Overwhelming welcome for the Dutch Team at Kanaoka Elementary School

Just before the start of the WorldSkills Competition, Monday 12th November, Kanaoka Elementary School welcomed the Dutch Team members at their School. This welcome is part of the program “One School One Country” offered by Numazu City. Also the school will visit the WorldSkills Competition site to support the Team.

Just before the start of the WorldSkills Competition, Monday 12th November, Kanaoka Elementary School welcomed the Dutch Team members at their School. This welcome is part of the program “One School One Country” offered by Numazu City. Also the school will visit the WorldSkills Competition site to support the Team.

It was a great welcome starting with a lunch, each Dutch team member in a different class of the school, together with all the children.

Every class prepared a few questions for each candidate and although the two languages would suggest that communicating was not really easy, the children and team members had a great time together, especially when one of the team members came into the school, dressed as a lion!

After lunch, the Dutch team was welcomed in the big school hall, where all 850 children where waiting for them to perform a beautiful program. The team marched into the impressive hall while Dutch flags were waving everywhere and a famous Dutch victory song was played.

All the children of Kanaoka Elementary School made music, song, spoke and danced at their best, an impressive and warm way of welcoming a team from the other side of the world. Moreover the school really took the effort in getting to know the Dutch culture and sharing some their Japanese to the Dutch team. An overwhelming and inspiring experience of which all the Team members said that they did not know how to express their feelings and how to tell people back home, what it actually meant. An experience they, and hopefully the Japanese children of Kanaoka Elementary School, will never forget for the rest of their lives.