On November 13 and 14, nine students joined us from Japan. The Japanese exchange students and Barlow students have the opportunity to learn more about each other’s culture, what happens in American high schools day to day, their differences, and get to know each other in general. There is a ton of preparation, traveling, and hard work involved with setting up the visit.
The students got to spend two days here at Barlow, shadowing students to their classes and the things they do daily. April Anderson, the head of the student council, has had a big impact on making this happen. “I think we get as much out of it as they do in terms of things we learn about their culture and their country,” Anderson says. The students got to meet with our student council, play games, learn more about our culture, and other things, while we got to learn the same about them. There were gifts, food, and fun conversations exchanged!
To make this visit happen, there was a lot that went into it. The admins here at Barlow communicate with the admins from their school to make sure there is no detail left unnoticed. The exchange students come here with a topic to research about America and how it is different from Japan. They got to focus on and research how things like food, houses, stores, how people interact, and many other differences from their home country.
One student, Runa Murano, shared her experience at Barlow. She said her favorite thing about Barlow is that “Everyone is so unique,” and her favorite experience was “Being able to interact with all of the students at Sam Barlow.” It seems that one of the biggest differences here is the food; her favorite food was “Dinner cooked by my host mother.” It is amazing that the students got to have this opportunity to experience what another part of the world is like, while we also learned about theirs from them.
There are many great purposes to having these visits. There are so many differences between our two cultures that are interesting to learn about. The Japanese students get to experience what we do in our day-to-day lives, and what we may think is ordinary, they may have never experienced before. “It’s very interesting to see even just how they act is, you know, different from how we act,” Anderson adds.
There are multiple opportunities for students to volunteer to host these students, through emails sent out to parents, advisory lessons, and the principal’s newsletter. It can be a great experience for both the host and the exchange students. You get to be a part of their experience of America and create memories with them that will last a lifetime.
This experience is beneficial for both the exchange students and for us. With the things learned, fun conversations, and the memories made, it is all around a great thing our school does. “I don’t want to go home!” Runa Murano exclaimed.
