Passport to Japan

On Thursday, May 28th, the library was privileged to host Ms. Jenese Giles, journalism adviser at Northeast High School, and a Japan Fulbright Memorial scholarship recipient.

Jenese did a presentation on life in Japan and talked to us about the differences between American & Japanese schools. Did you know that in Japan, students clean up the schools (including sweeping and mopping the halls and bathrooms), not janitors? Teachers have special rooms available to them where they can take naps during the day. They can leave the classroom and the students will behave....even without adult supervision! Imagine that! We also learned about the curriculum in Japanese schools, which includes horticulture (the kids were growing their own garden on the school's rooftop), art, music and English.

Jenese created a poster board with some of her pictures from her travels


And see all that stuff on the table? Japanese newspapers, magazines, pens, toys...all up for grabs! Jenese let us pick whatever we wanted to take home as a souvenir.

We even got an origami lesson








and enjoyed some sushi from Mikado Japanese restaurant. The program was a great success. If you couldn't make it, we hope to see you at the next one in the fall.

Got any ideas or suggestions for a program? Email them to me!