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Photo by Eric Engman

Photo by Eric Engman

Photo by Eric Engman

FAIRBANKS — Those who can, teach. Those who can’t might as well learn.

There’s no better way to learn to teach children than to completely immerse oneself in a classroom. A group of 11 Japanese student-teachers dove head first into the classrooms at Effie Kokrine Charter School on Friday morning, bringing with them cultural tidings and lessons about their home city: Kushiro, Hokkaido, Japan.

It was a day of sharing for both the Japanese teachers and the American students who sat alive with curiosity in their seats. Communicating through a slight language barrier, the Japanese student-teachers instructed Effie Kokrine students by way of symbols, hands-on activities and dancing, one of the oldest forms of communication.

“It’s good for our students to branch out and experience other cultures,” said Linda Evans, Effie Kokrine’s principal. “It’s something we really try to stress here, and it’s been fun to see how they teach and how our students respond.”

The students in Mandy Sullivan’s seventh-grade classroom seemed enthralled during a short lesson on origami, the art of folding paper into three-dimensional shapes. Origami, as student-teacher Mai Fukuda explained, goes back thousands of years and was used to deliver gifts among samurai and used to symbolize marriage in the Shinto culture.

Fukuda and Ken Yamoti, another visitor, spent 45 minutes with the class, instructing them on the various forms of origami, how to say Japanese words and even how to translate Alaska slang into Japanese.

With help from a translator, Yamoti explained that even though the teaching style in Japan is very different than in the United States, being in another country’s classrooms has helped him learn to understand teaching at a more basic level.

“We don’t speak the same, but we understand in other ways, like with our hands or pictures,” he said.

The students in Sullivan’s class struggled at first with the language barrier, but they quickly adapted by using hand gestures and simpler words to communicate.

“Even though it is sometimes a little tough to understand them, I think it was pretty easy to get their lessons,” said Amanda Tom, 13, as she folded origami paper into a small paper balloon. She struggled through the many folds and didn’t seem too enthusiastic about the lesson until she blew into her paper balloon and realized she’d done it correctly. The smile that crept on her face showed that she was pleased with herself for figuring out how to fold such a complicated shape.

“I never really thought of it like this, but I think it’s probably pretty scary to be a teacher in a classroom for the first time, especially if we talk different,” she said. Jazmine Jones, 12, and her desk-mate Henry Lopez-Kokrine, 13, worked closely with Aitomo Kameyama as he showed them how to juggle the paper balloons.

“I think we spend too much time worrying about how different we are, and it makes it harder to talk to someone if they’re from a different country,” Tom said. “It’s not that hard to understand if we just pay attention and stop worrying.”

A few Effie Kokrine students asked questions about Japan’s weather, the population and where exactly Kushiro was in reference to Tokyo, Japan’s largest city.

“We have many things in common with Fairbanks like short hot summers and long winters,” said Fukuda, translating for Kameyama. He compared Effie Kokrine school to a school he grew up in because it was smaller in size than the other schools in Fairbanks.

“Small schools are good for students and teachers, too,” he said and laughed.

Earlier that morning, students piled into the school gymnasium for a dance and drumming performance that incorporated lessons on Japanese language, the famous samurai warriors, and various forms of Japanese writing via giant signs and pictures. The drumming excited the students, who were able to draw on similarities with their culture’s drumming and dancing.

Mentor and professor Fusayuki Kanda of Hokkaido’s University of Education escorted his pupils through classrooms while taking pictures and serving as a translator when needed. He helped organize the trip to Fairbanks to challenge his students, he explained.

“We all get to learn on this trip,” Kanda said. “My students are working on their English and teaching skills, and the American students are gaining knowledge about another country and how we live in Japan.”

Contact staff writer Rebecca George at 459-7504.