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Crossing Screens and Borders: Japanese and American Students' Journey from Virtual Encounter to Face-to-Face Gatherings

As overseas travel has come back, some students and teachers were able to visit their partner schools in person after six months of virtual bilingual interactions through the Global Classmates program.
We would like to share some of the highlights from their trips.

1) Glenbrook South High School (Illinois) & Yokohama Commercial High School (Kanagawa)

On the day of the visit, the Yokohama Commercial High School students greeted Glenbrook South High School students with a welcome sign at a nearby train station. Students split up into small groups to talk and then everyone enjoyed playing musical chairs together. Five students who participated in the previous year’s Global Classmates program joined the activities and provided various teas (green tea, Hoji-cha, barley tea), Japanese sweets and snacks they brought from home. They also had fun making origami boxes and cranes. After the school visit, they visited Minato Mirai and went out to eat together.

2) Southwest High School (Minnesota) & Takamatsu Nishi High School (Kagawa)

Southwest High School visited Takamatsu Nishi High School and students participated in a homestay experience. The local media came to feature this exchange.
KSB Setonaikai Housou: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUqYpnRpCxI

3) A student from Eleanor Roosevelt High School Student (Maryland) visited Asaka Reimei High School (Fukushima) during his trip to Japan

Jackson from Eleanor Roosevelt High School stayed in touch with his partner classmates at Asaka Reimei High School in Fukushima prefecture even after the program ended. He visited their school with his brother this summer. Students at Asaka Reimei HS reflected on their reunion with Jackson as follows:

• I have not had the experience of speaking with someone from another country (in-person) before so I was nervous about whether I could communicate properly. However, he liked Japan and he actively communicated with us so I thought I would do my best, too. I was able to relate to Jackson’s favorite anime and I thought it was amazing how Japanese pop-culture allows you to connect with people across the ocean that it made me want to study about it in college. From this one experience, I gained so much inspiration!

• I was happy that he came all the way to Japan and even to Asaka Reimei High School and I was excited to communicate with him in-person. He was very good at Japanese so it made me want to master English quickly.

• It was very fun to talk a lot! It was a great experience to realize that I can use the English I learned in class in real life and I am happy that Jackson learned more about my school and Japan. I was able to see that Jackson had already been exposed to lots of Japanese culture so it made me want to also learn more about other cultures and to study more to be able to express myself in English.

4) Hamel Sensei (Southwest High School, MN )and Takahashi Sensei (Takamatsu Nishi High School) 

Not only students but teachers also met in-person. Hamel sensei visited Takamatsu Nishi while on a trip to Japan with his wife. Although the weather in Takamatsu Nishi was not sunny, Hamel sensei told us that Kuribayashi Koen in the rain had a quaint atmosphere and was beautiful. 

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