The West Virginia Center for Professional Development through the Governor's Academy for Teaching Excellence (GATE) offered a program called GoGlobal Japan each summer during 2008 - 2010. I served as a coordinator of this program in Putnam County in 2009, and in Kanawha County in 2010. Educators from various West Virginia schools participated in the GoGlobal Japan program.
During the two-days of immersion activities, teachers spent a day in the life of the average Japanese student. They learned common words and wrote their name on their nametags in Japanese. Participants explored the nutrition and eating habits of Japanese people. Exercise was a daily part of the students' life. Students brought their lunch to school from home in a obento, or lunch box. Recycling is also very important in Japanese culture. Students took old newspaper circulars and made origami boxes that they used to throw away waste from lunch. Educators played a game to practice their new vocabulary. Blindfolded teammates had to try to crack open a watermelon with a wooden spear guided only by the voices of the rest of their team that gave them directions in Japanese.
During the two-days of immersion activities, teachers spent a day in the life of the average Japanese student. They learned common words and wrote their name on their nametags in Japanese. Participants explored the nutrition and eating habits of Japanese people. Exercise was a daily part of the students' life. Students brought their lunch to school from home in a obento, or lunch box. Recycling is also very important in Japanese culture. Students took old newspaper circulars and made origami boxes that they used to throw away waste from lunch. Educators played a game to practice their new vocabulary. Blindfolded teammates had to try to crack open a watermelon with a wooden spear guided only by the voices of the rest of their team that gave them directions in Japanese.