After-School Children’s Class “International Exchange Class”
A member of our association, Ms. Niluka and her family from Sri Lanka taught an “International Exchange Class” in the After-School Children’s Class Promotion Project organized by the Fuchu-cho Board of Education. From November to February, they visited five elementary schools in the town on Wednesdays after school and gave a lecture about their country, Sri Lanka, to more than a dozen children for about an hour at each school. Using a projector, she showed various pictures and introduced Sri Lanka to the students. The children listened attentively with great interest in the climate, culture, food, and wildlife that live in Sri Lanka, which is very different from Japan. Sri Lanka is famous for Ceylon tea, and tea leaves originating from Sri Lanka are used in Kirin Afternoon Tea. They also learned greetings in Sinhala, the most widely spoken language in Sri Lanka. At the end of the class, Ms. Niluka said, “There are many different kinds of people in the world. Different countries, different languages, different ways of thinking, different skin colors, all of them are all good! The world is one society. It is important to make an effort to understand each other and to be mindful.” This was an important message for us. We should live our lives with respect for each other and for people from different countries. At the time of parting, we greeted each other in the Sinhalese language we had just learned, saying “Bohomastuti” (Thank you) and “Newata Hamwem” (Good-bye), and this international exchange class came to an end.
