High School Teacher to Travel to Japan

Newbury Park High School teacher Peggy Walker’s biggest challenge in preparing for her trip to Japan was not the cultural differences or the language barrier.

It was getting business cards.

“It’s been the hardest thing to do,” said Walker, who was scheduled to leave last Saturday for a 12-day trip overseas. Walker could not find a single print shop in the Conejo Valley able to typeset Japanese characters.

She eventually found someone who could write them in Japanese.

“I want business cards that are Japanese,” she said. “They are one of the customs in Japan. They trade business cards.”

Since April, Walker has been reading travel books and listening to language tapes to prepare for a trip sponsored by Toyota.

She was one of 50 teachers nationwide selected to travel to Japan to learn about the country and its people and then share the experience with her students.

Toyota Motor Sales USA Inc. picked teachers from the four states in which it operates plants: California, Indiana, West Virginia and Kentucky.

“By having kind of a creative learning environment, teachers will have just a little more depth than the average tourist. That’s our goal,” said Toyota spokeswoman Rhonda Glasscock.

The group will visit high schools, museums and shrines in and around Tokyo. They are due back June 30.

When Walker returns, she said, she’ll not only have photos and souvenirs but also a new lesson plan for her social science classes.

“I teach European history,” she said. “I love that. But I would love to teach a little bit in my class outside of the European emphasis.”