Reflections of Toyo High School Students

It has been a really busy year for our Toyo High School students in the Edmonton Toyo FFP program. They started their year arriving just on the heels of what proved to be one of Alberta’s worst winters. The students were glad to be arriving at the tail end of it.

During the spring they immersed themselves in the High School experience . Students were very pleased when several host families celebrated their birthdays over the spring with fun family and friends events.

During July the students emerged themselves in English as they participated in GPI’s intensive TOEFL English course. Over the year the student braved 2-3 TOEFL exams in an effort to bring their English scores up during the year. It was not all work though, the students got to go to Fort Edmonton, and also did a presentation on Japan culture for a seniors group.

Over the summer many of the Toyo students volunteered at the many festivals in Edmonton. They especially enjoyed helping out at the Japanese pavilion at Heritage Days in Edmonton. Of course as moved into vacation season in August many of the students got to experience many fun activities with their host families.

October brought the students to Halloween where all of the dressed up in their scariest/funniest outfit and carve pumpkins. Christmas brought many new kinds of meals…TURKEY!

As their year in Canada begins to come to a close the Toyo participants prepared for a Family Day long weekend of skiing in Banff for a final Yahoo!

We will miss the students from the Toyo program, they have been exemplary ambassadors for Japan.