Schools in the Australian state of New South Wales are each choosing one foreign country to make an in-depth study of and to root for during the Olympic Games in Sydney in September 2000. This is based on the successful "one school, one nation" program held for the Olympic Winter Games in Nagano in 1998, where each local school learned about and supported one country.

As part of this program, elementary schools in New South Wales, where Sydney is located, are now teaching children a variety of foreign languages, including French, German, Indonesian, and Japanese. Campbelltown Elementary School, located in the suburbs of Sydney, will be supporting Japanese athletes during the Games. It began teaching Japanese five years ago, and almost 90 fourth, fifth, and sixth graders at the school currently take a 90-minute Japanese class once a week.

During one lesson, an Australian student asked the teacher, "Anata no onamae wa?" (What is your name?) The children also sang a Japanese song, "Kaeru no uta ga kikoete kuruyo" (We can hear the frogs singing).

"It's the fourth year I'm studying Japanese," a sixth-grade boy said. "It's really different from English, but I never thought it was hard. I was excited when I learned how to write my name in Japanese."

Many schools in New South Wales have chosen a nation and launched projects to learn more about it. Campbelltown was one of more than 20 schools that indicated a wish to support Japanese athletes.

"This program is a great idea. Children can learn the culture and history of other countries and take a more active part in the Olympic Games by actually meeting competing athletes and officials," said the school principal. "We're honored that we've been designated to support Japan. This was probably because we already had a Japanese-language program, which is an outgrowth of Campbelltown's sister-city ties with Koshigaya in Saitama Prefecture."

The children at the school will start learning to sing the Japanese national anthem, "Kimigayo," in January next year.

"We'd also like to promote exchange with Japanese children," the principal added. Many kids at the school seem to feel the same way: "I'll be cheering for Japanese marathon runners during the Games," one said, "and I also want to develop Japanese pen pals."

Photo: Some of the Campbelltown students now preparing to support the Japanese team in 2000. (Asahi Shogakusei Shimbun)