JAPANESE STUDENTS TO GET TASTE OF AMERICA VIA PERRYVILLE

PERRYVILLE -- Fourteen Japanese high school students will get a taste of American culture Perry County-style when they arrive for a week-long stay today.

The students, accompanied by two academic advisers from Suijo High School in Mito City, Japan, will stay with host families from the Perryville School District through March 23. The purpose of the trip is to improve their English-speaking skills and gain a better understanding of American culture.

"They want interaction with American students, with American families," said elementary school teacher Janet Seibel, who is coordinating the visit with her husband, middle school band instructor Eric Seibel. "They want to learn English and more about the American culture, and we can learn about their culture, also."

This is the 11th year Suijo students have visited Perryville. The trip is planned annually in March following the end of the private high school's school year. A group of Perryville students will visit Suijo school in June.

Both visits are partially underwritten by TG Missouri Corporation, a Japanese-based maker of automotive parts that operates a factory in Perryville.

Janet Seibel said the Japanese students arrived in Cape Girardeau Saturday for a brief stay at Southeast Missouri State University. While there, they participated in the university's Intensive English Program for last-minute instruction on English.

She said the extra instruction will prepare the students for something other than the traditional English they have been taught back home.

"What they learn in Japan is a more formal English; it is not conversational English" Seibel said. "When we visited there we looked at their textbooks and told them we don't talk about that."

She said the students may be somewhat confused by the dialect and the slang used in Perryville, but that would be the case wherever they visited.

"I think the culture would be the same but the language might be a little different," Seibel said. I would say overall the interaction is good, and once the kids get here, the Perryville students just love them."

The stay in Perry County will feature a number of classroom presentations to share Japanese culture with elementary, middle school and high school students, and a number of field trips to local historical and cultural sites, including the Faherty House, Saxon Memorial and Altenburg Museum.

Students will take in several St. Louis sites next week, including the International Bowling Museum, Busch Stadium and a St. Louis Symphony concert. They'll also enjoy an American cooking class and lunch at Planet Hollywood.

"We're having hamburgers and pizza because that's American food," Seibel said.

If all goes well, the Japanese students will leave Perryville with a better grasp of English, but they'll also have made some strong friendships. In the past, Seibel said students have grown quite attached to each other.

"I think they're teenagers and can share so much. So many things are the same," she said. " There are a lot of tears that are shed when it's time to leave. They become very close."