Japanese students say konnichiwa
March 24, 2009
By Laura Geggel
Mount Si High School welcomed a group of Japanese exchange students with a few ceremonial — and cheerleading — dances and an exchange of gifts at an assembly last week.
Students from Naga High School in Wakayama, Japan looked more amused, if anything, as two Mount Si teachers battled each other in sumo suits at the end of the assembly.
“It was cute,” Chiyuri Oguri said through a translator after the show.
The Japanese students will stay in Snoqualmie Valley for about two weeks, leaving March 28. They will not only get a taste of the American education system, but also a chance to practice their English and sightsee in Seattle.
Mount Si Japanese teacher Sudeshna Sen helped place the exchange students in local homes.
“Kids who host say the first day is the hardest because they hardly know each other,” Sen said. “By the time they leave, they are in tears because they don’t want to leave.”
To learn more about hosting for next year’s exchange, e-mail Sen at sens@svsd410.org. Naga High School has sent students to Mount Si for more than 15 years. Mount Si sends students to Japan every other year during the summer. During their stay, the Japanese students attend English-language classes and pair up with Mount Si students in Mount Si classes.
“I go talk to the teachers and I see who has the numbers to allow 20 extra kids,” Sen said. “Then we can design a lesson plan.”
During the assembly, Mount Si Principal Randy Taylor gave the exchange students’ math teacher Jinto Yasuteru a local artist’s creation of blown glass. In return, Taylor received a Japanese keepsake, a Karakami Mechanical doll from the Flourishing Edo Period.
Mount Si will put the doll on display in the world language’s display case.
Sen helped the Japanese club produce the assembly’s feature video: human Tetris.
“Game show culture is very popular in Japan,” Sen said.
In human Tetris, a person must make himself fit in a large cutout. If the cutout is a circle, the person will have to make himself into a ball. If the person cannot emulate the cutout’s shape, he will be pushed into a pool of water… or, in Mount Si’s case, to the floor.
With senior Nic Gaudio commentating in Japanese, several students tried to score at human Tetris.
“These big games find audience members to make fools of themselves,” Sen said. “The Japanese people are more into action. They have people falling into water or mud puddles. We tried to spoof that.”
Gaudio said several shop students made the Tetris cutouts, video production students filmed and a P.E. class sat in as the show’s mock audience.
In the week following the assembly, Gaudio and his classmates in the Japanese-language program sat down with the exchange students.
“Sports is apparently a big thing for them,” Gaudio said. “Soccer, baseball, tennis, just about everything under the sun. They don’t have a lot of free time — school, sports homework and repeat the process. When they do get a chance, music is another big thing.”
He said the exchange students spoke English, but they were shy and hesitant to speak at first.
Sen said her students enjoyed speaking to the exchange students, both in English and Japanese.
“My students love the fact that they can talk about whatever you want,” Sen said. “When you are sitting in your living with your exchange student, you can say, ‘hey, does this happen in Japan?’”
For many, the highlight was watching the teachers duke it out on the sumo mat.
“It was fun, but it was hot,” Kevin Knowles said of the suit.
Linda Wickswat said her strategy worked for most of the battle.
“Be powerful and knock him down,” she said.
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