Joyce at the Japanese School of Guam

This past week Joyce just finished another semester of teaching at the Japanese School of Guam. The school is run by the Japanese government and is for Japanese citizens living on the island of Guam. Their kids are able to follow a Japanese curriculum and schedule so that they will be tracking with the students in their homeland when they return to Japan. Joyce has been teaching English to 1st through 8th graders there for the past two years and enjoys working there very much. Friday there was an end of the year celebration and farewell party for the teachers who will be returning to Japan. This year most of the Japanese teachers are leaving including the principal so Joyce will have a new boss there next school year (which begins in May).

One interesting thing that happened this semester was a visit of several professional athletes to the school, including an Olympic gold medalist in judo, a race car driver and members of the Osaka Tigers baseball team. Several Japanese professional baseball teams have used Guam as a "spring training" venue over the last few years. Guam has a beautiful, modern sports complex up at the Leo Palace which is used by Japanese soccer teams as well as baseball teams. We went up there when the Osaka Tigers were there and watched a little bit of their workouts. Our PIU staff likes to go up to Leo Palace to go bowling or sing karaoke. In the picture above the students are greeting the players. And then, a kid's dream, they got to play catch with the pro baseball players.

Joyce enjoys the opportunity to be out in the community and has been able to do many fun and interesting things through her connection to the Japanese school. She will enjoy her Spring Break and plans to return there in May.