Every year in mid October the grade five-immersion class at Katoh School goes to the US on a two-week excursion. The first four days are at a campsite in Zion National Park in Utah, the remaining time is spent with a host buddy and their family in the Portland/Beaverton area in Oregon.

In Portland and Beaverton there are five schools, which graciously take our students and allow them to have an American educational experience. Each of these five schools takes between five to ten Katoh students. The Katoh students are paired with an American student (buddy) and participate in the same activities as their buddy.

This year a record rainfall highlighted the camp experience in Utah. A hundred year record was set for rainfall within a twenty-four hour period. Despite all of the rain, the Katoh students enjoyed four major activities in Utah. The first activity was an IMAX movie about the history of Zion Canyon; the second activity was a hike in Zion Canyon; the third and fourth activities were horse back riding and hiking at Bryce Canyon.

It’s always interesting to see how quickly our students adapt. At first, students were very apprehensive about the new currency; it isn’t long before they’re spending it like pros. At the Portland Airport, upon meeting their buddies for the first time, there was a lot of shyness; when we visited our students later at their school, most of the shyness had fallen away.

For many of the Katoh and American students and their families, this enriching experience has been life changing.

From the Journals

Today I carved a Halloween pumpkin and stayed at Yuuri’s buddy’s house. It was hard and we had to remove many pumpkin seeds. My pumpkin was big and it took a long time and I thought mine was the biggest and hardest one. It was not so difficult to carve the pumpkin but we had to carve it carefully. It was very fun and I want to do it in Japan so I can take it home.
(Grade 5: C. K.)

Today is Halloween! so, I got a costume. My costume was a skeleton. We left our house at 5:15 pm. It was still bright, but by 6:00 pm, it was dark outside. We got way too many sweets, they weighed 7 kg!!! I was tired, but it was a fun day. The US trip was the best trip I’ve ever been on.
(Grade 5: S. F.)

 

More International Exchange Pictures: To see the full pictures click on the thumbnails below: Matching host families and Japanese buddies at the airport! Finally meeting my host family at the airport! Making new friends at my host school! Cool! My buddy is pretty cool! (and Math class is easy!) Reading time with my  buddy at school. School in America is FUN!