Kathleen Mariano Fleenor '78, center, stands in the Botanical Gardens in Nikko, Japan, with her host family, Michiko Kontani, left, and Hiroyoshi Kontani, during her three-week visit to the country under the Japan Fulbright Memorial Fund Teacher Program.

The JFMF Teacher Program is designed to provide American educators with first-hand experiences of Japanese culture and education through school visits, interactions with teachers and students, seminars, and home stays. It was established in 1997 by the government of Japan to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Fulbright scholarship program sponsored by the U.S. government.

"It was one of the most unforgettable experiences of my life," said Fleenor, a literacy coach assigned to Springfield Middle School in Providence. She was one of 200 primary and secondary school teachers selected from a national pool of 2,500.

Participants in the all-expenses-paid, three-week JFMF Teacher Program are chosen based on the quality of a proposal they submit. The proposal must include a plan for using their experience in an educational setting upon their return to the U.S. Fleenor has developed a unit that uses literature to teach children about Japan. She also gives professional development presentations about the unit to other educators.

Along with a group of 19 other American educators, Fleenor spent a day each in an elementary school, a junior high school, and a high school in the city of Nikko, north of Tokyo. At each venue, they were greeted with songs and presentations in school assemblies, visited classrooms, and ate lunch with students. They also stayed after school to attend club meetings and to meet with Japanese teachers to exchange ideas about teaching and learning.

Fleenor fondly recalled her weekend stay with the Kontani family, her hosts in Nikko, where she experienced a traditional tea ceremony and enjoyed local dishes.

The Johnston, R.I., resident earned a bachelor's degree in humanities while at PC and a master's degree in teaching from Rhode Island College. Before joining the Providence school system in 1990, she spent nine years as a tour guide with Collette Vacations in Pawtucket, R.I.

Fleenor said her experience in Japan gave her an opportunity "to be in the learner seat taking risks, exploring in a new and different place. . . . I returned to the USA a stronger teacher with a pair of global glasses."