A chance to share our enthusiasm for dolphins and whales with Japanese school-children
DCP is interested not only in research on dolphin communication and behavior, but in educating people about dolphins and the world’s oceans. We are lucky to have the opportunity to participate in workshops here in Japan working with Japanese school children. Today we went to the beautiful seaside town of Enoshima to take part in a workshop at the Enoshima Aquarium. We had an amazing group of young school children – ages 7 to 10. Like last year’s workshop, we constructed a life sized dolphin using plastic pieces which we then inflated. Kathleen was on hand to provide the kids with all sorts of interesting dolphin facts, and many of the kids asked some pretty astute questions. When it was all over, we went out to the beach to inflate a life sized plastic blue whale! It was a fun day, and even though I do not speak much Japanese (around 10 words at this point), I had no trouble communicating with the kids. It seems that ‘having fun’ is a universal language…. -Justin