Early Childhood Education Goes Global

When Kazuko Iwatuski from Wai Wai Caravan offered to bring a group of Japanese teachers to San Francisco for an educational and cultural exchange tour, I was very excited. More than 15 years ago, I had been an English teacher in Japan where I had a wonderful 3-year experience and many great memories of the Japanese people I had met.

Since returning to the United States, I had begun a family, opened a small preschool, and had finished my Master's Degree in Early Childhood Education. I was proud of my preschool, but I worried a bit as I wondered if Japanese teachers would find anything interesting in my "American Style Preschool." I explained to Kazuko in advance that there are many, many kinds of preschools in the U.S., and that like the American people, each preschool has its own unique individual style. Mostly, I hoped, that my school would provide an interesting experience for the Japanese teachers.

The teachers visited our preschool and observed the children "learning through play."
A month before the visit, the children had been learning many things about oceans and sea life, and they had learned a song in English and Japanese which we called "The Japanese Fish Song."

When the children in the outdoor play yard heard the visiting teachers speaking in Japanese, they spontaneously began to sing the song. Everyone was happily surprised! Then, two four-year-old girls pretended to be teachers, and made our Japanese guests sit down and pretend to be children for a "circle time" of songs and stories. Next, the Japanese teachers sang us a song about Koi-no-bori (colorful kites in the shape of fish, used to celebrate Children's Day in Japan), which was great, because the children had been making fish kites and wind socks to decorate our school and give to our Japanese guests. What a natural and wonderful cultural exchange!

I was pleased at what the Japanese teachers found interesting at our school: the many creative arts projects displayed around the room; our gardening projects, worm box, and growing pumpkins; the wood chips used under the outdoor play equipment; the kinds of paints we use; the way we keep the felt-pen markers from losing the caps; the recipe for play dough; and the computer games. Just like American teachers, the Japanese teachers seemed mostly interested in simple, but practical ideas that made school and learning fun for young children (and for their teachers!)

After the end of the preschool day, we held two afternoon workshops. We focused on "Creative Arts and Creative Expression," and "Computer Software for Early Childhood." My 15-year-old son, Kurt, who was studying Japanese in high school, and who loves everything about computers, helped with the workshops and showed the teachers how to try the computer games. Then the teachers asked many good questions, and "became children themselves" as they tried many creative arts projects and experimented with the computer. It was a lot of fun to see everyone drop their cautious reserve and become playful and creative like young children. When I saw the teachers "playing" around the classroom, I wasn't worried anymore!

We were thankful for the generous gifts from the visiting teachers: some great photo albums; Japanese snacks; art work from Japanese kids; Japanese books and children's music tapes; and a mobile. The next month in the preschool we set up a "learning center" at a table for children and parents to sit and look at the great photos of "Japanese Preschools." Many children and parents enjoyed looking at them together.

One day, I overheard the same two four-year-old girls turning the pages of several photo albums, shouting loudly, "Lucky, Lucky!!" as they turned each page. As I asked them to please talk a little quieter, one child told me, "But we want to go to The Japanese Preschool. Those kids are soooooo LUCKY...look, they have all this to play with!" These girls thought all of the beautiful pictures of many schools and activities were from just one "Japanese Preschool" and not from more than ten! I explained to them the photo albums were from many schools, but I don't think they believed me. They continued with their song, "lucky, lucky..." in slightly quieter voices! It made me feel "lucky" to have been part of a unique global exchange of ideas in Early Childhood Education.

One final thing, is that my son, Kurt, who was studying Japanese, but perhaps, not as diligently as he could, told me, "Now, I'm motivated Mom... now I'm ready to study Japanese, and do my Japanese homework much better!" So I am thankful again, for many reasons, for a wonderful cultural exchange with the teachers through Wai Wai Caravan!