以下の英文は、私（校長）が書いた日本語の記事を本校のネイティブ英語教員であるリサ先生が英語に訳してくれたものです。中学生のみなさん！チャレンジしてみてください。三丘生のみんなも是非読んでください。この後、同じ内容の日本語バージョンも投稿しますので、どれくらい読解できていたか確かめてみるのも良いかもしれません。では、どうぞ！
Last May 31st (Friday), 42 students from Rockwoods High School and The Scindia School in India, aged 11 to 17, visited our school. Mikunigaoka High School conducts many international exchange activities every year. Especially this school year, there are quite a number of international exchange programs lined up. In fact, this is already the third exchange visit following the Lithuanian school principals' delegation (May 13) and the SSH/SGH international students exchange event (May 25) - both of which were posted on this principal's blog.
First on the program was a culture exchange class and a short visit to "Sakai City Observatory." At our multipurpose hall, MHS students demonstrated to the Indian students how to play some traditional Japanese games such as kendama and karuta. I felt the great value of this international exchange program as I observed our students trying to communicate in English with body language and gestures, compared to that used during their English classes.
The "Sakai City Observatory" activity was planned to show a view of Sakai City from the observation floor of Sakai City Hall, which is less than a 10-minute walk away from our school. Unfortunately, it was raining so it was difficult to see the beautiful cityscape of Sakai. However, the Indian teachers seemed to like the mascot character of Sakai City, "Director Haniwa". We were able to capture their nice smiles on this picture below.
A welcome ceremony was then held at the alumni hall 'Shinsankyu Kaikan.' Student and teacher representatives from both schools gave their greetings, and then we watched videos about school life in India. It was my first time to give a welcome speech for Indian guests, so I tried to speak Hindi. I remember saying "Namaste," but I was so nervous that I don't remember much beyond that. We exchanged mementos and took a commemorative photo.
Next, MHS students showed them around the school. Acting as tour guides, we all moved out of the Shinsankyu Kaikan with the Indian students. This activity was indeed very meaningful! Explaining our school life to students of the same age but who speak a different language and have a different culture must have been a very difficult task, but I think they all had fun and succeeded at it.
The last and final step was to send the Indian students off. As their new Indian friends walked out of the school gate, MHS students waved to say goodbye. I strongly hope that the connection with the two Indian schools created through this fun day will continue in the future. "Arigatou gozaimashita" (Thank you very much) to our guests from India!
