Japanese TV films Beaconhills

The TV crew captures Nao's close encounter with Lizzie the Lizard

Beaconhills College, Pakenham Campus, will be the setting for an episode of a popular Japanese children’s television show.

A crew from Japan’s TBS Network was at the school this week to film an eight-year-old Japanese student, Nao Togawa, who is with the College for a week after winning a Japanese Children’s English speech contest.

Nao’s visit will form part of a special episode of the TBS Network’s Sunday morning children’s show called CatChat.

The student prize is part of joint Japanese/Australian efforts to promote Victorian education, education being one of Victoria’s largest export industries. The CatChat crew was keen to focus on the rural feel of the College and the surrounding region.

For Nao, the visit to Australia has been an exciting series of experiences. She says she has particularly enjoyed playing with the family pets at the house of her Homestay family and “riding the bike”.

At the College on Wednesday, she also visited Little Beacons Learning Centre where she was thrilled to meet ‘Lizzie’, the centre’s resident blue-tongue lizard.

Learning the finer points of Aussie footy.

She also sang an Australian song with her classmates, toured the College’s environmental program – including the worm farm and vegetable gardens – and enjoyed an Aussie rules football clinic. The highlight of the day was a close-up encounter with a mob of kangaroos at Cardinia Reservoir.

Beaconhills College has strong ties to Japan and in particular Ibaraki, a prefecture that was close to the tsunami-affected areas and home to our sister school.

The College recently farewelled 22 students on a study tour from Shibuya High School and is also hosting three Year 10 exchange students from Meiho High School in Tokyo.

This week the College has held a series of fundraising events which has raised thousands of dollars to help those affected by the Japanese disasters.

Students and staff at Pakenham and Berwick campuses dressed in red and white, attended special assemblies and made 1000 paper cranes to be sent to Japan as a gesture of hope and support.

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