Program News

Our sister school, Kasugaoka High School visited Southwest in March, 2024! 

12 students and two teachers from our Sister School, Kasugaoka High School, from Osaka, Japan came to Minneapolis on Friday, March 1st.  They spent the weekend with their host families from Southwest visiting places like the Mall of America, the Minnesota History Center, and Lake Harriet. 

Global Classmates 2021-2024 for Japanese 4-6/IB SL and HL class!

Southwest was accepted to participate in the Global Classmates Program, and this year we are paired with a new school! The Global Classmates Program is a 6-month exchange in which students develop friendships, deepen understanding of each other’s cultures, and naturally improve their language skills through casual and fun messages in both Japanese and English (and hopefully lots of pics and videos and other fun exchange!).  

Our partner school is Takamatsu Nishi High School in Kagawa prefecture in Shikoku.  As far as I know, a group from Southwest has never been to Shikoku. I think it might be time to change that on our next Japan trip!

UPDATE: We did visit Takamatsu Nishi High School in Summer 2023 and it was amazing! It was even covered by the news in Japan.

Children's Day

Children's Day (こどもの日, Kodomo no Hi) is a Japanese national holiday which takes place annually on May 5 and is the final celebration in Golden Week. It is a day set aside to respect children's personalities and to celebrate their happiness.  Japanese class made kabuto (=Samurai Helmet) and wore it.

The 29th National Japan Bowl!

The 29th National Japan Bowl was held on April 8-9 11AM-8PM. Students from around the country participated in a digital, real-time competition over two days (18 hours). Unfortunately, I could not join the competition rooms to take pictures, but all the participants put their hard work into the quiz and conversation rounds.

Here are our participants.

Level IV — Madeline Harris-Gordon, Isaac Faith Nahmad

Level III — Kaltun Mohamed, Naomi Clifford, Samara Sturges

Level II — Charotte Johnson, Lorenz Anderson, Elijah Gudmestad

In this year's Japan Bowl Program link  you can see our seniors, Alex Nafizifer-White and Josephine Spanier on page 7. The 27th Japan Bowl sent them to Japan in July 2019. 

We had our post Japan Bowl meeting today. Here are Isaac Faith Nahmad's comments who is one of the participants: 

We had our post Japan Bowl meeting today. Here are Isaac Faith Nahmad's comments who is one of the participants: 

What I had learned from this experience is a greater insight into Japanese culture and history. A standard Japanese class is an effective way to learn the Japanese language, however, Japan Bowl requires participants to additionally have an in-depth understanding of Japanese culture and history. This encourages students to get a deeper understanding of Japanese society and, as a result, gives a greater appreciation of the language as a whole as you now know the cultural background. Overall, learning the Japanese language allows access to understand all forms of Japanese media and Japan Bowl encourages a pursuit in understanding Japanese culture. These combine to provide an appreciation for daily life and society in Japan and the context in which it developed. This greater appreciation allows me to expand my perspective to that of a global scale allowing me to better understand the differences and similarities between my culture and Japanese culture.

Haiku Award  Ceremony

Every year the emperor of Japan selects a theme for haiku poets. This year’s theme is  “Hope” as in hope, wish or desire“Go” .   Ibaraki, Minneapolis’ sister city in Japan, sponsors a haiku contest. Southwest High School was notified that they placed with eight winners in the citywide contest.

The Ceremony will take place on Sunday, April 18 starting at 2 p.m by Zoom. . The rest of the recipients are listed below. Please congratulate these talented students when you see them! 

Category C: Grades 9 – 12

1st Place:   Isaac Kruger-Reeh  Apocalypse year  A virus like a wildfire  We hope for a cure

2nd Place:   Lauren Downham Hope flies on light feathered wings   And perches on your hand

Sun shines through the clouds

3rd Place:   Ethan Edwards SLife is filled with pain  But still we all look forward  Hope will be our guide

Honorable Mention: 

Grace Lindquist     Lost and newly found  A small shimmer inside me  Spring has come again

Izak Johnson           A volley of light  Illuminates the water  But the depths are dark

Kaltun Mohamed the frozen earth cracks  out springs a single green sprout  days color with hope

Grace Lindquist Something blooms inside  A soft and tremulous light  I have hope again

Category D (Adult) : Southwest Parent / Teacher

1st Place :   Kim Kolstad Squirrels gather nuts  Still plants grow in blowing wind  Hope lies in action

2nd Place:           Liz Bartholomew   Obama's first win  I saw a future of hope  now that hope renews

Honorable Mention: 

    Sharon Hedrick The virus pokes us  The docs will make a vaccine  They will poke us too

    Liz Bartholomew Icicles dripping  I unzip my heavy coat  The sun gives me hope

    Elizabeth Bartholomew Gazing around us–  Countless problems need fixing.  Time to get busy!

 J-Quiz 2021 - Now heading National Japan Bowl!

On Saturday, February 20th,  Japanese students participated in the Digital J-Quiz.  Now eight students are heading to the Digital National Japan Bowl on April 8th and 9th.

Level IV — Madeline Harris-Gordon, Isaac Faith Nahmad

Level III — Kaltun Mohamed, Naomi Clifford, Samara Sturges

Level II — Charotte Johnson, Lorenz Anderson, Elijah Gudmestad

Thanks to the generous contributions of Southwest Foundation, the registration fees for Nationals will be payed for at no cost to students.  Because of COVID restrictions, the national competition will be conducted remotely.  While it is unfortunate students cannot participate in person, we will save on airfare, hotel, ground transportation and food. This is a valuable opportunity to encourage students to challenge themselves and apply their knowledge in an extracurricular setting.  The Japanese Culture Club is one of the few clubs my students have been able to continue participating in using remote learning. The experience of a national competition will give the team confidence in their abilities and encourage them to be lifelong learners during this time of online learning.  

New Year's Cards from Japan 

春日丘高校の皆さん、素敵な年賀状を作ってくださってありがとうございました。

Kasugaoka High School has sent New Year's Cards for us.  Many card were very nice and we noticed that they spent a lot of time to draw them.  Everybody enjoyed his/her card.  Some students got their partners' email addresses.  We hope that this new year's card exchange will be a great opportunity to start communicating each other.  

We sent our New Year's card to our sister school, Kasugaoka High School, Japan 

Here are some new year's cards that Southwest students sent to Kasugaoka before our winter break.  We were looking forward to getting new year's cards back from Kasugaoka High School. 

IB Class sent our omiyage and letters to our partner school in Japan

The IB class bought Haloween and Christmas goods and sent them to Japan with their letters.  We are expecting Omiyage (gifts) from Japan.  We hope our Omiyage will be delivered safely.  Here is the video message we took before we sent them to Japan.  

Haiku Contest 2021

There is a Haiku Contest sponsored by the Minneapolis-Ibaraki Sister City Association (MISCA) and the Minneapolis Public Schools. Entries are divided into four categories: K-5, 6-8, 9-12 and Adult.  Please use the form attached.   Entries are due by Monday, December 3, 2019.  For entry forms click here.  The entries will be judged by the Board of Directors of MISCA, and the top 30 entries in each category will be sent to Ibaraki, Japan for final judging. Final results will be available in March, with an award ceremony to be held in April.   This year’s theme is “NOZOMI” which translates in English to " hope"  las in hope, wish or desire. Writing one haiku is your student’s homework.  Please encourage your students to write more than one haiku to participate in this contest.  If parents and guardians are interested in entering a haiku, please write one using the same link above.

Global Classmates Summit

Global Classmates Summit is about to take place this summer. This year's Summit gathers 16 high school students from the United States and Japan who were selected from a pool of over 1,800 participants based on their outstanding performance in our bilingual virtual exchange program, Global Classmates.  Josephine Spanier from Southwest High School is one of them.

 During the Summit, students will meet with leaders and professionals with extensive U.S.-Japan/international experience, discuss global challenges - including the COVID pandemic and systemic racism - and cultivate cross-cultural awareness through workshops and group discussions. At the end of the Summit, participants will present what they have learned and their thoughts on how young leaders can collaborate for promoting public diplomacy and building a positive future for U.S.-Japan relations and international society.

You are invited to join the participants’ presentation on Thursday, August 13th at 7:00 pm Central Time Zone hosted through a ZOOM webinar. Please register here if you wish to join. I hope you will join us to hear the inspiring voices of these dedicated youth. 

For more information about Global Classmates Summit 2020 and its participants, please click here: 

Study for College in the Schools during summer break!

The placement test for Japanese College in the Schools should be on Thursday, September 5th. Please go to the link below and study lesson 1 to lesson 6.  

Genki-Self-study Room

 This link has a variety of on-line materials. You should go to the following links and study materials.

1. Kanji lesson 3 to lesson 6 

2. Grammar / Conversation

3. lesson 3 to lesson 6

4. Vocabulary Genki Exercises 

5. lesson 1 to lesson 6   

Our sister school, Kasugaoka High School came! 

12 students and two teachers from our Sister School, Kasugaoka High School, from Osaka, Japan came to Minneapolis on Friday, February 28th.  About 400 hundred students will watch their presentation on Monday March 2nd.  Here is the link to see more pictures and videos.

CIS Field Day at University of Minnesota

 J-Quiz 2020 - Level IV second place

On Saturday, February 15th, 15 Japanese students participated in the J-Quiz at Normandale Community College.  Please congratulate Level IV students! They got second place. The finalists who represented Southwest at Regions this year were:

Level IV — Wren Carter, Vera Guzman, Grace Lindquist

I am very proud of 15 students who gave up their Saturday and participated in this competition. This year:

Level III-A — Josephine Friesen, Madeleine Martin, Madeleine Tatum 

Level III-B — Tenzin Chokyi, Sylvia De Shazo, Tenzin Yangchen

Level II-A —  Naomi Clifford, Kaltun Mohamed, Sofie Urberg-Carlson

Level II-B —  Kai Hirata, Isobel Kolstad, Peter Lindholm

Level 1-A —  Charlotte Johnson, Mara Glover, Sofie Urberg-Carlson

Japanese Language Day at Minnesota Zoo

Japanese students participated in the Japanese Day at the Minnesota Zoo on December 11, 2019.  16 presenters of Japanese 4 and 5 classes showed four animals at the assigned stations.  This year, we were assigned  Ring tail lemur, Komodo dragon, Silver leaf langur, and Coral reef.  Students discovered fascinating facts about these and other Zoo animals, all in Japanese. Students can visit about 36 animal stations throughout the Zoo. Upper level language students use music, costumes, and props to interpret the animal exhibits. Students each received a "passport" which gets stamped after listening to the presenter at each station. All days are geared toward language students.  

Host a student from Japan for five nights?

The Japanese Program is looking for host families for Kasugaoka High School’s visit. Kasugaoka High School is our sister school in Japan and will be in Minneapolis from Friday, February 28th to Thursday, March 5th. We would like to be able to host 12 students, five males and seven females. They will stay five nights with families and spend their last night in a hotel, prior to departure.

Optimally, the hosts would be able to offer their prospective guests a private room and bed. Because of transportation concerns for group meetings and events, families should also be in close proximity to Southwest High School. We are now building a list of potential families who could host. If you are in a situation to be able to offer such hospitality, please contact Mrs French by email at: kyoko.french@mpls.k12.mn.us. Parents/or an adult in the family must respond to this email. 

Algorithm March with Japanese Culture Club 

Japanese Culture Club practiced the Algorithm March on Wednesday, December 19.  We tried to have some harmony, and  be like ninja.  After the march, we disappeared.  Click here to enjoy our Youtube video.  

Fully Funded 9-day study tour to Japan

Two Southwest students (Josephine Spanier and Alexius Nafziger-White) were selected to participate in the “KAKEHASHI Project – The Bridge for Tomorrow" - funded by the government of Japan after they participated in the national Japanese language competition. This project gave them a fully funded 9-day study tour to Japan last July.  They were able to meet Princess Takamado and  the Prime Minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe.  Students finally made their trip album.  Please click here to see their pictures.

Host Mrs French invites you to join Google Meets

Japanese 1 (Period 2) :       Mondays    01:00 pm - 02:00 pm                                                        

Japanese 2 (Period 1) :       Tuesdays    11:00 am - 12:00 pm                                                          

Japanese CIS (period 4) :    Thursdays  11:00 am - 12:00 pm                                                         

Japanese 3 & 4 (period 5):    Fridays      11:00 am - 12:00 pm                                                         

Japanese 4 & 5 (period 7) :    Fridays     01:00 pm - 02:00 pm                                                                                              

Mrs. French's Office Hours :  Everyday   9:30 am - 10:30 am  and  2:00 pm - 3:00 pm

Parent / Teacher conference

Please sign up for a conference with Mrs. French.

You can see the entire schedule for my conference times here

Please take 5 minutest to complete a survey about the format for Virtual Conferences.   This is your opportunity to share feedback on your experience.

Global Classmates for Japanese 4/IB SL and HL class

Kizuna Across Cultures（KAC）facilitates the online language and cultural exchange program Global Classmates for high school students studying Japanese in the U.S. and English in Japan. Taking place in their everyday classroom, students become classmates with their peers abroad and engage with each other through the exchange of messages, photos and videos on a variety of topics, all without needing to travel. The 6-month exchange is an innovative educational program, in which the students develop friendships, deepen understanding of each other’s cultures, and naturally improve their language skills.  Our partner school is Naru High School in Nagasaki prefecture.  I hope we will have a chance to visit this school during Japan trip.