April 20, 2007
New Zealand’s students visit Seiritsu!
From the beautiful land of kiwis, Seiritsu was visited by 7 students and their teacher on April 15th and 16th. The group was from Cambridge High School in Cambridge, New Zealand, their ages ranged from 14 to 17, and they were at the tail end of their tour around Japan.
The students introduce themselves to a regular homeroom class.
The students were being excellently guided by their own Japanese teacher, Kimi Sensei, who has been teaching them Japanese several times a week at Cambridge.
New Zealand student practicing Japanese 'shodo'.
On Sunday, April 15 the students arrived at the school in the morning to meet several Seiritsu students and their families who would be hosting them for 2 nights in their homes.
After the meet and greet, the New Zealand students enjoyed the day with their Japanese hosts and they then came to school on the Monday for a variety of special activities.
The student's show off their best shodo, standing together with Kimi Sensei and Maruo Sensei.
Monday started off early with everyone trying their hand holding a brush to make simple Japanese calligraphy (shodo). This was followed by the chance to interview Seiritsu’s foreign students and International Section staff to learn about living in Japan. A special Japanese and Chinese style lunch was then prepared by our lively school cook.
The afternoon started with a simple Japanese conversation lesson to give them a chance to use the Japanese they had learned in school plus on their trip.
The Seiritsu Kendo Sensei gives a lesson in how to hold 'shinai'.
The last activity was a unique lesson about the intricacies of the Japanese tea ceremony.
Around 4pm the students left with their home stay ‘brothers & sisters’ for one more overnight stay with their host families. Then Tuesday morning at school they were back to for a final, slightly tearful, farewell. All and all, a short, but sweet visit and we hope to see our new Cambridge friends again someday.
This short 2 day program put together by the school was really a snapshot of what our Japan Experience cultural immersion homestay program will be from July 28-August 12.
RM