Back-to-school visit by holidaying pupils

Press, 4 August 1987, Page 4

Back-to-school visit by holidaying pupils

Most pupils like to keep as far away from school as possible during their summer holidays but, for a group of visiting Japanese, taking part in the school activities at Middleton Grange was a novelty. The group, ranging in age from seven to 17, spent more than two hours yesterday afternoon mixing with the school pupils and testing their English skills. They are from schools all over Japan and were chosen by the Japan Education Advancement Association to take part in a two-week tour of New Zealand.

The youngsters arrived in Christchurch on Thursday, and since then their

activities have included a visit to the Botanic Gardens and the museum, and- a drive on the Cashmere Hills to view the city and Canterbury Plains.

At the Christchurch City Council offices yesterday, the group joined the Mayoress, Lady Hay, for morning tea and then entertained her with a Japanese song. The secretary-general of the association, Mr Masayuki Kawaguchi, is accompanying the pupils on the tour, and said that they were billeted out with different families while in Christchurch. “It is a very good experience for them to stay with native New Zealand people.”

He said that while some of the group were quite young to be away from home, older students tended to feel more homesick.

Although they do not usually begin learning to speak English until they are 12 or 13, a number are quite conversant with the language and say they have found New Zealanders very kind and the countryside beautiful.

Mr Kawaguchi readily admits that part of the reason the group came to this part of the world was to view the Sydney marathon and they will leave Christchurch on Wednesday to spend a week in Australia before returning home.