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Westside welcomes 20 Japanese students to town

April 3, 2018   ·   0 Comments

By Jasen Obermeyer

Westside Secondary School recently welcomed a group of students from Japan for their international exchange program, something the school has done for several years.

In partnering with the Red Leaf program, the welcoming ceremony took place at the school last Thursday (March 22), with this year seeing 20 Japanese students visit Orangeville for 10 days. The school’s band played both the Canadian and Japanese national anthems while welcoming bags were being given out.

Christine Kirkland, one of the school’s guidance counsellors and organizer for international student visits, explained to the Citizen that they get to see a bit of what Canada is all about, including visiting the town’s SugarBush Maple Syrup Festival, along with a field trip to Toronto and Niagara Falls.

She said the students are paired with a Westside buddy, where they will shadow them in their classes in the afternoon, while in the morning they will take English class, giving them a taste of Canadian culture. “It’s really exciting, our students who are partnered with them are a little bit nervous because they don’t know what to expect.”

Mrs. Kirkland said things we take for granted as Canadians are things the Japanese students find exciting. The Japanese students “are just so excited about the whole experience that our kids sometimes just aren’t sure what to show them because it’s so normal for them.”

She said that once the students arrive though, “both of them get such an enjoyment out of it.”

Mrs. Kirkland added that students who volunteer do it again the following year, and learn about patience, persistence because of the language barrier, and a bit of Japanese.

She said she really likes the interaction amongst the students and how they see everything as so different, but are so friendly. “I think it’s really nice for our kids to see that our schools are such a special place.”

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