Japanese students of Spanish as a foreign language pose with their colors before a match of the Valencia CF

The Japanese flag as a moral support for their country and the Valencian flag to support their favorite team.

Valencia. Not only as tourists you can find Japanese for all around the world, but also as students of Spanish as a foreign language, as is the case of a Spanish school in Valencia recognized by the Cervantes Institute as a center with quality teaching Spanish as a foreign language.

In the last match of the Valencia CF against Villareal CF of the Spanish football league they meet to take a picture of all the group in front of the stadium. To support their favorite team they made, with the Spanish school help, a flag with Valencian colors and with Japanese letters. “Fight with all your heart and with all your strength” Really, a picture that cannot be seen every day.

This group of students of Spanish as a foreign language also drew the attention of a Japanese sports journalists, who was there to discuss the match in live. The journalist, Ichiro Ozawa, specialized on the king of the sports was travelling around Europe: Amsterdam, Gelsenkirchen (Shalke 04), Valencia, Madrid (the classic Real Madrid Vs Barcelona) were some of his stops. But this journalist not only writes about the football itself but he also collect autographs and pictures of the football players with a Japanese flag.

This flag also appears in the picture and now can be seen in Yahoo/Japón. This campaign should serve to encourage Japanese population, who are up-to-date in Spanish and European football, in these hard times after the tsunami and the nuclear catastrophe.

But this picture of the students of Spanish as a foreign language had also leave an imprint in Valencia. The picture has been presented in the agrupación de peñas valencianistas to compete as the better picture 04/2011.

In the Spanish school are very proud because of this recognition. “We are really happy that our extra-curricular activities and of free time have so much impact” says Andreas Teßmer, director of the Spanish School Costa de Valencia and direct responsible of the football activities in Valencia.

Apparently, also the Valencia CF players had been encouraged with the support of the students of Spanish as a foreign language. In the important match that disputes the third and the fourth classified, the Valencia team won easily, to delight of the Spanish Students of Japan.