The Broken Bay Diocese is leading the way with over 19 primary schools offering programs in languages such as Italian, Japanese, Indonesian and French.
St Mary’s Catholic School in Manly has a well-established program in Japanese, and links with the local Catholic boy’s high school, St Paul’s College. This March, the two schools collaborated to run a sushi making event for Years 4, 5 and 6. The Year 9 students of St Paul’s are in their second year of Japanese studies and were excellent role models for their St Mary’s peers.
Liberty Campbell, the Project Officer for Languages in the Diocese, spoke highly of the program being run by native speaker, Miss Kiyoka Kubo. “This is a fantastic opportunity for the students to experience the culture that accompanies the language they are studying, in a hands on activity”.
For some students such as Silvio it was the first experience of sushi. He seemed impressed and was keen to take some home to show his mother.
For others, such as Angus, sushi was an old favourite since he was 4 years old. When asked if he had ever been to Japan, Angus replied enthusiastically, “Yes, I have – I love it! I went to Tokyo, Kyoto and Nozawa onsen. We skied and I saw snow monkeys.”
Zach and Riley were also big fans of the sushi day, commenting “ It is the best thing in the world!” and “I can’t wait to make another one!”.
The smiles on the students’ faces suggested it was a lesson they were not going to forget anytime soon.