PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. — In November, Pinellas County Schools hosted an exchange teacher from Japan. It was the first teacher to return to the district as a guest since the COVID-19 pandemic.
Megumi Manabe, a junior high school English teacher from Nagano, visited five schools during her month-long stay.
Manabe had been staying with host families in Clearwater, which is Nagano, Japan's sister city, and has been since 1959.
Manabe shared her language, culture and customs with students and in K-12th grade classrooms. Pinellas teachers who’ve been part of the teacher exchange program helped organize her visit.
"Japanese students are really shy, but here, students ask lots of questions to their teachers, and that's a big difference. It was my dream to be a teacher because I met great teachers when I was a student, and my dream came true," she said during her visit to Dunedin High School.
The Nagano Board of Education selected her to represent their school system this year. Manabe hopes her visit will help inspire students to be more interested in learning more about Japan and its culture.
The last teacher from Nagano to visit Clearwater was in 2019.
Pinellas teachers and students will visit Nagano, Japan, this upcoming summer.
Dunedin High School teacher Geraldine Craven visited Japan in 2018 and visited 20 schools in the country. She said it was an incredible experience.
"I got to present my lessons to the Japanese students, and I loved the attention they gave us and their willingness to learn. They even asked for our autographs," Craven said.
