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Language proves no barrier for host family in Austintown
By Elise Franco
Austintown
Naoya Sumii isn’t from the United States, but he feels right at home with his American host family.
Naoya, 14, who lives in Hiroshima, Japan, is spending three weeks as an exchange student with Bernard and Gretchen Kalinay of Austintown and their 12-year-old son, Nathan.
Gretchen said her family’s participation in the exchange program, hosted by 4-H groups nationwide, was Nathan’s idea.
“Nathan is in 4-H, and he always wanted to have a sibling,” she said. “He’s very interested in learning about different cultures, so he asked if we could do it.”
Naoya arrived July 23 and will be with the family until Aug. 18. During that time, the Kalinays plan to show their guest the everyday life of their suburban family, Gretchen said.
“We’re supposed to have them come in and experience daily life for us and adapt to our schedules,” she said.
Gary Reel, international county coordinator, said Mahoning Valley families have participated in the 50-year-old program for about 25 years.
“For a lot of Japanese kids, this is the first suburban or rural experience they’ve had in their lives,” he said. “It gives them the realistic idea of what American families are like.”
So far Naoya has attended football practice with Nathan and worked out with the team, gone to drum and saxophone lessons, visited a movie theater and went grocery shopping.
Gretchen said they plan to take Naoya, who plays baseball and softball at home, to a Cleveland Indians game, Mill Creek MetroParks and Austintown Middle School.
She said the biggest challenge of the program is the communication barrier.
“I teach special education, so I’m used to overcoming the different barriers,” Gretchen said.
Naoya, who speaks little English, communicates with the family using mostly hand gestures and can pick out words in a Japanese-to-English translation dictionary.
“It’s going great so far,” she said. “Nathan and Naoya really have their own way of communicating.”
Nathan said he and his new friend use thumbs up or thumbs down to signal whether they like or want to do something.
Naoya gave a thumbs up to pizza and a big thumbs down to cheese.
On Naoya’s first night, Nathan said he taught him checkers.
“I just told him what to do, and he beat me the first game,” Nathan said. “He’s smart. It’s been easy to communicate with him.”
Gretchen said Naoya already has learned a lot about American culture.
“Nathan and I were horseplaying and he jumped on me, and Naoya’s eyes got really big,” she said. “Then he jumped off the couch and onto the pile.”
Gretchen said she asked Naoya later if he wrestled and played with his mother that way, and he explained that in Japan the mothers are usually more reserved.
“We’re learning a lot of cultural things from one another,” she said. “At this point he’s starting to break out of his shell.”
Nathan said his experience with Naoya has influenced him to think about being an exchange student himself.
He said he hopes his family will continue to host exchange students.
Reel said three other local families have exchange students staying with them now — Paul and Christine Schuler of North Lima; Travis and Christina Kelly of Girard; and Anatole and Becki Olejnik of Cortland.
The program will begin recruiting new host families in January. For more information, contact Gary Reel at 330-533-7712.