Cynthia Kimura

Cynthia Kimura is a passionate world traveler and dedicated educator who brings a wealth of global experience to her teaching. Having explored over 20 countries across 5 continents, Cynthia has immersed herself in a wide variety of cultures by staying with families and friends in regions such as Israel, Peru, Denmark, Germany, Italy, France, and Japan. These rich experiences allowed her to learn firsthand about local cuisine, customs, traditions, and daily life.

Cynthia’s deep appreciation for Japanese culture began in childhood, influenced by her family, and she also carries a strong connection to Peruvian culture through her mother and extended relatives. Her cultural knowledge blossomed into a professional path when she began teaching Japanese language and culture to children at a tri-lingual magnet school in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), a role she held for over 10 years.

With more than 16 years of teaching experience, Cynthia has worked with elementary students of all ages in LAUSD, Lynwood Unified School District, and SCVi Charter School. She is passionate about sharing her love of languages, traditions, and global perspectives with young learners, inspiring them to embrace cultural diversity and explore the world with curiosity and respect.

Cultural Geography

Ages: 6-9

Homework: Provided; normally a word search or crossword puzzle :)

Get ready for an exciting world adventure without ever leaving the classroom! In this year-long Cultural Geography course, students will "travel" across continents to explore the rich traditions, geography, and daily life of people from many countries around the globe.

Throughout each session, you will visit a new area of the world, discovering a sampling of the countries there.

Fall: In Asia we’ll visit Cambodia, China, Japan, India and Thailand

Winter: In Western Europe we’ll visit Austria, Denmark, The Netherlands & Italy!

Spring: In South America we’ll visit Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, and possibly Panama!

For each country we visit we’ll learn the following!

Location on a world map and include the land, animals, and plants that live there, along with the major landmarks.
Discover the country's holidays, customs, religions, and / or traditions.
Explore what kids wear, what school is like, and how people get around.
Create a craft to help us remember a special part about this country, from windmills in The Netherlands to traditional Chinese red envelopes that we will fill with good wishes, we’ll become experts on the world around us!
Learn about popular foods, music, and entertainment.
Practice greetings and counting in the country’s language.
Get a passport stamp for each country visited (arrival and departure).
Create a colorful mini-book collection to take home, filled with fun facts, vocabulary, and drawings from each country.

This hands-on course blends geography, language, art, and social studies into a global learning experience. Come explore the world and celebrate the people who make it so amazing!