Bob Hope Elementary School teachers Sara Wood, center, and MacKenzie Eskins, right, thank Japanese sixth-graders for their presentations at Shimashi Elementary School in Ginowan city, Okinawa, on Jan. 29, 2025. (Brian McElhiney/Stars and Stripes)
GINOWAN CITY, Okinawa — Teachers from a Defense Department school sampled Okinawa delicacies and explored Japanese teaching methods during a recent visit to a local elementary school.
English-speaking students at Shimashi Elementary led Wednesday’s tour for 10 fourth- and fifth-grade teachers from Bob Hope Elementary at Kadena Air Base.
The visit reciprocated a similar trip to Bob Hope in October by nine Japanese teachers from Ginowan schools.
The American teachers spent an hour Wednesday morning listening to presentations in English from Shimashi’s sixth-graders.
“It was all about Okinawan food and culture, things to do, and we got to give them feedback in English,” said Bob Hope fourth-grade teacher Sara Wood.
Bob Hope Elementary School teacher Sara Wood listens to a presentation on Okinawan culture by sixth-grade students at Shimashi Elementary School in Ginowan city, Okinawa, on Jan. 29, 2025. (Brian McElhiney/Stars and Stripes)
In October, teachers from eight Ginowan elementary schools learned how Department of Defense Education Activity educators use co-teaching models to plan and coordinate lessons before delivering them together in the classroom. Those nine teachers were also present at Shimashi on Wednesday.
Sakura Abe, a language teacher at Oyama Elementary, said she has tried to implement some of the co-teaching methods taught by Bob Hope educators in October.
“We from now on want to try to co-teach, but always the teachers [say], ‘Oh, we’re going to be busy,’ so that’s why we don’t have the planning,” she said.
Wood helped spearhead the exchanges along with Bob Hope Principal Kristopher Kwiatek and Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She noted similarities between her school and Shimashi, which was built in 1982 and features open classrooms like Bob Hope’s.
“You can tell that, I think, the co-teaching has happened because the presentations are similar and they’re all doing similar things, at least from what we’ve been able to be a part of in the classrooms,” she said.
Bob Hope Elementary School teacher Amy Russell listens to a sushi presentation by sixth-graders at Shimashi Elementary School in Ginowan city, Okinawa, on Jan. 29, 2025. (Brian McElhiney/Stars and Stripes)
Between presentations on sushi and delicacies like an Okinawan doughnut called sata andagi, Bob Hope fourth-grade teacher Amy Russell said she was impressed with the Okinawan students’ English abilities and organizational skills.
Other presentations focused on Japanese holidays, Okinawan glassmaking and other cultural touchstones.
“It’s been fabulous and really interesting to hear and see what different types of curriculum they have and the way they set up their classrooms,” Russell said.
Wood said she hopes to implement in her classroom some of the peer feedback she saw the Japanese students giving each other.
“Kids were looking at artwork at one position and they were giving feedback on a computer screen,” she said. “I’m not sure if it was shared or not, but that concept of sharing and circling through lots of different artwork and giving your feedback on it is something that I want to continue to grow in my classroom.”
Bob Hope Elementary School teacher MacKenzie Eskins gives presentation feedback to a Japanese sixth-grader at Shimashi Elementary School in Okinawa on Jan. 29, 2025. (Brian McElhiney/Stars and Stripes)
