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PRESS RELEASES June 2008 - Students prepare for a two week trip to Japan By: Haddonfield Japan Exchange For the past several months, a group of students from Haddonfield Memorial High School has been meeting regularly and immersing themselves in all things Japanese. The students are hard at work preparing for a two-week trip to Japan as part of the ongoing Haddonfield Japan Exchange program.
Last year 19 Japanese students and their adult chaperones from Kasukabe Girls High School came to Haddonfield and stayed with host families for two weeks. During their stay, the guests visited the cities of Philadelphia, New York, Washington, and Baltimore, spent a day at the Jersey shore in Stone Harbor, and got an up-close look at their host town of Haddonfield. The group also took in a Phillies game, went tubing on the Delaware River, and enjoyed a summer evening at Cowtown Rodeo. And, because the students were of the female persuasion, American-style shopping was also a highlight of their stay.
This year, 19 Haddonfield students will visit Japan and stay with host families from July 11 through July 25, and Haddonfield Japan Exchange Director, Bill Brown, and Home Economics teacher Boe Daley have been helping the students get ready for their trip. Calling on his experience as a leader of similar student trips and a regular visitor to Japan, Brown has been giving the students an overview of Japanese customs, religion, culture, food, and language.
The classes have also featured guest speakers, such as Dr. Frank Chance, from the University of Pennsylvania, who shared his expertise on Japanese tea ceremony, and local resident Mrs. Kazuai Tsuda, who presented a class on Japanese language and home life.
A recent regular session included a demonstration on chopstick (hashi) use during which Brown challenged the students to pick up a specified number -- given in Japanese -- of snack goldfish and place them in a cup.
The Haddonfield students have also gone outside the classroom. They have taken part in a Japanese Festival at Westtown, Pa., and enjoyed the annual Subaru Cherry Blossom Festival, hosted by the Japan American Society of Greater Philadelphia. Still to come is a meal at Fuji Japanese Restaurant in Haddonfield, which, for many of the students, will be their first taste of "real" Japanese food.
Finally, the students will work with high school teachers Paula Meyer and Scott Glading to prepare a performance they will present while in Japan. In addition to Bill Brown and Boe Daley, Karen Benaveidez, a former HMHS student who now attends University of Delaware and is studying Japanese, will be chaperones for the trip.
For more information about the classes or the Haddonfield Japan Exchange, contact Bill Brown at BillBrown 08033@aol.com.
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