HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) -- Teachers from throughout West Virginia are gathering this week at Huntington High School during a "Passport to Japanese" -- about the closest thing to visiting Japan itself.

They're striving to bring a global awareness to the classroom, despite language barriers and other challenges. Japanese teachers and Marshall University professors are teaching participants Japanese culture with character writing, as well as exposing them to Japanese drama, art and music.

"The world is shrinking, and many of our jobs being outsourced," said Penny Golden, a Poca Middle School teacher. "Many of them don't understand, when they get out of school, how they will be competing with the best students around the world."

That's the reason behind the Governor's Academy for Teaching Excellence. Teachers are immersing themselves in a week of Japanese culture, learning how to enlighten, encourage and educate their students about the world around them.

"With technology, we're all together, and many of my students in Poca really don't have perspective on life outside West Virginia," Golden said.

Yli Taylor, a Hampshire County Middle School teacher, said students sometimes wonder why they should learn another language.

"From my experience, if you learn another language, it helps you to understand and speak your own language better," she said.

Amelia Courts, an official with the West Virginia Department of Education, said students have more of an interest in other cultures, mainly because of the Internet.

"Our students in West Virginia are globally more sophisticated, they chat with people on the Internet, so I think they have an interest," she said. "Jobs are going to be linked on their global competency. It's not only a skill to prepare students for the future, but now students can link and learn."

Natsuki Anderson, assistant professor of Japanese at Marshall University, said she is impressed by the enthusiasm of the participating teachers.

"I didn't know what to expect," she said. "I didn't know their background, other than they were teachers. I'm very pleased they are willing to learn new things Their pronunciation is really good."

Anderson said many students are coming to Marshall to major in Japanese, mainly to become acquainted with another culture.

Passport to Japanese was sponsored by the West Virginia Center for Professional Development as a part of the Governor's Academy for Teaching Excellence.