Date: October 7, 2004
Contact: Irene Cromer
703-791-8720

WESTRIDGE ELEMENTARY TEACHER PACKS FOR JAPAN

Vicki Fornasar, third-grade teacher and team leader at Westridge Elementary School, will depart for Tokyo, Japan as a participant in the Fulbright Memorial Fund (FMF) Teacher Program. Fornasar is one of 200 primary and secondary educators in the U.S. selected from a national pool of over 2,000 applicants to travel to Japan in November for three weeks to promote greater intercultural understanding between the two nations.

While in Tokyo, the teachers will receive a practical orientation on Japanese life and culture and meet with Japanese government officials and educators. They will travel in groups of 20 to prefectures (states) outside of Tokyo where they will meet Japanese teachers and students during visits to primary and secondary schools and a teacher’s college. In addition, the educators will visit cultural sites and local industries and stay with a Japanese family.

The Fulbright Memorial Fund Teacher Program is administered by the Japan-United States Educational Commission and is sponsored by the government of Japan. The program was launched in 1997 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the U.S. government Fulbright program, which has enabled more than 6,000 Japanese citizens to study in the U.S. on Fulbright fellowships for graduate education and research.

A total of six hundred educators from all 50 states and the District of Columbia will visit Japan this year. To date, more than 4,000 primary and secondary educators have visited Japan through the FMF Teacher Program. Upon their return, the educators share what they have learned about Japan with their students and communities through a variety of outreach projects.
Educators throughout the United States can apply to take part in one of the three trips to Japan scheduled for 2005, as guests of the Japanese government. Applications and information are available at www.iie.org/fmf, and the application deadline for all 2005 trips is December 10, 2004. Teachers and administrators of all disciplines, including art, physical education, English, history, geography, math, science, and special education, from every region of the United States, are encouraged to apply. Applicants are not required nor expected to have previous knowledge of Japanese or Japan. For more information on this program and the 2005 competition, contact the Institute of International Education in Washington, D.C. at 1-888-527-2636.

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