Sullivans And Yokosuka Middle School Implement Mentoring Program

Yokosuka Navy Base, Japan Two Yokosuka Complex Schools, The Sullivans School and Yokosuka Middle School have begun a mentoring program at Commander Fleet Activities, Yokosuka (CFAY) on board Yokosuka Navy Base in Yokosuka, Japan.  The program is being administered by Cassidy Kemp, a Yokosuka Middle School (YMS) English as a Second Language(ESL) teacher and Yvette Parker, a 2/3 multiage teacher at The Sullivans School.
    
The idea for the mentoring program began when Kemp was looking for a non-threatening way to encourage her ESL students to interact more using the English Language.  Perhaps they would be more comfortable with younger children? Having worked in previous years at Sullivans, and being familiar with the faculty and facilities there, Kemp contacted Parker and asked about the possibility of bringing “about a dozen” ESL students over one day to meet the 7 and 8 year olds in Parker’s multiage class. Ms. Parker immediately saw the potential for a program because she had been searching for good role models to interact with her own students.
    
The first meeting between the students involved a craft and breaking ice. Eventually, the students moved toward team building activities and the older students began to help the younger students with understanding and following directions. The younger students began to listen and learn all the while basking in the attention from the older students who were genuinely encouraged to use their developing English skills while helping the younger learners. When it was time to go, Tina Martin from the 2/3 multiage class had one final question, “When can they come back?”

The first organized schools for the children of U.S. military personnel serving in the Pacific were established in 1946 during post-World War II reconstruction. Throughout the decades, DoD schools evolved to become a comprehensive and high-performing K-12 school system solely dedicated to educating the children of America's heroes. Today, DoDEA Pacific's 48 schools serve nearly 23,000 military-connected children of U.S. Servicemembers and civilian support personnel stationed throughout thePacific theater. The DoDEA Pacific teaching, administrative and school support team includes more than 3,000 full-time professionals. The schools are geographically organized into four districts: Guam, Japan, Okinawa and South Korea. The Sullivans School is the largest school in DoDEA with a student body of approximately 1,200 in grades K-5.