Australian Homestay Experience

By Machiko MARUYAMA & Ikuko ISHII

On Saturday, June 26th, 2004 the second year students and two teachers from Nagoya International Senior High School went to Australia for 71 days.

They went to study in a language school and do a homestay for one month. Then they separated into three groups and went to local schools. The schools were: St.Andrew's, West Moreton Anglican College (WMAC) and Brisbane Adventist College (BAC).

The most difficult thing was communicating with people in Australia.

Half of them said that enjoyed their homestay. The rest of the students said that enjoyed their homestay, but there were some problems. For example, the meals were not so good, some students became vegetarian, other students stayed with a families with different religious values that they were unfamiliar with and house moving etc.

A few students got homesick. They missed Japanese food, their pets, Japanese baths, their free time and their Japanese friends.

Nine students said that they enjoyed going to their local school, but some students had trouble with their teachers. Some students met nice boys and girls.

But even though their experience was not always easy, almost all the students want to go back to Australia again.

A Day in the Life of Mr Pruitt

By Junpei NISHIKAWA & Masayuki NAGAYA

Our headmaster at Nagoya International Senior High School is Mr George Pruitt. We all know who he is but we don't know anything about him like what he does everyday. So, we interviewed him.

First we asked him where he lives. He said: "I live in Kakuouzan." He doesn't live far from school, it is about a 10 minute ride on the subway.

Next, we asked him what time he usually wakes up. He said: "I usually wake up at 5:30am."

5:30am! It is before sunrise. How can he wake up that early? We thought about it and decided that maybe it is because he is over 50 years old. Most people over 50 wake up around 5:30am or 6:00am. So, he is normal.

We wanted to know how he came to school. He said: "I go to school by bike." We were surprised. We could not believe that the headmaster comes to school by bike. We thought that he would drive to school by car. We asked him what time he usually gets to school and he said: "I go to school at 7:30am."

The next question was important for us because it was what we really wanted to know.

"What do you do at school while we are in classes?" we asked.

He answered this question clearly: "I have a lot of work everyday. First, I plan the London trip and Australia trip. there are very important for students and I meet parents. If a student does a bad thing, we'll call his or her parents. We warn them about what their child did and talk about how to solve the problem. Sometimes, I visit your classes while you study. I especially go to the English classes. But most of the time, I work in my office. I have to go through about 100 papers a day. These are very hard."

Wow, he works very hard at school. We thought that being a headmaster was an easy post for a teacher, but it isn't easy.

After a long day at school, we wanted to know what he does after school. He said: "I watch X-Files on TV or I eat dinner with my wife. After that, I read books."

X-Files! He watches X-Files at home? We could not have predicted that answer.

We asked him what time he goes to bed and he said: "I go to bed at 10:30 or 11:00pm." He goes to bed earlier than us. But we think it is normal because he is over 50 years old.

Finally we asked him: "What is your favorite part of the day?"

He said: "In the morning, after I wake up. I sit on the couch and I watch the sun rise. It is my favorite time of the day."

This was the students' first interview. There is one minor inaccuracy that must be mentioned regarding our Headmaster's age. He is in his 40s. I allowed this inaccuracy in order to preserve the perspective and voice of the students who wrote the article. Taeko Tofts

What I Think About School

By Yusuke Mori

School is really ridiculous in my view. Actually, I don't hate school, but school is not only a place to study. I think school is a place where a person matures and prepares to become an adult. Also, school is a place to learn about 'endurance'. School rules are included in 'endurance'. I think teachers who say "Don't break the rules" are mean but if you can bear it, then when you graduate from school and get a job and have a family or something you will be stronger for it. So, even though school is ridiculous, it is a place where you can get yourself personality.

NB: This was what Yusuke wrote for his five minute 'Freewriting' exercise at the beginning of class. Taeko TOFTS

Sports and Clubs in the Third Grade

By Yasuyuki SUGIURA

Most students in the third grade do not like sports, according to a survey carried out earlier this month among 117 third grade students.

Most students who like sports are members of sports clubs. The most popular clubs are soccer and baseball. Both tied with 17% of students participating in those sports. Badminton is also popular but the least popular sport is running.

Students have many reasons for joining clubs. Some students like sports and wat to build a strong team and they think that 'club activities are fun'.

Students who aren't members of clubs said that they don't like sports and that the types of clubs did not appeal to them. Many said that they were too busy and had other things to do after school or they have part-time jobs.

If more students join school clubs, the school will become a better place because students can get to relax and know each other better outside of class time.

NIHS Welcomes New Member of Staff

By Machiko MARUYAMA and Ikuko ISHII

Nagoya International High School's new teacher, Matthew Sanders, 27, likes to be called Matt. He is from Seattle in America. He likes to travel, so he came to Japan.

He thinks there are many good people in this school. Many students think he is handsome, but he has a Japanese
girlfriend. Her name is Aya. They met in Japan.

His hobbies are sports and music. His favorite sports are soccer and basketball.

NEW JOURNALISM STUDENTS

After a long break, I would like to introduce this year's new journalism students. I have a large class this year of 24 keen student reporters. I have nine girls and 15 boys.

My colleague, Manisha-sensei, is now teaching the Visual Communication component to this course and she will be producing the print version of the school newspaper.

We are nearly ready to start posting our stories, so please keep checking this site.