Achi village trip 2014(Feb.7~8)

Hello. This is Xuemei. I would like to report Achi village trip on the blog.This year, seven students (Yuki, Zhang Ling, Lan, Lyn, Nikki and I), Yamada sensei and Dr. Desalegn (a visiting scholar from Ethiopia) participated in this trip. Natsuki organized the trip together, but she couldn’t go with us because of a health problem.
The participants were exited at the beginning on the bus to Achi village, but they felt asleep soon. We arrived in Seinaiji primary school earlier than expected, and fortunately invited Chair of Education committee of Nagano prefecture to talk about the role of education committee and her experience as a student at Seinaiji primary school.
From 10:50, we had 30-minute class observation. Since there are only 29 students in total, each grade has only one class. The 2nd period was a Math class. We observed how teachers teach in each grade and how students react in the classes. We could notice their talent based on the paintings they posted on the wall at the back of the classroom and handiworks exhibited at a hall way.


Then we moved to the music room to have interchange time with these children. Five of GSID students introduced their countries and cultures, and taught them how to greet people in their countries. Lyn, Lan and I dressed our traditional clothes, and Dr.Desalegn showed them the Ethiopian accessories, and Nikki scared the students with a popular children song in the Philippines with a handmade bomb speaker. Yuki translated Dr.Desalegn and Nikki’s English to Japanese and Zhang Ling took pictures and Yamada sensei helped us to explain some difficult words to children. Thanks to active participation of the children and our good teamwork, the session finished successfully.

During the lunch time, GSID members were divided into six groups to have school meal together with children. And then, we played game called “Deliver messages by whisper”, whose rule is that only the first student of the each line can hear the pronunciation from native speaker and then whispers the word to the second student until it reaches the last student. 29 students actively participated in the game and the cooperation among them was really good. We gave them chocolate as a present. Even though they received only four small pieces of chocolates, they were really happy.

After taking a memorial photo with students and teachers, we continued our village tour. The tour guide, the same person as last year, kindly introduced the village and invited us to his home to show us his younger brother’s wood printing arts.

At the end of the program, the principal of the primary school gave a short lecture about current situation and school management. He introduced multi-grade classes and several main activities such as festivals, voluntary works and interchange program.
To me, it was a healing time. I hope all participants did enjoy the trip.

Below is Nikki’s impression.
The trip was both memorable and interesting for me especially the visit to the Seinaiji elementary school. It is because it is very different from my Philippine experience. Public elementary schools in my country are usually crowded and do not have enough facilities and teachers. Also, sometimes these children go to school with food that are not nutritious or without any food at all. In Japan, it is nice to see that children enjoy delicious food and healthy food. But, what is common to both these Japanese and Filipino children is that they are happy who only wants to learn and live their lives.
I always believe that basic education is very important as a foundation of the adult life of children. I hope the Philippines can improve its primary education system in terms of access and quality.