Year 6 students have so many terrific opportunities - but the most amazing of the lot is the chance to travel to Tokyo in October and stay with a Japanese family and attend school there for a week. It is the excursion to end all excursions - and I love it.For four years I've accompanied a group of bright eyed and bushytailed youngsters, many on their first international travel experience. And this year's group of seven boys and girls were no exception.
We had a fabulous week of fun and learning and making new friends. The trip included visits to Seioji Temple, Asakusa, Meiji Shrine, Harajuku Street, Mirikan, and the Monster Cafe. School days consisted of Lego Mindstorms, Music, English lessons, technology, art and science as well as calligraphy classes and tea ceremony.
All children formed strong bonds with their homestay families and embarked on a few excursions of their own - DisneyLand, Tokyo Sky Tree, Tokyo Tower, and just playing with Japanese kids in the streets.I love listening to the children during the week as they reflect on their experience and recount funny and unusual stories - some want to go back to live, some are hooked on seeing the rest of the world, some have made friends for life, some have fallen in love with the food, some love the shopping, all are bug eyed at the culture and the friendliness of the people.
But the star of the show is really Vanilla, Sagami Women's University Elementary School's pet goat. She sat out on the oval during the day getting patted and munching on Autumn leave and the kids were besotted with her.
Every year there's someone who says 'Ms Sands, can we get a goat?'
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