On Wednesday afternoon, 26 October, Year 9 and selected Year 7 Japanese students connected with one of our sister schools in Japan, Hojo High School in Kasai city, Hyogo prefecture.
The one-hour session started with a traditional Japanese ‘karuta’ card game that the Japanese students had kindly made and sent to us. After the game we moved onto introductions, accompanied with lots of giggles on both sides.
Then our Year 9 students read out loud in Japanese the famous Aboriginal Dreamtime story ‘The Rainbow Serpent’ to teach our Japanese friends about Aboriginal culture. The session finished with questions and answers in both languages, accompanied by even more giggles. One week later, the Year 7 students connected with the same students in Japan and listened to a famous Japanese story ‘Peach Boy’ in English.
Swan Christian College has a long-established relationship with Hojo High School, and our students last visited them in Japan in January 2020. We are hoping to see our Japanese friends face-to-face in August next year, as they are planning to come and see us again after a long break due to COVID-19.
If you are interested in becoming a host family for these students, please contact Mariel Howard at the College on mariel.howard@swan.wa.edu.au. They normally stay for 3-4 days and families will receive a small monetary compensation to cover any costs associated with hosting.
Mrs Mariel Howard
Languages Coordinator
