Every March, Northside collaborates with Evanston Township High School (ETHS) and Shonan High School to create the Japanese exchange program. This year, Northside welcomed over 40 students from the Kanagawa prefecture located two hours outside of Tokyo.
The exchange program between schools can be inconsistent: “We don’t have an ongoing partnership with a Japanese sister school, they come to us if ETHS has extra students; this happens once every couple years” says Chi Sensei, the Japanese teacher and coordinator for the exchange at Northside. Due to increasing regulations, students were not able to participate in a two-way exchange.
The students selected to participate in homestay were first asked to respond to a questionnaire with questions regarding their ability to host a foreign exchange student for a week. Chi Sensei notes that the application process is selective and not everyone who applies is chosen.
During the course of their stay, the exchange students shadow their Northside hosts for two days where they get to experience both our block schedule and colloquium schedule. Outside of being in school, “host families went out of their way to take them everywhere,” says Chi Sensei.
From baseball games, to shopping downtown, to basketball games, to exploring the city, the exchange students did it all!
Once the foreign exchange students left, Chi Sensei sent out an exit survey asking them for their thoughts on their stay. After reading their responses, Chi Sensei reflects that “overall, all the students reported really great experiences like going to a Bulls game. They got a picture with Yuki Kamura, the Japanese basketball player… he’s a big deal in Japan.”
Students report plans to stay in touch with their new friends; some families even have trips planned to visit Japan. “That is incredible after only having been around each other for a week— just a couple of days!” Remarks Chi Sensei.
Parker Hill says that hosting a Japanese exchange student allowed him to “actually practice speaking Japanese,” giving him experience with a native speaker around his age. Siguru, one of the exchange students, decided to participate in the program because he “want[ed] to try the challenge and [he] want[ed] to go overseas.” Participating in the exchange program seemed like a good way to expose himself to opportunities abroad.
One common theme seemed to emerge between Northside and Japanese students alike: the exchange program opened their eyes to other cultures. As Chi Sensei put it, the “differences in culture…changes the way you look at your world now. That’s how friendships are made.”
