HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuron Expositor, 2002-02-27, Page 7February 28, 2001
Si
(includes GST)
In brief
Township
man
killed
in
B
accdclent
A 27 -year-old Grey
Township man died
instantly when he was
crushed between two
sections of a feed dump
wagon.
Nicholas VanNes was
using a torch to cut
through bent cylinders
beneath the wagon when
one of the .cylinders
snapped, causing the two
wagon sections to come
together:
The accident occurred
on a farm on. Brandon
Road in Grey Township,
northeast of Brussels on
Feb. 23 at3p.m.
Windows
smashed
at church,
stained
glass
damaged
Part of a stained glass
window was damaged
when someone used a
blunt object to smash
some of the windows of
First Presbyterian
Church.
About $750 in damage
was done to the windows
including a garage
window and the plate
glass window that
protected the stained
The damage was found
Feb. 25 at 11 a.m. and r{
occurred sometime after;l
6 p.m. the night before.
Collisions increase
Almost 240 collisions
have taken place this
winter compared to a
similar amount not
ruched until the end of
March last year.
Community services
officer Don Shropshall
says the number of
storms and bad weather
days have contributed to
the the increase, coupled
with drivers who are still
not slowing down when
road conditions are
snowcovered or icy.
Ribey bringingJapanese students
After teaching in Japan
Andrea wants to share
Seaforth, Canada
with some of her students
By Susan Hu dertmark
Expositor Staff
While she returned from a
three -and -a -half-year
teaching job in Japan last
September, Andrea Ribey
says she still has to remind
herself not to bow all the
time.
"You bow all the time in
Japan - when you enter
rooms and leave them, when
you meet people. Even the
clerk at the grocery store
bows when she gives you
your change," she says.
And, because she already
misses the customs and
culture of the children she
taught in Shimodate, Japan,
Ribey is
bringing a
dozen of her
students to
Seaforth this
summer to
experience
Canadian
culture.
T h e
students, aged
eight to 13, are
scheduled to
arrive July 19
in Seaforth,
will spend July 22 to 27 at a
horse camp in Ailsa Craig,
and then will return to
Seaforth until July 25.
Ribey is asking local
people, preferably those with
.children the same ages as the
Japanese students, to
welcome the visitors into
their homes for the week
they'll be spending in
Seaforth.
"These kids have been
working so hard to learn
English and• they have an
immense vocabulary but they
never really get a chance to
use it," says Ribey.
She's eager to find families
to billet the students as soon
as possible so that a pen pal
relationship can begin
immediately.
Working in a city of 70,000
that was considered rural in
Japan (about an hour and a
half by train to Tokyo), Ribey
taught English to 1,000
students a week at a different
school each day of the week,
most of the students aged
three to five at the
Kindergarten level.
"English was the highlight
of their week because of all
the games and stories.
Everything stopped the
minute I got there," she says.
Ribey says the Japanese
have high
expectations
of their
children and
by age three,
most of the
students can
say their
ABCs, count
to 10 and
recite their
colours in
English.
By age five,
the students
are "amazing" and perform
with perfect precision .in
marching bands, do skits,
plays and national dances
four times a year in concerts
for their families and have a
large vocabulary in English.
"They could tell you just
about anything in English on
a flash card but they do
stumble through
conversations," she says.
"It's impressive but a little
scary that they can pull off all
that performing so young,"
she adds.
Ribey says that while she
got used to the Japanese
Quoted
'English was the
highlight of their
week because of
all the games
and stories,' --
Andrea
Rimy.
Agriculture school
concept revised
as committee tries
to get more students
Bposior Mier
An agricultural program to
entice students from cities to
board at area farms and help
boost the student population
at Seaforth District High
School was back on the
school board agenda last
night.
"We've worked on this and
we still think it's a good
plan," said Maureen Agar of
the school advisory council.
The council and
community members pitched
the idea to the school board
in early 1999 in an effort to
find ways to improve
enrolment and keep the
school off the chopping
block.
However, the idea was
initially rejected by the
board.
Now that the school is
open for at least the
immediate future, organizers
were on last night's Feb. 27
agenda. The meeting
occurred after prss time.
"There was still a lot of
enthusiasm for the program
so we thought the time was
ripe," said Agar.
The initial presentation
was missing specific details
about how the program
would operate and how many
students the program would
accommodate or how they
could be sure the students
would come.
But the revamped program
now includes a curriculum to
go along with support the
idea received from the
University of Guelph's
renowned agricultural
program.
And the committee has
advertised for farmers who
would be willing to take
boarders coming from cities
or other communities for the
program called, Stepping
Stones Agricultural Program.
Agar said there has already
been some response from
area farm families willing to
Sea STUDENTS, Page 2
Susan Hundertmark photo
Andrea Ribey taught English in Japan and is piannin to bring some students back to Seaforth
for a visit this summer.
educational system, there
were times she found it too
strict and too demanding on
the children.
'Ivo -year-olds have to take
tests to get into Kindergarten
(with great competition for
the best schools) and three-
year -olds get into trouble if
they fall asleep in class, since
falling asleep is seen as a
sign of disrespect.
During the school year,
students attend classes five
days a week and every other
Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3
p.m. All students walk to
school, even if that means an
hour and a half walk each
way.
During summer vacations,
students are expected to do
one hour of homework every
day and many students attend
study camps to prepare for
the next grade level in
school.
Throughout the summer,
students can earn points for
school by attending exercise
classes every morning at 6:30
a.m. at a local park.
While Ribey was in Japan,
a teenaged boy jumped from
the roof of his school when
he was overwhelmed by the
pressure in his life and
remains in a coma.
"He had everything going
for him. He was a great
student, was good at sports
and both his parents were
teachers. It was very hush,
hush when it happened.
There seems to be a refusal to
address the problem because
there is a need to help other
kids under pressure," she
says.
See CULTURAL, Page 2
Scott Hilgendorff photo
Car, truck
collide
A 48 -year-old Eden Mills
woman had to be
extricated from her car
after colliding head-on with
a tractor trailer last
Wednesday afternoon. OPP
commended the tractor -
trailer driver for his skill in
avoiding a collision with
two school buses that were
in front and behind the
Eden Mills driver.
See Page 3 for story
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