Copyright: Aaron Quigley
What is the Hizen-Cho USA homestay?
It is an exchange program that was created
in 1994 by an assistant English teacher in Hizen-Cho (Saga) Japan.
It was set up with the help of the Hizen International home-stay group .
In 1994 he started an exchange program with his home town High School
in Metuchen, New Jersey. In 1995 the home-stay was in Buena Vista, Virginia.
In 1996 the home-stay returned to Metuchen and in 1997 it was in Buena Vista again.
This is a volunteer program all the work of organizing it in Japan and
the USA is by local people who are interested in fostering international
relations and ensuring the students have a rewarding experience.
What is a home-stay?
A home-stay is where a visitor stays with a family and
becomes a working member of the family. Literally the visitor 'stays' in a 'home'
hence the term, home-stay. It is unlike a vacation
in the respect that the visitor is expected to help with
the day to day chores and running of a home. The visitor isn't
a guest who is waited on!
The Hizen-Cho home-stay program takes 7 to 12 students to the
USA for a 10 - 14 day period in late March of each year.
The students are from Junior high school
(ages 12 - 15) or High School students (ages 15 - 17).
Each student stays with a home-stay family, where one of the
family members is usually of a similar age to the Japanese
student.
Where did they go in 1997?
In 1997 7 students and 3
Chaperones from Hizen-Cho went to
Buena Vista in Virginia. Buena Vista in located in the Middle of
Virginia about 10 minutes drive from Lexington and about 45 minutes from
Roanoke. The home-stay organizer in Buena Vista was Gerri Pryor, a counselor
at Parry McCluer High School. Gerri found home-stay families for the
students, scheduled the students cultural presentations, hosted one of the
chaperones, and a million other things, along with doing her full time
job as counselor. After staying in Buena Vista the group visited
Washington DC for two days and then San Francisco for a day.
What do the students do?
The Japanese students all have a keen interest in the English Language and
they want an opportunity to practice and develop their skills in a natural
language environment. The students also have to have a willingness to learn about
foreign culture.
Each student becomes a member of their respective home-stay
family for the period of stay.
The schedule in 1997
was basically a 7 day stay with a home-stay family. Followed by 3 days
sightseeing. During the first 7 day period the students attended school
for three days with one of the family members.
The students have three areas of responsibility while on the home-stay.
Practice English
The organizers of the home-stay placed an emphasis on communication.
Not everything the students said was perfectly correct English, the
emphasis was on getting your ideas across in English to those around you.
The home-stay families helped the student by pointing out their mistakes
and helping them learn and practice new things. Staying in a natural
language environment gave all the students the opportunity to use the
full breath of their vocabulary.
Presentation of Japanese Culture in School
While the students are learning about American culture on a daily basis during their
home-stay, they are also expected to give something back to the community which is
hosting them. This takes the form of cultural/sports presentations. Their is a
core of six presentations which are supplemented by the students own interests.
Core Presentations
This list of core presentations has developed over the lifetime of the program. On
previous home-stays to the USA these presentations were always well received and
interesting for the American students. The presentations are usually geared for
different grades, where as older high school students wouldn't be overly impressed
by a presentation of Japanese toys classes at elementary schools love it.
Supplementary Presentations
Presentation of Japanese Culture in the Home
The success of this part of the home-stay was largely based on each students willingness and
interest in showing Japanese culture to their home-stay families. The only requirement the
organizers placed on the students is that they should be ready to prepare a Japanese meal for
their home-stay families. Student went well beyond this showing their
presentations Origami, Sumo etc.. to their host families and of course in
interacting with the Homestay student the American Host families got the
opportunity to learn something of Japanese people and their lives. It was
a two street for cultural exchange and learning.
Questions?:
aquigley@cs.usyd.edu.au
Created: Wednesday, April 30th, 1997
Last updated:Friday, March 27th, 1998
