Junior high school students convey messages for peace to 40 ambassadors in English
Aug. 6, 2016
by Riho Masuda, Staff Writer
“A chain of smiles creates peace.” “The word ‘thank you’ changes the world.” On August 5 at a hotel in Naka Ward, 20 third-year junior high school students from Hiroshima conveyed their messages for peace to the ambassadors of some 40 countries to Japan who have come to the city to take part in the annual Peace Memorial Ceremony on August 6. The event, part of a program organized by the city’s board of education, enabled young people in Hiroshima to share messages with the ambassadors that have been shaped by their own life experiences.
Yuzu Nakamori, 14, a student at Hiroshima Municipal Hiroshima Secondary School in Asakita Ward, spoke with the ambassador of Tonga. Based on her experience guiding American high school students on visits to Hiroshima, she said to the ambassador, “Our mission is to widen our perspectives and work together with people from different cultures and practices.”
The students each conveyed their messages to their assigned ambassadors. The ambassadors listened to the students carefully, smiled as they shook their hands, and gave them hugs.
Sakura Maruoka, 14, a student at Yasunishi Junior High School student in Asaminami Ward, talked with the ambassadors of Jamaica and Tanzania. She said, “Through this project, I began to think about what I can do for peace.”
Seeking to strengthen the awareness of peace and the English skill of junior high school students, Hiroshima’s board of education gave assignments to the students at all 77 junior high schools in the city, such as writing an essay, then selected 20 students. These 20 students listened to the A-bomb experiences of survivors and received other types of training five times from April to July. On August 6, the day Hiroshima was attacked with the atomic bomb 71 years ago, the students are set to offer handouts of their messages to visitors at the Peace Memorial Park in Naka Ward.
(Originally published on August 6, 2016)
“A chain of smiles creates peace.” “The word ‘thank you’ changes the world.” On August 5 at a hotel in Naka Ward, 20 third-year junior high school students from Hiroshima conveyed their messages for peace to the ambassadors of some 40 countries to Japan who have come to the city to take part in the annual Peace Memorial Ceremony on August 6. The event, part of a program organized by the city’s board of education, enabled young people in Hiroshima to share messages with the ambassadors that have been shaped by their own life experiences.
Yuzu Nakamori, 14, a student at Hiroshima Municipal Hiroshima Secondary School in Asakita Ward, spoke with the ambassador of Tonga. Based on her experience guiding American high school students on visits to Hiroshima, she said to the ambassador, “Our mission is to widen our perspectives and work together with people from different cultures and practices.”
The students each conveyed their messages to their assigned ambassadors. The ambassadors listened to the students carefully, smiled as they shook their hands, and gave them hugs.
Sakura Maruoka, 14, a student at Yasunishi Junior High School student in Asaminami Ward, talked with the ambassadors of Jamaica and Tanzania. She said, “Through this project, I began to think about what I can do for peace.”
Seeking to strengthen the awareness of peace and the English skill of junior high school students, Hiroshima’s board of education gave assignments to the students at all 77 junior high schools in the city, such as writing an essay, then selected 20 students. These 20 students listened to the A-bomb experiences of survivors and received other types of training five times from April to July. On August 6, the day Hiroshima was attacked with the atomic bomb 71 years ago, the students are set to offer handouts of their messages to visitors at the Peace Memorial Park in Naka Ward.
(Originally published on August 6, 2016)
