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The Honolulu Advertiser

Posted on: Friday, February 15, 2002

'Aina Haina Elementary cancels Japan trip

By Suzanne Roig
Advertiser East Honolulu Writer

Junko Agena teaches Japanese language to 'Aina Haina's students, including Jordan Do and Reed Okamoto. The school recently decided to cancel the trip to Japan that some of the students were to take in June.

Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser

'AINA HAINA — What would have been a unique, real-life experience for sixth-graders culminating three years of Japanese instruction has been canceled because of safety concerns stemming from the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

The 'Aina Haina Elementary School students were supposed to go to Japan in June but, with the attacks still fresh in parents' minds, school officials canceled the extended field trip.

Before the terrorist attacks in Washington, D.C., and New York City, 29 students and their teacher-chaperons were committed to going to Japan as part of the school's second-language instruction. They had planned to spend time in Japan to learn the culture firsthand and to use their language skills. By the end of the 10-day trip they were going to stay with the families of students at Gamo-Minami, an elementary school in Koshigaya, Japan, said Junko Agena, an 'Aina Haina instructor.

But after Sept. 11, the number of students and chaperons planning to go dwindled to about 20, Agena said.

For years Agena had taught Japanese language and culture once a week to children ranging from kindergartners through sixth-graders. Then several years ago, she got the brainstorm to try for federal grant money to expand the program and model it after part-time immersion programs at schools in Portland, Ore.

Starting three years ago, the grant allowed her to teach the school's 390 students twice a week, open a resource center and set up teacher-training workshops.

The trip to Japan was the goal of the program, and the students had been looking forward to it for almost two years, Agena said.

"We had it all planned," Agena said. "We even had state Department of Education approval. Our fund raising was all planned out. Then we entered a war."

Agena and principal Leatrice Chee contemplated the options and tried to figure out how to still make the trip. But, in the end, after surveying parents, they decided to cancel it.

Joanne Do said her son Jordan was disappointed, but she was relieved.

"It was far away to go for a long time," Do said. "It's too bad, but with the circumstances the way they are, it was for the best."

Both of Do's children have had Japanese language instruction, she said. The classes are more than just language instruction; they're about the culture and how language is put together.

"The class really helps my son understand how language is formed," she said. "I am Japanese and my husband is Korean. It's a good skill for him (Jordan) to have, especially in Hawai'i."

At 'Aina Haina, students will continue to learn Japanese through songs, poems, stories and activities.

It is uncertain whether the expanded Japanese program can continue, though. The federal grant money has run out, but school officials are looking into ways to continue financing the program with state money or parent-raised money, Chee said.

"It would be a loss for our children and the state if we weren't able to offer this program," Chee said.

"This program is for all our students, regular and special ed.

"We have found that students taking foreign language do better academically."

Reach Suzanne Roig at sroig@honoluluadvertiser.com or 395-8831.