As we break for the end of term, students from both our Japanese and Spanish language programs are participating in the IGS Exchange Program.
The Japanese Junior Exchange left on Saturday night, 16 September, with IGS teachers Hiroko Yamanaka and Sarah Sohn. They are staying with host families and attending school at the Osaka International Junior and Senior High School in Osaka, Japan, until Tuesday 3 October.
The following evening the Spanish Exchange students left on Sunday night with IGS teachers Irina Braun and Yolanda Fernandez. Our Spanish exchange students are attending school in Madrid at Colegio CEU San Pablo Montepríncipe and returning on Saturday 7 October.
Both groups have arrived safely and settled in with their host families and report having a wonderful time experiencing the local culture and language. As in past exchanges, the students are establishing wonderful connections and friendships.
For our Japanese exchange students, teachers Hiroko Yamanaka and Sarah Sohn provided this glimpse of our student’s first day in school:
“We started the day with a quick meeting, then students were asked to give a short self introduction in their Homeroom classes. We gathered again for a school tour which was kindly led by Mr Arvidson. Students then proceeded to normal classes. Students especially enjoyed their PE and English lessons, but it was also great to see some students picking up new words from subjects like Physics and Geography.
“We had a chance to chat to each student privately during the day and all the students were very excited to share their stories. Students also enjoyed their obento during lunch time. Each obento was carefully prepared by their host mothers and students were very excited to eat them with other students in class.
Students were invited to join the English speaking contest in the afternoon where they saw students from each Senior High School Grade 1 (Y10) class giving a speech in English.”