Bob Hope Primary School teacher Martin Reinert speaks English with Okinawan youth at Kitatama Elementary School in Chatan Town on Friday. Children from the Kadena Air Base primary school spent the day touring Kitatama Elementary and interacting with Okinawan students. (Erik Slavin / S&S)
Bob Hope Primary School teacher Martin Reinert speaks English with Okinawan youth at Kitatama Elementary School in Chatan Town on Friday. Children from the Kadena Air Base primary school spent the day touring Kitatama Elementary and interacting with Okinawan students. (Erik Slavin / S&S)
American schoolchildren hang out with their new Okinawan playmates on the playground at Kitatama Elementary. (Erik Slavin / S&S)
OKINAWA — About 160 children from Kadena Air Base’s Bob Hope Primary School experienced a slice of Okinawan culture Friday at Kitatama Elementary School in Chatan Town.
Kitatama’s third- and fourth- graders welcomed the Kadena children to their school with a traditional Okinawa song and dance, part of a daylong program designed to foster understanding between the two cultures.
Ask 100 children what they enjoy most about any day at school, and most of them will say “lunch.” Friday was no exception, but there were plenty of smiles and laughs all day as the children played with each other, the language barrier being no barrier.
They played simple games like marbles and more complex ones like otedama, a traditional Japanese beanbag juggling game.
“It was exciting and a lot of fun. I enjoyed playing the games with them,” said Tyler Underwood, 9, a Kitatama student with both American and Japanese parents.
After playing games in the morning, children and several parent volunteers toured the school. They saw ways that Okinawan schools differ from most American schools; for example, the Okinawan children clean the school and help maintain the grounds.
That impressed parent/volunteer Joan Fernandez, whose daughter, Taylor, is a third-grader at Bob Hope Primary School.
“I think they learn a lot more by coming here,” Fernandez said. “It’s not just books they learn, it’s life lessons.”
The Okinawan students learned about American schools in January, when they visited the base school. They enjoyed the differences they experienced, said Kitatama English teacher Barbara Teruya.
“They got to eat with their hands, and they liked the refrigerators in the classes,” Teruya said.
Teruya said her students were excited all week about the American visit to their school, constantly asking her how to say various words in English.
That type of enthusiasm was evident among both groups of students, said Bob Hope third-grade teacher Martin Reinert. The Okinawan and base schools should have more frequent events at the “grass-roots” level, he said.
“This is something that brings these cultures together on one common ground,” Reinert said.
Illustrating his point, Reinert pointed out a few children playing in the middle of a soccer field.
“They’ve only met twice, they don’t speak the same language, and yet they’re playing together. They’ve made friendships,” he said.
