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Latrobe welcomes Takasago students at weekend

Latrobe City families hosted twelve Japanese students from the City of Takasago last weekend

By Latrobe City Council - 8th August 2001 - Back to News

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Latrobe City families hosted twelve Japanese students from the City of Takasago last weekend as part of the Student Visit Program between the two cities.

The students were welcomed at a lunch time reception on Friday by Latrobe City Deputy Mayor, Cr Tony Hanning, and were introduced to and greeted by their host families.

Cr Hanning said it was the eighth student visit from Takasago and the bonds between the two sister cities had once again been strengthened.

"The children are an absolute credit to their families their schools and their municipality, and it has partly been through the strength of this Program that we have been able to build a strong and beneficial relationship with the City of Takasago," Cr Hanning said.

"Each of the Japanese children spoke publicly about themselves their families and their experiences, no mean task when you consider they were addressing a crowd of fifty or so Councillors, host families and guests. Their standard of English was very good and I’m sure our own young people take great pleasure in learning and speaking Japanese at a similar high standard.

"Learning and being able to speak another language is an enormous asset and advantage for students in this day and age. While lessons learned in the classroom are essential and useful, there is nothing as beneficial as being able to converse with native speakers of the language to hone skills. Latrobe’s young people are very fortunate to be able to benefit from these two-way sister city friendships. It provides them with a distinct advantage over students from other areas in an increasingly competitive employment market," Cr Hanning added.

The Takasago student guests and host-family students spent Friday afternoon at the Moe Newborough Sports Centre prior to dispersing to their host families for the weekend. The Takasago City Officers accompanying the students for the first time, Nakashima-san, Manager International Relations, Matstumoto-san, and tour conductor Ms Teramoto, were hosted by members of Council’s International Relations Committee.

The next student exchange takes place in September when students from five Latrobe Valley schools travel to Takasago for a two-week visit.


Source: www.gippsland.com

Published by: latrobecity@gippslander.com



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