citizens, 4 NIA members and 5 NIA staffs) attended the class.

Following Ms. Kasai’s instruction, we started making Kimchi.

The attendants were divided into a couple of groups.

Each group made sauce and mixed it with chopped vegetables such as Japanese radish, carrot and leek, and then inserted the mixed-sauce
in salted Chinese cabbages.

Genuine Korean Kimchi was finally made.
It is good to eat this Kimchi with your family at home.

We could enjoy a foreign cooking class this year, too.
We wish we would learn more about genuine foreign foods after this.

Rice-Cake Making

Rice-Cake Making

We had a pleasant event of rice-cake making
with foreign people together

Time: December 19 (Sun.) 10.00~14.00
Place: Hokubu Public Hall

Attendants: Twenty six people
(the citizens of Noda city and their children,
foreign people and their children, and NIA members)

In the open air, foreign people (China and Korea) and their children, the citizens of Noda city and their children experienced rice-cake making by use of mortar and pestle.
We prepared 12 kg of rice for cake, and pounded each 4kg of rice into cake at a time.

Rice-cake just made was covered with bean jam or soybean flour or grated radish.

The menu is rice-cake with bean jam, rice-cake with soybean flour, rice-cake with grated radish, Kenchin soup, and mandarin oranges.
We had our meal enough. The rice-cake just made was very good.

We enjoyed rice-cake making this year, too.　　　Thank you very much for joining us.　　
We wish you a Happy New Year.

Hong Kong culture and Origami

International Friendship Dept.

Hong Kong culture and Origami*

*Origami is the art of folding paper into various figures.

Time: November 21(Sun.13.00~15.00)
Place: Sougou Hukusi Kaikan, No.1meetingroom
Lecturer: Ms.Lily Chong (Hong Kong / China)

At first, Ms. Lily (she is from Hong Kong) talked about the difference between Hong Kong and China. Hong Kong is a Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China and has a population of seven million and fifty thousand. It is a distinguished global city and about half as large as Tokyo.

In 1872, the Qing dynasty ceded Hong Kong to UK under the Nanjing treaty, and since then Hong Kong was a colony of UK. It was returned from UK to China on July 1, 1997 and has been a special administrative region of China. Since the colonial period, Hong Kong has had an important position of Southeastern transportation, finance, and distribution.

Many overseas tourists visit Hon Kong to enjoy shopping and foods. A special feature of Hong Kong is that it has a variety of good points to see in the small country, such as skyscrapers in the downtown area and natural environment in the suburbs hills and solitary islands. Some tourists visit Macau and Shenzhen on their way to Hong Kong. The climate of Hong Kong is warm/dry in autumn/ winter and high temperature/high humidity in spring/summer.

Ms. Lily is explaining Hong Kong currency.

Attendants are eagerly listening to her presentation.

In Hong Kong, people speak Cantonese that is a dialect of Chinese languages.
We got explanations of the difference between Pekingese and Cantonese.

We had a pleasant chat with each other having Hong Kong’s confectioneries and Yumcha which were bought with Ms. Lily. After chatting, we experienced Origami and tried on Hong Kong costume.

Ms. Lily’s comment in the chatting was impressive. “It is strange that Japanese people do not think highly of their own country. They should be more confident and prideful.”

We could deepen our understanding of Hong Kong through this saloon.

The 12 th World Meeting at Nanbu elementary school

International Friendship Department

The 12th World Meeting

at Nanbu elementary school　　

Time: November 12 (Fri.) 8:30~13:00
Place: Nanbu elementary school

The 12 th World Meeting was held at Nanbu elementary school to have a new look at Japanese cultures, to understand cultures in the world, and to exchange with foreign lecturers.
Twelve foreign lecturers from ten countries were invited and fourteen NIA staffs joined.
All the pupils (920 persons) attended. Detailed number of pupils is 450 for 1,2,3 graders (15 classes) and 470 for 4,5,6 graders (15 classes).


NIA staffs and lecturers held a preliminary meeting to make arrangements about the agenda in the principal’s office.

The opening ceremony began with the pupils’ spirited “Yosakoi” dancing in the auditorium.
The lecturers introduced themselves, and then they were asked various questions by pupils. Some pupils put an eccentric question that induced all to burst into laughter.

Jamaica

Jamaica is located in the Caribbean Sea and has a population of two million and seven hundred thousand. It has the beauty of nature. Watching pictures on the screen, the pupils attentively got explanations of Jamaica.

China

China has a population of one billion and three hundred million. It is eleven times as many as Japan. The country is twenty six times as large as Japan. In China, some kanji may be read in different way from Japan.
The pupils were listening to the lecturer attentively.

the United Kingdom (UK)

The lecturer introduced the national flag of UK and English language. He gently told “English language also has many regional dialects just as Japanese one has”.

the United States of America

Showing pictures of the pupils’ favorite animals, the lecturer taught what we call them in English. It was a friendly class.

Mexico

Showing colored pamphlets, pictures, cloths, and the national flag of Mexico, the lecturer introduced Mexico in full of facial expression.

Thailand

The pupils attentively got explanations of the national flag of Thailand, Thai language, and the weather of Thailand.
Some pupils were taking notes on the lecture.

Malaysia

Showing the map, the lecturer introduced Malaysian culture, language, and industry. The weather of Malaysia is mild all the year. There are a lot of Japan’s overseas enterprises in Malaysia.
After the introduction, the pupils sang a familiar song in chorus in Malaysian language, tried on a native costume, and enjoyed playing game. It was a pleasant program.

Peru

Peru is on the opposite side of the earth from Japan. The lecturer asked pupils “Do you know the Inca Empire?” She introduced the world heritages in Inca, Peruvian culture and food.
The pupils got interested in Peruvian game properties and tried on a native costume. It was a pleasant and memorable class.

Korea

Korea is familiar with its movie, soccer and volley ball.
The lecturer explained that Korean people wrote their own name like this in Hangul. The pupils were listening to the lecturer interestingly.

Turkey

Turkey is a middle east country where spreads over Asia (the Anatolia Peninsular) and Europe (the Balkan Peninsular). The capital of Turkey is Ankara. Turkey has a population of seventy five million and about 99% of people are Islamic. These introductions are quite new to the pupils.
They were interestingly listening to the young lecturer.

Hong Kong

Hong Kong was returned from UK to China fourteen years ago. A million-dollar view of Hong Kong at night is very famous. Hong Kong has a population of seven million and an important position of Southeastern transportation. Do you know the meaning of “one country, two systems”? The pupils just marveled at the lecturer’s lots of explanations. They learned much from the history of Hong Kong.

the United States of America (USA)

The lecturer talked about Halloween. Halloween is an American festival which is annually held on November 1, to celebrate an autumn harvest and to ward off evil spirits. Disguised children parade the streets and coax neighbors to give candies, saying “trick or treat”. This is associated with ancient farmers who paraded to receive foods for the festival. The pupils were listening to the lecturer, flashing their eyes. Last of all, the pupils were delighted to make a colorful paper mask.


After the class, the pupils became friendly with the lecturers and had lunch together.