Each fall, one of the brightest smiles at the WSU College of Education is on the face of a Japanese educator who is visiting the Pullman campus thanks to a 24-year-old partnership between the college and the Nishinomiya Board of Education.

Our visitor this year is Fumiko Tamura. She’s here to improve her English language skills and teaching techniques, so spends much of her time in WSU’s Intensive American Language Center and also observes in College of Education classrooms. She’s eager to share what she learns with colleagues back home. In the picture here, she’s sitting in on Assistant Professor Hal Jackson’s classroom management course.

Fumiko is a supervisor at the Nishinomiya Board’s Study and Research Division. Last year, she taught elementary school. Her district has just started English activity classes for fifth and sixth graders.

“I’m very, very happy to be here. I appreciate everything and everyone.” says Fumiko, whose husband, Masataka, was here for a week during her first visit to the United States. Fumiko arrived in August and will leave Oct. 15.

As part of the Nishinomiya partnership, WSU doctoral candidate Mari Stair is spending a second year teaching in Japan. For information on this and other WSU College of Education international connections, click here.