Global culture shared with Mansfield students

Students at Mansfield Elementary School now have a little first-hand knowledge of France, Japan and Korea through a visit to the school by three staff members from the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith.

Mansfield principal Sam Slott called the Western Arkansas Education Renewal Zone at UAFS, showing an interest in having global speakers visit the Mansfield school. The ERZ at UAFS partnered with the Office of International Relations to make it happen.

Speaking to the students were Yoko Kowata, Japanese program coordinator at UAFS, and Fulbright Scholars Maxime Seguin-Coutuier from France and Ahryung Park from Korea.

Jennifer Jennings Davis, director of the ERZ in the College of Education, said the students were able to learn a number of facts about the countries when the speakers shared information about their countries’ culture, language, cooking, customs and traditions.

“They even used chopsticks and played popular children’s games,” she said. “They also saw traditional articles of clothing from Japan. UAFS is such a great resource to many of our River Valley schools, and the University is right in their back yard.”

Jennings Davis said the ERZ, which works with 36 schools in 11 area school districts, serves as a bridge that helps connect the University’s talent and resources with schools that want to enhance the work they are already doing.

“This is just one way we can help our partner schools broaden the learning experiences of their students,” she said. “It was really a treat for me to see the children so excited about learning.”

Laura Holland, a Mansfield fourth grade teacher, organized the event.

“Our visit from Yoko, Ahryung and Max was an awesome opportunity for our students to learn about other countries and cultures firsthand,” said Holland. “They loved every minute.”

Takeo Suzuki of Fort Smith, executive director of international relations, said the event was a good type of activity, both for the school and the University.

“It is good for us to go out into the community like this,” said Suzuki. “The community can learn and understand how diversified our campus is. But then, we can both learn from each other, too.”

The mission of the ERZ is to collaborate with educators, students, families and their supporting communities in order to combine efforts to improve achievement and learning experiences for all students.

The ERZ at UAFS is one of several around Arkansas which were established in 2003 by the Arkansas state legislature as part of the Arkansas effort to respond to the federal No Child Left Behind legislation.

For more information on the Western Arkansas Education Renewal Zone, contact Jennings Davis at 479-788-7256.