ae een

On- June 30, four teachers
from School District #88 will be
leaving on a four-week Pacific
Rim Study Tour in Southeast
Asia. The tour is sponsored and
organized by the provincial
government’s Pacific Rim ‘In-
itiative Program.

The Pacific Rim Initiatives is

the umbrella organization for

many different Pacific Rim ex-

changes and educational pro--

grams. .

The teachers’ exchange is de-
signed to encourage school
districts to send teachers to
Pacific Rim countries to
generate an understanding of
these countries and their
peoples, by allowing the teachers
the opportunity to experience
the culture and language of the
countries visited.

This is the third year that
School District #88 has par-
ticipated in a teachers’ Pacific
Rim study tour, Last year’s
group went to Japan; the year
before, to China. The program
in School District #88 has
proven so effective that the
Ministry of Education is en-
couraging other school districts
to follow suit. This year, the
group of 30 teachers will travel,
visit schools and experience life
in Thailand, Malaysia and
Singapore.

The guidelines to qualify for -

the tour are: ;

1) The teacher must be return- -

ing-to this district in the fall.

2} The teacher must have a
minimum of three years’ ex-
perience in the district.

3) The teachers are expected
to report back to their district
colleagues.

4) A maximum of 70 percent
of travel costs for each teacher
will be provided by Pacific Rim
Initiatives funding, and dis-
tributed by the school district.

Ray Walker, Nancy Bose and
Scott Corp of Terrace and Mary
‘Chapdelaine of Hazelton were
the only teachers in the district
to apply for the trip. The school
district had originally decided
that three teachers would be
chosen. With only four suitable
applicants, they went back to the
teachers and negotiated a lower
subsidy per person from the
Pacific Rim Initiative fund so

that all four could participate.

The total cost per person will be
$3,600. Of that, the school
district is distributing $2,025 of
the Pacific Rim money to each
teacher.

Ray Walker, the librarian at
Skeena Junior Secondary
School, calls it ‘‘a once-in-a-

lifetime opportunity, a chance to _

bring back experiences-to’ share
with students and fellow
teachers. The sharing is all part
of the experience.”” Walker has

been at Skeena since 1974. He .

began as an English teacher and
has spent the last 15 years as
librarian there.

Walker is interested in ex-
amining the philosophy and
religions in the different coun-
tries, and seeing and relating to
the people. He wants to know
“what we have in common”.
‘Walker says he ,has a pretty
broad knowledge of North

_. America.and has been to Hawali
QMO, a. AT Ta _

OFF TO THE EXOTIC EAST: Ray Walker,
to participate in a Pacific Rim tour to Thailand, Malaysia and Sing

the foursome when they venture forth on June 30.

Fi
ES
‘

Nancy Bose and Scott Corp are three of the four School District 88 teachers scheduled -
apore this summer. Mary Chapdelaine of Hazelton will complete

‘His father was in the U.S. Air

- Force and consequently, the

family travelled extensively in
continental United States.

Walker and his wife Charlene,

‘a teacher at Caledonia, both...

wanted to apply for the trip. Ray
explains, “If we both applied,
we decided that probably neither
of us would get it, so we reached
-a consensus.” _

Nancy Bose,
teacher at Thornhill Primary,
‘‘always wanted to get an educa-
tion and then travel’’. She’s now
in her third year of teaching and
finally has her travel opportuni-
ty. She says, ‘‘It’ll be a safe way
to travel and I’ll know where to
go back to.” Bose says the
financial help is a big benefit.
She advocates travel because
‘you grow so much as an in-
dividual when you travel. And
I’ll really appreciate what I have
here when I get back.” She
wants to concentrate on the
educational aspects of the trip,
and she hasn’t yet decided on a
theme for slide presentations
upon her return,

Scott Corp wants to examine
the social structure of the people
and their hierarchy within the
family and community. Scott is
vice-principal of Thornhill Jun-
ior Secondary School. He

‘math teacher, and still teaches
math half-time.

In the two previous years of.

Pacific Rim study tours, Scott
explains, the tour was teacher-
oriented. When the information
crossed his desk this spring for
- the attention of all teachers and
administrators, he jumped at the
chance. And his wife Marg said,
“Go for it!’ Scott sees contact
with other B.C. teachers as one
- of the many benefits of the tour.
_ He'd also like to investigate
the power of administrators in
Singapore, Malaysia and

"Thailand: Being a math teacher,
ovhe’d-like to.check.out their:cur-

a Grade 1-

started there 15 years ago asa

riculum, too. Scott has been to
New Zealand and Australia, but
he’s never travelled to a country
where they speak another lan-
guage. He’s looking forward to

the challenge. and’.anxious to

learn at least a few words.
School District #88 has been
developing Pacific Rim library
projects, specifically for the
Grade 10 curriculum. The three
, teachers hope to collect informa-

tion to add to it. They would
also like to form a teaching unit
with slides from their trip and do
presentations on professional
development days and to the
school board.

pointment

come

® prompt service!

® Book now — avoid disap-
® evening appointments wel-
@ customized packages

® photo make-up available
@ bright, exciting backgrounds |__

Portrait Extravaganza by Dan
_ June 11 through 16 only

SN

Sure Exposure
Photographic Studio
4617 Lazelle Avenue
(beside Sears)

Phone 635-9714
(otfrdan) |

Sorat el ee al eh

7

a ee
ee

aie Sie gt

eT wen