All Saints welcomes Japanese friends
Published on: Tuesday, August 02, 2011
Kota Kinabalu: SM All Saints on Monday welcomed four students from its sister school, Arima Senior High School of Japan, as part of their Global Generation Programme.The programme aims to provide an international linkage so that the nation's youths may widen their views through these student exchange programmes."In years to come, we hope to expand these social visits to other areas of collaboration, which may include technical and cultural exchanges," All Saints School Board of Management Chairman, Joseph Wong, said at the welcoming assembly here.
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He hoped the students would be able to experience, learn about the country and culture and also enjoy the hospitality during their short visit. Principal Tiong Ai Ping said the programme has continued to be conducted once every two years since its inception in 2005 except in 2009 because of the H1N1 outbreak."Our school has specially put together some programmes for our Japanese friends this week, and I believe there is a lot for us to learn from each other and exchange our views on our culture and school system," she said.Meanwhile, Parents-Teachers Association President, Dr Elizabeth Emmanuel, said the benefits received by the school and students in widening their knowledge and exposure to another culture were tremendous.
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"The association has fully supported the programme since the beginning through sponsoring a teacher to escort the students during their travel abroad," she said.Emmanuel added that this year the PTA would partly sponsor half the flight ticket for a deserving student, Sandra Ann Jerry.
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Also present during the assembly were Arima High School Principal, Adachi Nobutaka, and Arima High School Head of International Section, Takaai Masahiko.In 2005, SM All Saints participated and collaborated in the Exchange Programme facilitated by the Institute for Tropical Biology and Conservation, Universiti Malaysia Sabah and the school was appointed as the sister school of Arima High School, Hyogo, Japan.For this year's programme, the four students from Arima Senior High School are Motomatsu Asuka, 15, Shigematsu Mio, 15, Onishi Riho, 16, and Tanaka Chiaki, 16.The Japanese students arrived in the State on July 29 and will leave on Aug 5.During the weekend, they were brought along by their foster families to visit the Lok Kawi Wildlife Park and also experience the Gaya Street Fair.The students are scheduled to have lessons and activities during the week, namely, Arts and Crafts, Bahasa Malaysia, English and Living Skills, with a day trip to Kinabalu National Park in the books.The school's PTA sponsored a total of RM7,000 to host the guests here and part of the trip for a teacher and students to Japan.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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