Principal Scores Fulbright Trip to Tokyo

Kathy Oshima George is the principal of an elementary school where Japanese is taught to every student from kindergarten through sixth grade.

But when students see George on campus at Concordia Elementary, they greet her in English, the only language she speaks.

The third-generation Japanese American is scrambling now to learn a bit of her ancestors’ language before leaving for Tokyo next month for a three-week program sponsored by the Fulbright Memorial Fund Teacher Program.

She has been sitting in on Japanese classes at school, but she inevitably is called back to the office on business, so her progress has been slow.

“I can keep up with the third-graders, but I have to pay attention,” George said this week as she walked from a first-grade class where students were practicing Japanese.

Principal at Concordia since 1992, George was selected from 2,000 applicants for the Fulbright program. She is the only Orange County educator chosen and one of only six from California.

The three-week session for primary and secondary educators is part of a program launched this year by the Japanese government to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the U.S. Fulbright scholarships, which support exchanges of teachers and scholarships internationally.

The goal is to bring together U.S. and Japanese educators to forge cultural and business ties.

“I hope I will be able to bring depth and resources for schoolwide programs,” George said, “so our children will be geared for the future.”

Concordia teaches all 740 of its students the Japanese language and culture. The program is funded by a grant to provide foreign language instruction to elementary students.

James Fleming, superintendent of Capistrano Unified School District, which includes Concordia, said offering Japanese as an alternative to French or Spanish makes sense as students prepare for careers that may involve them in business transactions in Asia.

“Thanks to Kathy, there’s been some talk among principals about looking at Chinese languages,” Fleming said of George, whom he commended for winning “a major honor. . . . Our whole district benefits.”

George said she is counting on advice from colleagues who have taught in Japan so she can avoid cultural faux pas, such as bowing too low.

Bonnie Hamm, who teaches Japanese for Capistrano Unified, worked in Japan for 13 years and explained to George that the correct way to bow is generally at a 45-degree angle.

“She’s not going to need to go to 90 degrees,” Hamm said, “unless she meets the emperor.”