Japanese students experience friendly hospitality in Moose Jaw
Thirteen elementary students from Yokohama, Japan are learning more about Prairie life and just how friendly Moose Jaw is during a week-long visit.
The students — aged nine to 12 — are from Spike & Ai International After School, an educational institute where youths practise their English while acquiring experiences and skills for the future. Students can spend up to four hours a day practising English after their regular school has finished for the day.
More information about Spike & Ai can be found at https://international.spikeandai.com. Yokohama has a population of more than 3.7 million and is 8,532 kilometres from Moose Jaw.
Former Moose Jaw resident Arron Dobrescu is the head of Spike & Ai and has brought students to Moose Jaw for nine years as part of his Canada Homestay program. He moved to Japan 16 years ago to teach English, where he eventually married and had children.
After teaching kindergarten, he started his own school and slowly built up the institution. Now after 14 years, he has 36 employees, nearly 1,000 students, two main school buildings and 11 satellite locations.
As part of the homestay program, students live with Moose Jaw families as they tour the city and area. The goal is to broaden students’ horizons about other cultures and have them think and speak in English every day to eliminate language anxiety.
From Aug. 1 to 9, students played at Crescent Park, swam at the Natatorium, camped at Buffalo Pound, visited the University of Regina, took in the Queen City Ex, spent a full day with their host families, visited the radio station, toured the Babich farm and participated in a Sayonara party and culture exchange, before flying home.
Grade 4 student Hinata Suzuki, 9, is excited about the
trip — she has never visited a farm before — and about staying with her host family, the Chubeys.
“I want to play in the pool and play with the (Chubeys’) dog,” Suzuki said with nearly flawless English. “And go shopping to buy sandals.”
Dobrescu, trip chaperones and host families welcomed the students to Moose Jaw on Aug. 1 with a pizza party at A.E. Peacock Collegiate.
The students were probably jet-lagged since they didn’t sleep on the plane ride due to their excitement, Dobrescu said.
It was an adventure simply to get on the plane, he continued, since the airline cancelled the flight at the last minute. The group spent 10 hours in the airport before the airline found them a hotel. The group was back at the airport the next day.
“It has been a long two days, but the kids are enjoying themselves,” Dobrescu remarked.
Dobrescu laid out the ground rules for the students before they left with their host families: speak English only, keep their rooms clean and write in their journals daily.
While Dobrescu could have taken his students to Vancouver, Banff or Toronto, he pointed out students would have heard Japanese spoken everywhere there, which is counterproductive. He remarked that Moose Jaw’s slogan was “The Friendly City,” which he believes is true since residents say hello on the streets and in businesses. Although Yokohama is 10 times larger than Moose Jaw in population, the students consider The Friendly City to be big since the roads are wider, the cars are bigger and houses are larger, Dobrescu said. He added that Japan — with a population of 130 million — could geographically fit inside Saskatchewan.
The students will be safe on Moose Jaw’s streets since most people know their neighbours, said Dobrescu. Since he grew up here, this trip also allows him to share his past life with the students.
“The host families are (also) my friends; I trust them,” he added.
One of the host parents whom Dobrescu appreciates having is Tana Arnott, who has supported the program since the beginning. Dobrescu joked that Arnott — who is also the vice-principal of Peacock — makes his life easier while here.
“It’s an amazing experience. It’s something my (own) kids look forward to every single summer,” said Arnott. “It’s awesome.”