1/15/2008 - Japanese student notes differences in North Carolina

For 18-year-old Tomoe Bando, a three-week summer vacation is the norm. Of course, until this summer, Tomoe, a senior at Reynolds High School, had never been to the United States.

by Grace Tatter
HIGH-SCHOOL CORRESPONDENT

Tomoe is an exchange student from Hokkaido, Japan. She is in Winston-Salem through the American Field Service, an intercultural program that offers exchange in programs in 50 countries. She has been living with the Eppley family since July.

The Eppleys found out about the program through an e-mail a friend at church had sent out. They cannot travel extensively because of the ages of their children, but they wanted Elizabeth, a seventh-grader at Hanes Middle School; Hunter, a fourth-grader; and Alison, a second-grader, both at Whitaker Elementary, to see that “Winston-Salem is not the whole wide world.”

Program officials sent the family a list of prospective students. The Eppleys knew Tamoe would be a good fit.

“There was just something about her,” Wendy Eppley said.

Tomoe’s quiet and reserved manner matched that of their family, and they felt that she would be comfortable in Winston-Salem, since Hokkaido is a similar size.

The family and Tomoe met for the first time at a gathering with all the program’s students and exchange families. One of the getting-to-know-you activities was a talent show the students put on.

“It was such an amazing, talented group of kids,” Eppley said. “It was really exciting to see.”

Tomoe is in her second semester at Reynolds.

“High school is very different (here),” Tomoe said in an e-mail. At her home school, the students wear a uniform, and have separate shoes to wear indoors and outdoors.

The Japanese school day is also less mobile than one at Reynolds. The teachers come to the students, instead of the students moving to the individual classes.

Tomoe’s Japanese school also had “scarcely any homework.” This balances out their vacation schedule. Although Japanese students have a longer winter break, their summer break is but a fraction of an American one.

Tomoe cited many differences between American and Japanese teenagers, including clothing choices and hairstyles.

“American teenagers are very cheerful!” Tamoe said.

There are similarities between the schools, too.

“Both Japanese students and American students are crazy about school events, like sports,” Tomoe said.

She took English classes for six years in Japan. Still, because of the language barrier, “school is very hard,” she said.

Despite Tomoe’s challenges, Terry Hicks, the chorus teacher at Reynolds, has only good things to say about Tomoe.

“She is always on task, so positive,” Hicks said. He admires her for getting out of her comfort zone and coming to Reynolds.

Hicks said that chorus is a good place to be for someone learning English, because in the South some people pronounce vowels and such differently than in other parts of the country. In chorus, he said, correct pronunciation is a must.

“It begins to make more sense,” Hicks said, “To see a word and get the correct pronunciation.… Studies show that for ESL students, or students brand new to the country, chorus is an excellent place to be.”

Grace Tatter is a 10th-grader at Paisley Magnet School.

This article was originally published here in the Winston-Salem Journal.