Going Japanese at Goodfellow
By Chris Simon

Goodfellow Public School students Callan McKenna, Kelly Wong and Ellen Johnson hold up fairy tales written by their class, as part of a project with Japanese students.

Callan McKenna has new friends living on the other side of the world.

As one of 20 students attending Juanita Germaine's Grade 3 and 4 class at Goodfellow Public School in Alcona, McKenna helped collect fairy tales, toys and holiday videos that have since been shipped to children living in Japan. Those Japanese students, in turn, have shipped a basket full of that country's pop culture products and fictional work to Goodfellow, as part of an international literature project.

"We collected some objects that represent Canada and we've sent them to Japan," said McKenna, in his classroom Monday morning. "(Japanese students) did the same for us. We sent teddy bears over there, and they're going to take pictures of them at different places."

The project, called Art Miles, is run by the iEARN international education organization. It helps students understand other cultures and make friends living in other countries, said Germaine.

Japanese students sit over their painted mural of The Paperbag Princess.

Students read the fairy tales shipped from Japan, and classes choose their favourites. Each class then paints half of a mural based on their favourite stories, which will be sent for display at an international exhibition.

"It's a really great opportunity for the kids to do. The idea is to connect different cultures through education, particularly language and art," she said. "The students were doing fairy tales and it fit right into the Art Miles program. The students each wrote their own fairy tales, and get the added excitement that somebody in another country is going to have the opportunity to see these by having them posted (on a website) forum. It dares them to write a little more and get into what they're doing.

"We're giving them our fairy tales and they're giving us theirs, so we can learn about a different culture of (stories). It brings the world together when we begin to understand different cultures. You've got to start with the kids. They're the ones that are going to grow up having this experience and having a stronger understanding."

In total, five Simcoe County District School Board classes are participating in the program. That includes classes from Bradford's W.H. Day and Barrie's Terry Fox, said board representative Mali Bickley.

"There are 1,500 murals travelling right now," she said, noting the mural will also be used in a display that will be wrapped around the pyramids in Egypt in 2010. "The kids do incredible work because they know it'll be in an international showcase."

Goodfellow students have already received the Japanese half of the mural, and will be painting the rest at the end of January. Many other items have also been shipped by Japanese students to Goodfellow. Along with the mural, they've been placed in a display in the school's front foyer. There's newspaper, collector cards and a mural for The Paperbag Princess painted by the Japanese kids, said Germaine.

"We've been able to be inspired by what they've sent back," she said. "(Students) are already talking about ideas they want to draw."

Some students say they were excited to read fairy tales from another culture.

"We get to see what people from the other side of the world do on school days," said Grade 4 student Kelly Wong.