U.S.A. | U.S.A. (in Japanese)
First response letters from Tekinan junior high students
To reflect more of their personality, the students wrote these messages in Japanese and then the AET (Assistant English Teacher) helped translate them into English.
Dear Mai and Chue,
Hello!
Our names are Chiharu and Miki. We are very good friends. We live in Yamanashi-ken, the prefecture next to Tokyo, but it is COUNTRY!
High school girls were loose socks and short skirts. We think think those girls are strange! But that kind of fashion is popular now in Japan.
Our school, Tekinan junior high, has three hundred students.
Japan is a very fun place! If you come to Japan, make sure to stop in!
Well, that's all!
Sayonara!
Dear Yeng,
Hi!
Our names are Sachiko, Sawako, Maki, and Mika. We are 13 year old girls. We go to Tekinan junior high school. Tekinan is old.
Our favorite subjects are music and English. Our homeroom classmates are very interesting.
In America or Thailand, what Japanese animation can you see?
In Japan, Alf and Snoopy are popular right now.
Do you know any Japanese actors, actresses, musicians, etc.?
If you have time, please write back!
Bye Bye!
Dear Blia,
Konnichiwa! (Hello!)
Our names are Mami, Hiromi, and Sayaka. We are very good friends! We are all 13 years old. We have fun going to Tekinan junior high school. Our school begins at 8:35 and ends at 3:30. We ride our bikes to school.
In Japan, we use HASHI (chopsticks). In America, do you use them too?
Thank you for sending us a letter. We hope to hear from you again!
Sayonara!
Dear Tony,
Our names are Takashi, Yoshifumi, and Yukimasa.
We are space police, protecting you from alien powers!
We go to Tekinan Junior High School and we are in the 8th grade.
Our school has over 300 students and about 24 teachers.
We go to school five-and-a-half-days-a-week and have the second and fourth Saturdays off. We have off every Sunday.
Our hobby is fishing.
Good-bye for now!
Dear Troa,
Our names are Shinya and Suguru.
We are great friends and we are very very crazy.
We go to Tekinan junior high school.
Suguru plays KENDO.
Soccer is Shinya's favorite sport.
Shinya: "I practice very hard, but I am not very good!"
Talk to you later!
Dear Asuka,
Our names are Kazuhiko Kato and Michihiro Ishihara.
We are basketball friends at Tekinan junior high school.
There are 36 in our class. We have a lot of fun!
We love basketball, but we do not have a boys basketball club at our school, so we have to play soccer.
Are Nike Air shoes as popular there as they are in Japan now?
Please tell us some interesting stories about your life in Chino.
Love,
Kazuhiko and Michihiro
Dear Shoua,
Our names are Yasu, Takahiro, and Ryuji.
We are students at Tekinan Junior High School.
Our school is near the mountains.
Yasu's hobby is fishing. My family also has two cats, two dogs, and many many fish.
Takahiro's hobbies are fishing and radio-controlled cars. "My favorite sport is tennis and last year, our team made to the top 40 teams of the prefecture (state).
Ryuuji's hobbies are computer games. "I also like table tennis, and last year, our team made it to the top 40 teams of the prefecture.
We have a question, "what does a 'fighting fish' look like?"
Talk to you later!
Dear Aaron,
Our names are Hideaki, Satoru, Ryuuji, and Masato.
We are good friends and we are COOL!!!!
We all play baseball and basketball. Hideaki plays guitar.
We all use computers, but not in school.
Talk to you later,
Four cool boys.
Dear Sheng,
Our names are Kazuya, Ryo, Chikahiro. We call ourselves, the Oyazi group. We are boys.
We all go to Tekinan junior high school, a very old school.
We all have black hair and we are 13 years old.
Our homeroom teacher's name is Maruyama.
We like Japan very much because there is a lot of nature here.
What do you like to do in Chico?
Talk to you later!
Dear Teng,
Hey Hey!
We are two lazy boys at Tekinan Junior High School.
We play soccer too! And we like pizza too!
We can not write English very well!
Our names are Kousuke and Tomoki.
Please tell us about Tailand and we will tell you about Japan.
What do you want to know?
Sayonara!
Dear May and Chue,
Hello!
Our names are Sayaka, Satomi, Yuuko, and Satoko. We are good friends!
We are lively and full of energy!!!
In Japan, Tamagochi is very popular. It is a small, portable key chain-sized electronic virtual pet. Do you have them in America?
We live in the COUNTRY!!!
Who is your favourite famous person or group?
Do you have a boyfiend or someone you like?
We are still looking!
Talk to you later!
Dear Mai,
Hello!
Our names are Shun and Takayiki. We are good friends. We live in Yamanashi prefecture in Japan. We love sports, especially basketball. But at our school, we do not have a boys' basketball club, so we have to play volleyball and soccer.
People in Japan are crazy about Nike Air Max shoes!!!! How about America?
Please teach us some Hmong language. We will try to teach you some Japanese too. What do you want to learn?
Sayonara!
Dear Tirath,
Hello!
Our names are Hiromi and Minami. We are 13 years old. We are very good friends!
Our favorite class is music. P.E. is so,so. We like pizza too, but our favorite food is chocolate parfet ice cream.
Please tell us about India and why you moved to America. We will tell you about Japan. What do you want to know?
Sayonara!
Dear Key Pal HI! Waz up there, my name is Mee Lor I'm a girl. How old are you? What school did you go to? How many sister or brother did you have? Whats your name? What grad are you in? I'm in 7th grade. I like to eat pizza, What kinds of food do you like to eat?
dear key pal; hi!my name is Aaron Rodriguez. I'm goin to tell you a but my birthday when I was 10 years old my family was busy moving to my new home bat I did't hape my family because I was mad that's all by;Aaron rodriguez
Hi, My name is Yer Moua. I like to go to school and learn the thing I like to learn. My favorite class is Science and E.S.L. My favorite teacher is Mr.Nash and Miss.Ferguson. My hobbies are playing sport like baseketball.Do you like to go to school? who are your favorite tearher and class? What are your hobbie? How many people are in your family? I have like 9 people that in my family. When are your birthday? I were born in December 7, 1983. My birthday is a not good because I didn't celebrate my birthday for 3 years long ago. I'm just 13 year old. How old are you? Well, I running out of words so see you on the next E-mial letter.
Dear Key pal: Hi! my name is Fadi Dabbous. I'm going to tell you about my best birthday. When I was 10 years old my family was busy moving to our new house. they did'nt have time for my birthday. I was sad, and bord. At night time I was getting ready to go to sleep. I herd a knock on the door, so I went to see who it was. I looked through the peep hole, and I saw all of my cousins carrying a cake and presents. I opend the door and my cousins screamed "happy birthday". So we ate cake, and then they slept over at our house. That was the best birthday party I have ever had. That's it for now.
Hi my name is Miguel, and I'm going to tell you about a special day in my life. I'm going to tell you about when I first got to Miss Ferguson's class. I was goofing off, doing "La Macarena." If you don't know, it is a dance and they did it at a baseball field in Seattle. Anyway, I was dancing in front of the class, and all the students laughed. I think Miss Ferguson wanted to join in. I got sent to Miss Ferguson's history class because I didn't start school on the first day, like everybody else. I started on the second day of school. It was a really fun day...I got to sing a song with the other students that goes like this,"Ugh! Ungowa! Explorer's got the power!" It was a cheer for our Team, called the Explorers. My history teacher, math teacher, and science teacher all work together as a team. But my first day was also boring...because I had to sit in class all day, and had to listen to teachers talk about things that didn't seem important. How was your first day at school? Please write me back!!! Miguel
Chico, California (September--October exchange letters) Second response letters from Tekinan junior high students
(Yeng Lor)
Dear Yeng,
Over the summer vacation, Masahiro ("Maaki") rode a train.
Yoshihito ("Yo-chan") went to a movie.
What is the biggest difference between Thailand and American
customs?@ We still want to try some Thai cooking.
We went to a movie over the summer vaction.
It was "Lost World."@ We were scared!
American movies are full of action and fun!
What movies are popular in America now?
In Japan, "Contact" is popular.
Yuuta, Toshiki, and Tatuji
(Fadi Dabbous)
Dear Fadi,
We played the whole summer vacation.
That's why we had a lot of homework at the end of the vacation.
It was very difficult to finish the assignments.
Aiko went to Fujihihighland Amusment Park and rode the fastest rolercoaster,
"Fuji-yama", in the world!
Risa went to the ocean and go sunburnt!
Her skin was blistered and it hurt!
It was very fun!
Sayonara
(Fadi Dabbous)
Dear Fadi,
Our names are Kouji ("Peko") and Masaki ("Maaki")
We went to Ichikawadaimon fireworks by bicycle.
We bought juice on the way home.
Do you play computer games?
Peko spent over 100 dollars on games!
Each time costs about one dollar.
Bye!
(Sheng Vue)
Dear Sheng,
We love video games!
We also like role-playing games. We chose roles and then fight each other.
"Final Fantasy" and "Street Fighter" are good ones!
Do you play games like these?
If you do, what kind of games do you play?
Yoshizumi, Atsushil and Tomoki
Hello,
We are eighth grade girls.
These days, we had our school sports and culture festival.
On the first day we did our sports events and on the second day we did our plays.
On the sports day, our seniors were scary but we had a good time.
On stage, we did plays and sang songs and had a good time.
What do you do at your school?
Ai, Miyuki, and Ayumi
Hello,
We are Kazumi and Kotoe.
We are in the tennis club.
On Sunday, we have club practice and we are very busy.
What do you do on Sunday?
In September we are very busy preparing for the sports and culture festival.
Do you have something like that at your school?
We are waiting for you letter!
Sayonara
Nice to meet you!
We are Tekinan Junior High School eighth graders.
Our names are Kayoko and Aya.
At our school we have a sports and culture festival at our school on September 12th and
13th.
At Tekinan, we call our festival the Souyousai (the Mulberry leave festival).
Do you have a culture festival at your school?
On holidays, we go shopping with our friends. We buy clothes!
What kind of fashion is popular there now?
We love clothes!
It is fall now and we are thinking about buying a long coat.
What kind of clothes do you want this fall?
Well, Sayonara!
Please send us a letter!