Date: December   22, 2004
Contact: Irene Cromer
703-791-8720

BENNETT EDUCATORS SELECTED FOR JAPAN FULBRIGHT MEMORIAL
FUND AWARD

Bennett Elementary math/science enrichment teacher James Amaral, technology teacher Tracy Volz, and assistant principal Damon Cerrone have been selected to participate in the 2005 Japan Fulbright Memorial Fund (JFMF) Master Teacher Program (MTP). JFMF is a Japanese program partially established in honor of the Fulbright Award Program.

Bennett teachers and students will participate in on-line communications via internet and collaborate on a paired-project with a partner school in Japan. Students will complete on-line research and create web pages as well as participate in Japanese language lessons. The school will host two Japanese educators when they visit Prince William County and Washington, D.C., in March 2005.

Amaral will visit Japan from June 10 through July 21, 2005, to coordinate the paired-project with the Japanese school and share American culture and educational techniques with the school’s students and staff. This will be Amaral’s third trip to Japan; he participated in the Japan FMF Teacher Program in November 2000 and again, during the 2003-2004 school year.

Next year Bennett’s fourth grade students will study plants on the grounds of the school’s campus, identifying which plants are indigenous to Virginia, and create an on-site permanent plant study garden. The Japanese school will complete the same project on its campus. Students will share their findings through internet video conferencing. The Japan FMF MTP will also provide grant funds that will enable Bennett to purchase digital cameras and photograph on-site plants. The photographs will be used for information plaques for the study garden and to share information with students of its partner Japanese school.

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