Friday, Jun. 13, 2008
Quilt Takes Teacher to Japan
By Scott Price
Staff Writer
The Japan Fulbright Memorial Fund Teacher Program brought 200 educators to Japan in October, and Ehrlich was one of 23 teachers chosen from Texas and Oklahoma.
Ehrlich was selected for the three-week, all-expenses-paid trip because of her proposal to have a quilt exchange between her school and a school in Japan.
The fourth- and fifth-grade students at CCA made quilt pieces in the spring on 2007.
The students planned the drawings at home and then brought them to class and voted on the designs to include on the quilt.
After the winning designs were transferred to fabric, CCA fourth- and fifth-graders signed and colored them.
Ehrlich then sewed the pieces into a quilt during the summer.
When she visited Japan, Ehrlich presented the quilt to the students of Ohji Elementary School.
The Japanese students, in turn, made quilt pieces and presented them to Ehrlich, which she sewed into a quilt over Christmas break.
"I wanted the opportunity to connect our students to students from Japan," Ehrlich said. "The art projects, quilt and lessons I brought back from Japan made a real impression on the students of Covenant. I was so pleased that this trip enabled me to teach a truly authentic unit on Japanese art and culture to my students."
The Japanese quilt was presented to the students at CCA recently as part of a Japanese cultural celebration at the school.
The delegation’s visit to Japan began in Tokyo with a practical orientation of Japanese life and culture through meetings with Japanese government officials and educators.
After visiting Ohji Elementary, Ehrlich visited cultural sites and local industries in addition to a brief in-home stay with a Japanese family.
"It’s been a very long process and a lot of hard work," Ehrlich said. "I would love to go back because I loved the country, the people and the culture."
The Japan Fulbright Memorial Fund, based in Tokyo, oversees the teacher program.
The program is sponsored by the government of Japan and was started in 1997 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the U.S. government program for graduate education and research.
The Institute of International Education acts as the agency for the Japan Fulbright Memorial Fund to coordinate the recruitment and pre-departure activities of the teacher program in the United States.
Covenant Christian Academy, founded in 1979, is the largest private school in Colleyville with more than 570 students in pre-kindergarten through grade 12.
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