By Cameron Weston
WILLIAMSTOWN North Primary School students had a taste of the exotic east last week, when a visiting group of Japanese student teachers held a cultural festival at the school.
As part of the festival, students came face to face with Japanese culture, experienced traditional Japanese attire such as the kimono and yukata, and enjoyed craft activities like origami.
Students also played Japanese classroom games like ‘iro-oni’ – a colour game – and fruit salad, similar to musical chairs.
Students at the school learn Japanese from prep through to grade six, so have a good grounding in the notoriously difficult language before they reach high school.
The group of 15 visiting Japanese student teachers came from Nagoya Women’s University in central Japan and were visiting Melbourne as part of a two week home-stay program, a popular way for Japanese people to immerse themselves in a foreign culture for a short time.
In this case, the group of student teachers observed classes at the school, gathering tips on the finer points of teaching a foreign language while experiencing Australian culture and the vagaries of the English language.
Teacher Naoko Moriya said the Williamstown North students had some trouble “understanding cultural concepts” but “they sorted it out very quickly”.
She said the language barrier did present some issues but she said with a willing attitude and an open mind, all had embraced the spirit of the day with enthusiasm.
Ms Moriya said that the Japanese student teachers were relieved that their activities had gone over well with the local students.
She said that after some trepidation, the group relaxed and practised their English language skills with local teachers and students.
