Fall '03 Edition
Japanese students visit Carbondale to learn American traditions
Rachel LindsayDaily Egyptian
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The room quieted as the families stood, anxious expressions on each face. All was still for a few moments as the tension in Ballroom C at the Student Center grew almost unbearable. Then one girl whispered, "Here they come."
An instant later, 12 Japanese students filed into the room with big smiles on their faces as the families broke out in applause. The children walked to the front of the room and stood nervously, awaiting their next instructions.
Students from Nakjo, Japan, arrived in Carbondale Saturday to begin a five-day stay with host families as part of a cultural and educational exchange program with SIUC's sister school, SIU in Niigata.
"The point of the program is friendship," said Kathy Bury Swindell, associate director of the Japan Coordinating Office. "International friendships, building bridges; most of these students will stay in touch with each other."
The trip, sponsored by the town of Nakajo, is designed to allow Japanese students to visit the United States to learn about American culture, according to Swindell. Sixth-grade students from Kinoto Grade School and ninth-grade students from Nakajo Junior High School competed with their peers for one of the limited spots. Those who scored the highest on the English proficiency test and essay were chosen to go on the trip.
The essay centered on what the students wished to learn during their trip to America. According to Ayumi Watanabe, one of the ninth-grade students chosen to go, each student is required to keep a daily journal about their experiences in America and what they've learned from their host families.
Watanabe, along with sixth-grader Aya Shinmura, stayed with David and Teresa Russin. The Russins' two daughters, Abbe, 16, and Hannah, 11, hosted the students during their stay, learning about Japan while telling Watanabe and Shinmura about America.
"It's a lot of fun because you learn a lot about their culture," Abbe said. The students quickly found how different America was when they had to be shown how to use the faucet in the bathroom. In Japan, the toilet and the shower are separate, Watanabe said through her electronic translator. The translator was the only way the students were able to understand what their host family was trying to explain to them.
Another difficulty was the differences in food. According to Teresa, even rice, a staple of the Japanese diet, looks different in America. Watanabe and Shinmura both said they didn't really like most of the American food, though hamburgers and pizza escaped their dislike.
The Russins took Watanabe and Shinmura to Giant City Park. The differences in trees and animals surprised them. Abbe said the girls got excited over seeing a squirrel, telling her how different the forest looked.
The Japanese students also accompanied the host children to school. Abbe said Watanabe took notes on the lectures right along with the other students. Watanabe said she liked the school. Hannah said Shinmura was the only foreign student at her school.
Though the students were required to take an English proficiency exam to come to America, some of the host families said they still found communication difficult.
"It's been fun," Hannah said. "The hardest thing about it is communication. It's kind of hard to get them to know what you're saying because I haven't had very much practice talking with people who don't speak very good English. Some of the verbs are different and stuff."
The Japanese girls agreed. They used the electronic translator to figure out everything that was said to them and to give a reply as well. "It's difficult at best," David said. "Communication is a very big trouble."
David pointed out that the students, who are able to write English fairly well, learn to speak English from a teacher who probably has an Eastern accent. He said even if the student knows a word, the Western accents make that word unrecognizable.
"Many people think if you speak slowly and simply, it will help," David said. "No. It?'s not a matter of slow and simple. It's a matter of no vocabulary." The Russins weren't the only family who found communication difficult. Ben Ponce, 15, bought an English-Japanese dictionary just to help with communication.
"The first thing he said to me was, "I don't speak very good English," Ponce said.
Despite the difficulty in verbal communication, Ponce said he and his guest, Tsukasa Sugasawo, 15, who also had a dictionary, were having a lot of fun and learning about each other's traditions.
"I want to learn American traditions," Sugasawo said. The Ponce family, whose daughter hosted a student last year, took Sugasawo shopping and rented a video game to play. Sugasawo said he liked how cheap everything was in America.
"I like being a part of [the student's] experience in America," Ponce said. Later, the Ponces planned to build a bonfire and eat smores with some of Ponce's friends. Sugasawo will also get the chance to work on the Homecoming float for Ponce's class.
"We're just doing what we normally do," Ponce said. "Kind of a look into the American home style."
Small-town life isn't the only experience of America the Japanese students will receive. Friday the students went sightseeing in Chicago, visiting the "American" places such as Hard Rock Café and the Museum of Science and Industry.
Sugasawo said his favorite part of Chicago was the library and the museums they visited. Watanabe and Shinmura said they enjoyed their boat cruise on Lake Michigan.
Sugasawo said the cities in America were much bigger than those in Japan and that there were a lot more stores.
"America is great," he said.
According to Bury Swindell, the friendships made during the students? stays with their host families can last for the rest of their lives. She pointed out that some students from the first exchange program, put on by International
Programs and Services 14 years ago, are still in contact with each other. The students will leave for St. Louis Thursday, where they will visit the St. Louis Gateway Arch and the Marriott Galleria before heading home.
Reporter Rachel Lindsay can be reached at rlindsay@dailyegyptian.com
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