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.