Education Exchange
2010 is the 20th anniversary of the signing ceremony formally establishing the Massachusetts Hokkaido Sister State relationship. To celebrate, the Massachusetts Hokkaido Association will focus on efforts to expand the number of K-12 and post secondary school exchanges between Massachusetts and Hokkaido educators and students.
In time, exchanges may lead to more formal sister school and sister city relationships. However, the major objective is to focus on ways that schools in Massachusetts and in Hokkaido can use the sister state relationship to the benefit of teachers and students.
Given today's economy and the cost of physical exchanges, the Massachusetts Hokkaido Association will explore ways of using the Internet and other technologies to bring people together. We will explore increasing the following kinds of exchanges that have proved successful via the Internet:
- Exchanges of emails between classrooms or clubs that are supervised by teachers.
- Exchanges of artwork through joint web pages or wikispace sites.
- Exchanges of DVD's about each other's schools and communities.
- Live skype calls between schools and communities.
- Exchanges of musical and dance performances through DVD's, CD's and youtube.
- Exchanges of anime or manga through DVD's, CD's, or youtube.
- Streaming live broadcasts of musical or other performances throught the use of American community television and the Internet.
The Massachusetts Hokkaido Association is willing to identify Massachusetts schools that would like to join in an exchange. With help from our Hokkaido counterpart, the Hokkaido Massachusetts Society in Sapporo, and friends throughout Hokkaido, we can define methods of identifying Hokkaido schools and procedures for moving forward.
Contact: Laurel Foster-Moore, Chair, Education Exchange Committee
mass.hokkaido@comcast.net