Danette Morrel, a Burris instructor, is the exchange team coordinator. We are taking them to the mall, to local businesses, the Children's Museum in Indianapolis and other points of interest. Burris officials plan to allow the Japanese students to participate in the annual mock Olympic Games. Children from both schools exchanged information over the summer to better understand their new classmates. Japanese children also have received video and written information about their counterparts and host families, including names of family members and pets, and interests, activities and education preferences.
Youngsters are open to new cultures.
No matter what the language barrier, kids understand the idea of playing and having fun. In the spring of 1998, a group of Burris elementary school students will make the trip to the Japanese islands. Participants have been selected, she said. We are looking forward to sending the first elementary-aged delegation to Japan. Burris is the state's only K-12 public school and enrolls about 500 students.