Overseas Experience

The Malay people, Chinese and Indians among many others, all sharing in a society that makes up the country called Malaysia. It felt little like an historic tour, we visited Islamic mosques and Hindu temples and learned to appreciate the spiritual richness that is Malaysia. We toured a rubber processing facility, and also an agricultural cooperative. As a part of the Kampon (village) Visit program we talked with Malaysia villagers and local high school students and came to appreciate much about this incredibly varied land.

The local marketplace is the heart of the community. We went to the morning market in Hôi An and we could see exactly how people live their daily lives. Visiting the Sakura Japanese School we saw the students on task learning Japanese and could feel the joy they experienced at acquiring a new language.

The farm stay program offers a family experience on a farm in rural Victoria for three to four students per household.
You may imagine a farm full of sheep; but the students encountered emus, ducks and alpacas – all welcoming our girls. The students collected chicken eggs, fed the emus and generally helped around the farm. They are a part of the family and because it’s the Christmas season, they especially enjoyed the family festivities in the wide open spaces.

Students talking about Japanese games at Rising Tide Charter School, Plymouth, Massachusetts

English education at Showa features a long-term project for all middle school students. There is an education program in English conducted over a total of 12 days and 10 nights, at our satellite campus, located in Boston Massachusetts: Showa Women’s University Showa Boston College. The program aims to help equip students with an international view of life.

The Boston Mission program began in 2007 and is ongoing. At the beginning of the students’second year at Showa Junior High School they have a one-hour weekly “Boston Mission Comprehensive Study” session to devote time to the preparation for their trip to Boston. Original materials in the booklet “The Road To Boston” use practical English phraes and provide themes for their English research project. Also, how to develop a research project (choice of theme, how to proceed in research, and how to question in English) is taught. There are three research areas; History · Art · School Life. Students can choose an area that interests them, and they can work regularly with their group over a period of research development.

Visiting the Harvard University’s campus in Boston, Massachusetts

When they are in Boston the students have morning English classes with local American teachers, consisting of about twenty students per class. There are afternoon activities that feature field studies. For example, activities such as visiting historical sites, touring museums and interacting with both local elementary and junior high students. In each area visited, the students talk to American people via interviews and questionnaires in English, these having been prepared in advance according to the student’s research theme.

Japanese Day is a cultural exchange for visiting Boston junior high school students featuring Japanese calligraphy, the tea ceremony, origami and a koto recital, among other things. It’s a day to introduce Japanese culture to young people in the neighborhood. During their stay in Boston, students write a daily diary in English.

Upon their return to Japan in their spring break, students create a report based on their research topic, the results which must be completed for the new school year in April when they become third grade students.

In their third grade English class, the research results are presented in English by each student. The best reports are selected for their quality and used as representative works for the year group. At the school’s annual English Festival in January, two outstanding students from each theme group present their research in front of the whole school using computer-based learning aids.