On Jan. 19, five Japanese delegates arrived at Bonita Vista High (BVH) with the direction of the EduAbroad program. The program, based in San Diego, partnered up with BVH to receive and host the Japanese foreign exchange students. As per EduAbroad’s mission statement, they “believe that every [foreign] student should have the opportunity to reach their educational goals and dreams.” Through EduAbroad, foreign exchange students are granted the chance to broaden their horizons by achieving a diverse educational experience. 

Unfortunately, the organization of the program was not the smoothest of roads. Initially, English 9 Accelerated Global Scholars teacher Gina Vattuone found out about BVH hosting the delegates a couple weeks prior to entering Winter Break, and the school expected them to arrive the week students returned. However, due to the rapid surge of Omicron cases, the arrival for the Japanese delegates’ was delayed by a week. She also worried that because of masks covering students’ mouths, it would be more difficult for the foreign exchange students to understand our speech. 

“I think the issue with COVID is the uncertainty. I want them [Japanese delegates] to feel like this is a safe experience. I’m sure it’s challenging for them [to understand our speech because they cannot see our mouths],” Vattuone said. “The students [Japanese delegates] are a little bit more shy [because] it is an overwhelming experience , but [it becomes] harder to hear them sometimes with the mask.”

According to Vattuone, the Japanese delegates are expected to stay for approximately nine weeks. Mar. 18 marks the final day the Japanese delegates will spend at BVH.

“The students are here all day long. They’re not enrolled in school [or] get school credit. [Being a foreign exchange student is] more of [a] social experience [to] practice English [while] they are here,” Vattuone said.  

In order for the Japanese delegates to have students available to host them, Vattuone emailed her freshman Global Scholars students presenting them with the opportunity to become a host. During this process, Vattuone explained what the program entailed and then made a list of interested students. Furthermore, she analyzed her student’s character to see if they had the qualities Vattuone was looking for to determine whether or not they would be a fitting candidate. 

“[The] number one good quality [Vattuone looks for] is somebody who is on time and attending school regularly, [who also] shows empathy, patience [and] curiosity about other cultures. I also looked at… if they had a similar interest as one of their students or personalities,” Vattuone said. “But mostly somebody who is social. [I] even think about [if] they [BVH host student] have a group of friends that I know they’ll get to meet and sit [with] together.” 

In comparison to the rotation system done with the Chinese exchange students two years ago, each BVH host student will only accompany their Japanese delegate for three weeks. In those three weeks, the foreign exchange students follow their host student to each of their classes throughout the day. During this time, the Japanese delegates are given the classwork to follow along with. After three weeks, the Japanese delegates are then rotated towards another BVH student that will host them for another consecutive three week period.

“It’s one of those enriching things for all parties involved. I know from a few years past when we had the Chinese delegates students reported back that [it] was one of the highlights of their year. Some of them are even keeping in touch to this day with their Chinese delegates,” Vattuone said.

Global Scholar and freshman Tatiana Matthews was chosen to host the Japanese Delegate and freshman Riko Hosokawa from Jan. 19 to Feb. 4. Since Matthews applied to become a host thereby acknowledging the time commitment, she went on to explain why she decided to become a host for a Japanese delegate. 

“I tried to put myself in their shoes. If I went to another place I know I would want to be welcomed, so I wanted to be welcoming to people [Japanese Delegates],” Matthews said. 

Since Matthews and Hosokawa spend the entire day together, they have opportunities to discuss and chat with each other. Within these past two weeks, Matthews learned a lot about Hosokawa interests. If it was not for this time together, Matthews would not know of Hosokawa’s admiration for athletics.

“I learned about her hobbies and what she likes to do when she has free time. She likes sports like basketball [and] she likes to swim,” Matthews said

Overall, the opportunity for BVH to receive Japanese delegates, has been a “good experience” for Matthews as she recognized that not all people have the chance to host a foreign exchange student. On the other hand, the experience for Hosokawa was entirely different. 

Due to language barriers, Hosokawa’s responses were recorded with the assistance of Google Translate.

“[Spending time with students at BVH is very unique because] I can have many experiences that I can’t experience in Japan,” Hosokawa said. “[Now] I know a lot about different cultures. [Compared to Japan, there is more] time to discuss during class.”

Despite the challenges, Vattuone’s hopes for the program goes beyond being restricted to having students from other countries coming to our school. Instead, she would like to have BVH students partake in being a foreign exchange student themselves. 

“It would be interesting for Bonita to pursue a partnership with a [foreign] school, whether it’s in Japan or somewhere else where there’s a cross cultural exchange where our students get to go and have an experience. [I also hope that] Bonita [continues] to be a place that’s known for welcoming students from around the world,” Vattuone said.