Tuesday February 3, 2015, a group of Japanese students visited YLHS. This group is the first group of Japanese students that have been to YLHS. The Japanese students are juniors from a high school in Chiba, a city close to Tokyo. For the day, YLHS students in enrolled in Mrs. Ikemoto’s Japanese classes hosted the students and introduced them to a variety of classes.

The day started early at 7:30 am, when the Japanese students met their hosts for the first time. By 8, everyone were separated into groups and started their day. Pairs of Japanese students headed off with groups of YLHS students. The YLHS students were divided into an even mix of different levels of fluency, so they could help each other out with the Japanese, though the Japanese students are fluent in English as well.

For the first three periods of the day, the groups toured classes at YLHS. Throughout this time, the students were able to see what classes in America are like. At lunch, the Japanese Students helped YLHS students into Yukatas, a traditional Japanese wear similar to Kimonos, in the center of the quad.

“It was a lot of fun meeting these students, who come from a completely different world. I’ve been in Japanese all four years at YLHS, but this is definitely one of the most memorable events,” said Connie Huang (12), an AP Japanese student.

After seeing the campus and engaging in the lunch time activity, everyone in this years exchange program went to the library and learned more about each other. Students were able to compare the similarities that they have and the differences. After conversing for a while, each group presented what they learned during the day. The Japanese students practiced their English and the YLHS students practiced their Japanese.

Among the group of over thirty students, there was only on boy. The high school that the students attended used to be an all girls school, but recently began enrolling boys. The one that attended this trip, was the only boy in the entire junior class. In fact, there are currently only 3 boys in the  entire school of about a thousand.

Though this is only the first trip that any students from Japan have taken, it is surely the start of something new. It was an eye opening experience for all the students who participated in the event. YLHS was lucky have the Japanese students share a day of their four day trip in the United States.

A group of students from China also visited February 4-5, each shadowing a student currently taking Chinese at YLHS. Mrs. Nicholson also has a Peruvian exchange student that is staying for a couple week.

YLHS is definitely getting the multicultural experience of a lifetime this month!