For 3 Weeks, Teacher to Be Student in Japan
An Orange County teacher will visit Japan next month as one of 600 educators and school administrators from across the country chosen for the Fulbright Memorial Fund Teacher Program.
Lorraine Passero, a social studies teacher at Serra Catholic School, will leave in early October for one week in Tokyo and two weeks in the Japanese state of Toyama.
“This trip will give me a chance to teach from a solid life experience, not just from a book,” said Passero, a teacher since 1972.
The visiting teachers and administrators will take workshops on Japanese life and culture and meet with government officials, educators and students. They will visit schools, cultural sites and local industries and stay with a Japanese family for one night.
Once home, the educators are required to share what they’ve learned in their classrooms.
Passero said she plans to have her sixth- through ninth-grade students do a number of projects, including making a “peace garden” with temple bells and tulip bulbs from Toyama.
The Fulbright Memorial Fund Teacher Program was launched by the Japanese government in 1997 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Fulbright Scholarship.
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