Claire's views of the Skype eventDiana was in charge of the group in the Peer Tutoring Center and her Japanese contacts were Miu and Rensei. I led the group in the Quiet Room and we skyped with Shikoh, Momoko, and Himari. I had met these students at the High School Diplomats program at Princeton.
HSD is a 10 day cultural exchange program each summer for sophomores and juniors. The goal is to share our cultures together. We teach them about American holidays, everyday life and they do the same for Japan. We all made several presentations about our nations, during the program. Categories included government, education, social issues, and regional characteristics. The students we Skyped with were among the 40 Japanese students who came to the US to participate. I learned about the program when I went to a lunch event at WAHS where several current students presented about their High School Diplomat experience. After I participated in the program, I planned a similar event to tell others about it. I put an announcement in homeroom messages and made a slide show to present during a lunch event. About 15 students came and 2 have applied for this summer! Some of the topics in my Skype group:
Several Japanese students talked about how their schools are more heavily academic. They don’t have Spirit Week, but they do have sports festivals, where everyone participates and grade-level teams compete. Once they answered the questions, we had a broader cultural discussion. They talked about the differences between Christmas here and in Japan. It is a holiday, but mostly not a big deal. People work and for many people it is not a religious day. Christmas eve is a huge night for couples. It is aa time to reserve a fancy restaurant, and spend time with your significant other. New Year’s Day is their big holiday. It is Jan 1st and it is a day of celebration, usually with cake. Valentine’s Day is very different there. Girls give guys chocolate and the on White Day, March 14th, guys give girls chocolate. The Skype meeting was fun! It’s so valuable to see my peers interact with these students and learn about their lives. I wish we would seek out opportunities more to interact with people who come from different cultures. Schools need to make it a priority. In the real world, it is really important to be able to collaborate and learn from people who are not the same as you. We need to combine our differences and have a greater understanding.
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