Japanese students visit
A group of Japanese students got a taste of local hospitality during a nine day exchange in Tokoroa recently.
The students from Misatokita High School near Tokyo were billeted to the homes of Forest View High School students and visited several of New Zealand’s tourism hotspots during their stay.
Forest View High School deputy principal Steve English said the exchange was part of an ongoing relationship with Misato-kita High School which goes back more than 15 years.
‘‘They bring a delegation of students over to us and the following year many of our students then go over to Japan as the contacts have already been established,’’ he said.
English said the students visited Taupo, Rotorua, and Waitomo during their short stay.
‘‘They also go to the same classes as their billet but we do try to change them slightly so they are get a more practical experience because if their English is not very good there is no point in putting them in a class where it is all talking,’’ he said.
The Japanese students were also welcomed into the South Waikato District Council chambers by mayor Neil Sinclair who said it was a pleasure to have them in town.
‘‘One of the important things that my council believes in is that students, as they swap and change, meet and make new friends and we will all be the better because of it,’’ he said.