Home ITOSHIMA HIGH SCHOOL, Shinohara 380, Maebaru, Fukuoka, 819-1131 JAPAN
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The Purpose of our Visit

Itoshima High School's International Project

　　　Itoshima High School, which I am working for, has been trying to give its students various chances to expose themselves to international contact. It started to accept AFS year-long student in 1980. It stated dispatching students to Colorado for a three-week homestay in 1993. It also started taking the whole 11th graders to Beijing as a school trip in 1994. It makes use of the Internet and has made a mutual link contract with many schools, libraries and newspaper companies in the world such as DF Malan High in South Africa, Niobrara County School District in Wyoming, Peking University Library, the University of Guam, and Lafayette County Press in Arkansas. Itoshima has many email-exchange partner schools such as Ansan Information Technological Girls' School in Korea and ..........in the US, and takes part in several email projects such as "Email Around the World" and "Little Mermaid on World Tour".
　　　I ought to mention the fact that Itoshima High School started a mutual homestay program in 1996 with Murrieta Valley High School in Murrieta City in California, which is 30 minutes drive north of Escondido. Every summer about 20 Itoshima students visit Murrieta, and every spring about 5 MVHS students visit Itoshima. In April, 1998 when four high school students from Murrieta Valley High School visited Itoshima, one of them said that he was born in Escondido. This made me think it strange that while Itoshima High School conducts so wide a range of international program, we have no contact with any institute in our sister city, Escondido in California.

The arrangement of our visit

　　　With so little information, I called the Escondido city government, saying "I'm calling from Japan. Do you know your city has a sister city in Japan?" It was so rude of me, but that's how I got to know Judy Frye at the city government. Twenty Itoshima High School students were planning to visit Murrieta for three weeks, and I asked Judy Frye if Mr. Hollins would have time to meet some of our students while they were in California. After our visit on July 28th was arranged, I called our city mayor, who happens to be a graduate from Itoshima High School, and said that we would meet Mr. Hollins. Therefore this was not a strictly official visit representing Maebaru citizens, but not a completely private visit, either, but I hoped that our visit would start some type of new sister city relationship.. The following is a part of my report on Escondido. I appreciate it if you could give me the latest and more accurate information on Escondido City. Yamasaki.

The general view of Escondido
　　　Escondido is located in north San Diego County about 25 minutes from the coast and 45 minutes from San Diego and is intersected by Interstate 15 and Highway 78. Driving south on Interstate from Los Angels and turning east on Highway 78 through Vista and San Marcos, you will find why the city was named Escondido which means "Hidden Valley."

　　　Escondido is an active fast-growing city with almost twice as many citizens as Maebaru in a area which is a little smaller area. The San Diego Wild Animal Park in southeast Escondido is a 7 km2 wild animal preserve featuring a safari monorail and hiking trails. A 1,500 seat concert hall called The California Center for the Arts opened 5 years ago. There are three movie theaters, and a large shopping mall the North County Fair features more than 160 specialty shops, 15 restaurants and 5 major department stores such as JC Penny and Macy's. 17,900 students are studying at 21 elementary and middle schools.

Students' Visit
　　　
　　　While twenty Itoshima High School students were attending lessons at Murrieta Valley High School, on July 23rd, I drove on the Interstate 15 to Escondido city. At first I stopped at a gas station and bought a detailed map of Escondido and a local newspaper. From North County Times, I learned that Mr. Hollins had decided not to run for mayor again. It was not so difficult to get to the City Hall. I met Judy Frye there, reconfirmed our meeting with Mr. Hollins on the 28th, and learned that on Friday the city government office would be closed. This was new to Japanese. I visited the High School Union to get accountability report cards of three high schools and the Unified School District to get information about the year-round schedule. I visited Escondido High School and talked with several students on campus who were attending a Summer School, and at Orange Glenn High School I had a chance to talk with the principal, Mr. Escalante. At San Pasqual High School, I made an appointment to visit classes on the 28th. After eating at North County Fair, I drove with a bundle of information in my hand back to where our students were, Marrieta High School.
　　　On the 28th I picked up Ms. Shibata and Ms. Takeuchi, two seniors from Maebaru City, at Murrieta Valley High School at around 9 a.m. and drove south on Interstate 15 for about 30 minutes. We first visited San Pasqual High School located on Bear Valley Parkway. Then we visited the City Hall, the California Center and the North Country Fair. It was only a half day visit, but four Maebaru citizens including myself and my daughter did visit Escondido.

There are one community college called Palomar College, fifteen elementary schools, three middle schools and three comprehensive high schools in Escondido.  Elementary schools and middle schools follow a year-round schedule, but high schools-- Escondido High, Orange Glenn High, and San Pasqual High--follow the traditional calendar and when we visited they had no school but only Summer School. We visited San Pasqual.Guided by the principal Mr. Steve Spraker and the coming vice principal Ms. Trish Dolan, we observed two classes in summer session: computer class and chemistry class. We described what Itoshima High School is like, showing our yearbook. We talked about the possibility of computer contact through E-mail with Mr. Frank Vannest the teacher of Computer Applications class.	Ms. Shibata, Ms. Takeuchi, Manna and I in front of San Pasqual High School
Ms. Takeuchi, Mr. Hollins, Ms. Shibata in the mayor's office in the City Hall	We drove back downtown to meet the city mayor. At 11 a.m. Mr. Hollins welcomed us at the city hall. In front of the mayor office on the second floor was a lounge where presents from Maebaru city such as a Hakata doll and scrolls were exhibited. Mr. Hollins is very tall, and speaks friendly and clear English.First we gave him some presents from Mr. Haruta our city mayor. Ms. Shibata gave him a fan on which she had written a poem in Indian brush. Ms. Takeuchi presented him with a toy tiger. I gave the city library an Encyclopedia on Japan. In return Mr. Hollins gave us 20 pins of Escondido city for Itoshima High School students
We were shown California Center for the Arts where a set of Hina Dolls was exhibited in the lobby. This set of dolls was presented by Mrs. Haruta, the wife of Maebaru City Mayor to Escondido City as a token of friendship. In Maebaru there is the Ito Culture Center, but the California Center is much bigger in size. We entered the city council room. The city council meeting is broadcast on cable TV here.

　　　It was such a short visit. We didn't have chances to visit recreational spots, or talk to the students, nor go around shopping. But we learned that they have a Sister City Committee consisting of about 20 members, and that they get together once every other month. Probably it is the Sister city Committee that we should contact to develop our future relationship.

Future Plan for the development of our sister city relationship
　　　The declaration of a sister city affiliation made on July 2nd in 1996 states that major emphasis will be placed on youth through:

1. Establishment of Pen Pal programs;
2. Exchange of student videos, artwork and handicrafts, etc;
3. Encouragement of visits by young people;
4. Exhibition of pictures, paintings and other arts and crafts;
5. Exhibition of special products of each city;
6. Encouragement of visit by cultural, educational, economic and administrative representatives of the cities;
7. Development of computer contact via the Internet.

　　　In the first few years, there was some exchange of pictures, paintings, and other art works between junior high school students in both cities, but after the first enthusiasm faded away, the interaction between the two cities didn't improve, partly because the two cities lie too far away from each other, and partly because the English level of Maebaru students is not good enough to keep on writing letters about themselves, and Escondido students don't learn Japanese at all. This is so different from the relationship between Maebaru and Qingpu Ward in Shanghai　and Kimhai in Korea. Not only do government and business representatives visit each other regularly, but also a group of junior high school students are dispatched to each other every other year to take part in the regular lessons and to experience homestay, although the languages between the three countries are quite different. So what can we do?

1) We should start a mutual visit program by teahcers.
　　　Pen Pal Program, Email Exchange, or Art Work Exchange would be a good way of starting a relationship between Maebaru and Escondido, but without actual interpersonal contact it is quite difficult, if not impossible, to keep the relationship going on. The reason why Maebaru in Japan and Qingpu in Shanghai and Kimhai in Korea have developed a close relationship is that those city govenments set up a budge to support the mutual homestay program, and that the teachers are involved in the exchange projects. The reason why Itoshima High School and Murrieta Valley High School keep on dispatching students to each other is that the teachers on both sides appreicate the educational values of international contact.   The first thing we should do for a lasting Maebaru and Escondido relationship is that we ought to work on both city governments to help support the exchange program of teachers. If one teacher visits the other city, he will talk about his experience in class to students newly enrolled every year.

2) We should start a program via the International Association and Sister City Committee.
　　　In Escondido they have a Sister City Committee, and in Maebaru we have an International Association. The purpose,  membership size and its range of activities may differ, but those members ought to recognize the importance and benefits of international contact. In the long run, they ought to be the appropriate people to start any type of sister city relationship including looking for host families. Just as Maebaru City Government invited Mr. Hollins to the city parade, they could invite the members of the Sister City Committee as a starter.

3) We should call on the media to inform the citizens of the sister city.
　　　The people I met at the city government, High School Union and Unified School District knew about sister city affiliation with Maebaru City, but the students, shop workers and people I met didn't recognize the word Maebaru, and I'm sure we can say the same thing of Maebaru citizens. The ordinary citizens including me are not well informed of the sister city.  In the case of Itoshima and Murrieta, the newspaper companies in both cities should write feature articles to inform the citizens of the background information of the other city and the educational values of experiencing living at home in other countries. We should build a system to keep citizens informed of their sisiter city. In the case of Maebaru, we could introduce the life in Escondido in a Monthly City Journal which is delivered to every household in Maebaru city.

4) Itoshima High School students should start visiting Escondido.
　　　Itoshima High School students visit Murrieta Valley High School every year. Itoshima High School students should take the initiative in presenting themselves to high school students in Escondido before junior high schools in both cities start mutual homestay program. Right now the problem on our side is that Itoshima High School is supervised not by Maebaru City's Board of Education, but by Fukuoka Prefectural Board of Education. Therefore, before taking our students away from our itinerary to Escondido City, we need to pass a close examination about the safety and the educational value checked by the Fukuoka Prefectural Board of Education, for example, if we have good host families, if we can hold cultural exchange meeting with students, or experience regular lessons. These are checked by Prefectural Board of Education every time we visit Yuetan Middle School in Beijing and Murrieta Valley High School in Murrieta City. If high schools in Escondido City accept Itoshima High School students in the summer time when  high schools in Escondido City are closed, keeping a traditional calendar, Fukuoka Prefectural Board of Education will give a green sign for all the participants to visit Escondido

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