Photo by: Brian Wise

Spending three weeks in a foreign country sounds like a vacation, but for 37 students from Japan, it is a learning experience. Students from the Japan Travel and Hotel College in Tokyo are on a three-week immersion trip in Grand Junction with the help of Cultural Exchanges, Inc. and CMU.

Theses are not exchange students. They are immersion students here to help develop their English speaking abilities and experience life in an English-speaking country. During their time here, each student lives with a host family, participates in a daily English class specialized for the group at CMU, has lunch at the cafeteria in the UC everyday and takes trips to areas of interest around the Western Slope.

The classroom for these students is filled with teachers and volunteers seeking to help them learn as much as possible during their visit while maintaining an “only English” policy in class to really push the immersion. The students themselves are friendly and energized, ready to ask questions and filled with excitement. Kimo Coburn, a senior Archeology and History major and advanced Japanese student here at CMU, is one of the volunteers. Coburn has been helping with the program since he started at CMU.

“I think it really helps them learn English, ” Coburn said when asked about the impact the program has on the students.

Jeanne Herring formed Cultural Exchanges, Inc. after being approached by Japan Travel and Hotel College in Tokyo when the previous sponsor of the program fell through. The program has been running annually since 2000 with a maximum of 40 students per trip.

“Sharing of cultures is by far the most profound experience I have had with the program,” Herring said. “Programs like this are critical to a learning experience for students seeking to learn a new language.”

With her passion for helping students experience new cultures, Herring hopes that her program will eventually help CMU reestablish their English program with foreign schools so that the immersion programs can fuel full-fledged exchange programs.