2023.07.18
English Day on July 5
Here at Eiwa we try our best to use English actively not only in the English classroom, but also throughout the school. One example of this is our six annual ‘English Days,’ days when students are greeted in English as they come into the school, the morning service is given in English, and teachers of all subjects try their best to use English in the classroom. This year’s second annual English Day was held on July 5. Well, actually, it was supposed to be on June 23 but had to be delayed due to a stubborn pigeon. But that’s another story…
Canada Day, a huge national holiday in Canada, is on July 1, so I chose to talk about the connections between Canada and Eiwa at the morning service. Many people will know that the first principal of Eiwa, Martha Jane Cunningham, came from Canada, and that there have been deep bonds between Eiwa and Canada ever since. They may not know however that she was the very first woman to cross Canada by train on her own, quite a remarkable achievement. This happened in 1886, shortly after the railway stretching across Canada was finally finished. The world really changed with the completion of that railway and others that went across the United States, as Asia and North America were now linked in a way that they hadn’t been before. Because of the railway, Miss Cunningham was able to take a steamer to Yokohama from Vancouver, and Shizuoka Eiwa was founded in 1887.
I know some things about Miss Cunningham’s life thanks to a book that the art club at Eiwa created in 1990 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of our school. The students used kiri-e, or paper cuttings, to create both the text and illustrations for the book. It really is an incredibly creative and impressive work. If you have the chance, please visit the library to have a look at it!
Like Miss Cunningham, I am also from Halifax, a city in Canada on the Atlantic Ocean. Around twenty years ago, two students from Eiwa whom I knew came and did a homestay at my parents’ home there. They knew about Miss Cunningham’s life and went with my father to visit her gravestone there. Actually the gravestone is a new one that was put up in 1990 through the efforts of Shizuoka Eiwa. Since working at Eiwa, I have been interested in Miss Cunningham myself, and have been doing a bit of research into her life. What was her life like in Japan? Was it tough for her to live far away from her hometown and family for so many years? This summer I hope to be able to read some of her letters and learn more about her life here in Japan in the Meiji period.
Shizuoka Eiwa Girls’ School was the very first school in Shizuoka to offer secondary education to girls, a fact that we are all rightly proud of. Women have such an important role to play in society as leaders, and it all starts with education. We all hope that our students here will do their best as they go through life to make the world around them a better place.
