Ingleton Middle School

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Japanese Internship Programme

We have been hosting Japanese Interns at the school since 1994 through the JSTAP - Japanese School Teaching Assistant Program. Japanese 'Cultural Ambassadors' can be of any age and undertake the programme in order to improve their own level of English and their knowledge of British culture as well as to promote the Japanese culture. In a mutually beneficial arrangement, Japanese Interns come to the school for a period of up to 6 months. Hosted in a local family, they have a timetable of lessons and extra curricular activities and usually attend school for three or four days, incorporating visits to each of our feeder primary schools.

Through the JSTAP, our pupils are exposed to a culture very different from their own; they learn new skills, make new friends and see that people from different countries have much to learn from each other and can live and work together quite comfortably.

The interns are not usually teachers or intending to be teachers, but many have already worked with young people in Japan; one of our interns ran a Juku (cramming school) just north of Tokyo and several have tutored children privately. Coming from all walks of life, they are all unique, with different skills and interests and can offer a variety of experiences to our pupils. Certain activities such as the Japanese language, calligraphy, origami, Japanese cookery and the tea ceremony are revisited with each intern, but we have also had an expert artist, a pianist, a chef and a hat maker.

Many of the interns have had to save up for years in order to participate in the project which is completely self funding (and free to the school) so they are determined to make the most of their stay, integrating fully into the life of the school and their host family.

Interns at IMS:-

Eri Kurihara had a placement at IMS from January to October 2007. She then continued as a volunteer until Christmas 2007. Eri's brief was to share her culture with our pupils and increase their awareness of Japan and Japanese life with our youngsters. She also wanted to learn about our school system and culture and to improve her English. She stayed with four different host families and through them became involved in various church and community activities.

During her placement, Eri has been involved in a wide variety of tasks in school including the following: - production of displays about Japan - running a Japanese club and art / music club - bringing a Japanese dimension to art and music lessons - going into our feeder primaries to work with pupils there - giving lessons about Japanese culture to Y7 classes - organisation of the Art Exhibition - playing piano for the musical 'Joseph' - assisting with a school residential trip to the Lake District - giving individual lessons to pupils - Japanese and piano - performing at various school events - assisting with community events

Our Japanese Interns to date:-

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