Emma Narvaez
From October 19th to October 21st, seven Saint Maur IB scientists (Erin, Xingyang, Hanako, Chengkai, Heesoo, Sarah, Iori (G11)) participated in a science immersion camp at Yokohama Science Frontier High School. YSFHS is a Japanese school that specializes in utilizing the knowledge of advanced sciences. The seven students were able to experience learning at YSFHS alongside Japanese students. Additionally, from November 9th to November 11th, YSFHS students visited Saint Maur and were guided by the corresponding students who visited YSFHS.
This science immersion camp offered both Saint Maur and YSFHS students an opportunity to immerse themselves in the culture of their respective host schools. I interviewed Rina from YSFHS and Hanako (G11), her guide, to hear about their experiences learning in an environment unique to what they’re accustomed to.
Hanako wanted to sign up for this program “…partially because I wanted to interact with people outside of this school and since I’m Japanese I thought I would be fine. And another reason was that I heard that scientists would come so I thought it would be nice if I came to hear their lectures.” Furthermore, Rina said she decided to participate in this program “..because I’m interested in international schooling and because of COVID-19, we usually can’t study abroad these days so this is a good opportunity for me.”
Hanako explained her experience at YSFHS to be quite different compared to her typical schooling at Saint Maur. “When I went, they were doing this three-day science program so all the subjects I had to study were science. I first studied physics and then some chemistry and bio. All the teachers had a PhD and they talked to me about what they do personally. The way they teach is pretty different from how we get taught and their school was a lot different from ours. They had a lot more classrooms and five labs and each lab was for different studies so it was interesting.” Rina, who had just begun the program, also found Saint Maur’s teaching style to be different from what she was used to. She had taken a class about functions with Mr. Ito and stated “…at first I couldn’t understand what the teacher was saying, but I was able to understand it later. The lecture was a lot easier to understand than the Japanese one. The one-to-one, many-to-one, one-to-many, many-to-many uses shorter words than the Japanese way.”
Another major difference Hanako found between YSFHS and Saint Maur was that “…their school really focuses on science so it’s very science-based and they have more labs than us that are also really big. Also, their lunch was different from the lunch we have here because it’s cheaper and you’re able to choose between different menus.” Rina also explained, “I didn’t know the concept of recess time so I was surprised that school started earlier. I usually start school at 8:30 and lunchtime starts at 12:30 so I was hungry before lunch break yesterday.”
Although it may seem like we live in a completely different world compared to Japanese students, Saint Maur has actually formed strong relationships with neighboring schools that we can all benefit from. These relationships give us the chance to relate to students that were brought up differently to us and provide a sense of unity throughout Japan. Throughout this immersion camp, students were able to gain new friends, knowledge, and perspective on a different schooling life.
Emma Narvaez