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Personal Advocacy - Rie
Tsuboi |
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This
article was written by Ms Rie Tsuboi, and is reproduced here
from the Japan Foundation, Los Angeles newsletter
"The Breeze" Winter Issue 2004/Number
31 (http://www.jflalc.org/download/publication/BREEZE31.pdf).
Ms. Rie Tsuboi is a teacher of Japanese at San Dieguito High
School Academy in California, USA. |
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Part I: 10 Things You Can Do to Expand
Your Japanese Program |
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1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10. |
Teach fun and educational classes.
Sponsor school clubs.
Organize a trip to Japan.
Host exchange students from Japan.
Get involved in a sister city program.
Introduce native Japanese speakers to
students.
Encourage students to participate in
off-campus events.
Recruit students to your program.
Attend workshops and conferences.
Keep the records of your professional
achievements. |
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Part II: 8 Different Ways to Let Your
Community Know About the Japanese Program |
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1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8. |
Send school E-mails (Your school,
other schools in the district, district office, etc.).
Have students write articles for the
school newspaper.
Have students write articles for a
school / district newsletter for parents and staff.
Ask a local newspaper to cover your
stories.
School events: Participate as a
Japanese class / Japanese club / JNHS.
Class Play: Invite students, parents,
teachers, administrators.
Share holiday celebrations
(non-religious ones) with everybody!
JNHS (Japanese National Honor Society)
cords at graduation ceremony. |
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What
is happening in your class every day? A variety of great
things, I’m sure. Let the community know what you and your
students are doing! In order to establish and expand a
Japanese program at a high school in San Diego, California,
I
have tried many things. Here I will discuss what you can do
to have an active program and how you can let your community
know about your program. You can do this little by little.
The discussion focuses on a high school program, but it can
benefit non high school teachers too. |
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Part I: 10 Things You Can Do to Expand
Your Japanese Program |
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1. |
Teach fun and educational classes. |
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As we all know,
the class itself is the most important element. It should be
interesting, meaningful, and educational with a variety of
activities. Fun games, projects, and role-plays with
meaningful purposes improve students' language skills and
make them look forward to coming to class everyday.
Attending workshops and sharing ideas with colleagues (any
language teachers, even nonlanguage teachers) can always
help you to better your teaching. Also, it is very important
that you incorporate Japanese pop culture as well as
traditional culture into teaching. For example, students
love learning songs they can sing at a Karaoke box, watching
new Japanese movies, or keeping up with modern technology
such as cool cell phones and pet robots! By using the
Internet it is not hard for us, teachers living outside
Japan, to catch up with what is going on in Japan right now. |
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2. |
Sponsor school clubs. |
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Currently I am
the advisor for the JNHS (Japanese National Honor Society)
and the Japanese Club in our high school. First we started
as a small Japanese club with a few members but some of them
wanted to do more, including community services, so they
also established the JNHS with about 20 members. The main
activities of JNHS at our school include "Peer Tutoring"
once a week after school, going to a local English school to
help students with their conversation skills, organizing
get-togethers with native Japanese speakers, participating
in a local holiday parade, and other community services.
Students are very active and proud of what they do, and at
the same time they have fun and make new friends. As an
advisor, I don't do much; I just encourage and motivate
students. Students are responsible for organizing all the
activities. |
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3. |
Organize a trip to Japan. |
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Obviously,
visiting Japan is a valuable experience for students of
Japanese. To be honest, it is not easy to organize a trip
and take students to Japan, but it is worth all your
efforts. The experience not only helps to improve students'
language skills and gives them a deeper understanding of the
culture, but also leads to the students' life-long interest
in the Japanese language and culture. All of the students I
have taken to Japan the past four times had positive
experiences and many of them went back to Japan as long-term
exchange students through college programs, as English
teachers through the JET program, or simply as a member of
their new Japanese family visiting their second home. There
are many exchange programs to help you organize a trip and
it is always a good idea to talk to a teacher who has taken
students to Japan before. (You can get more information from
the spring issue (2004) of Breeze, which focused on the
exchange program, or the Japan Foundation Advocacy Kit. Both
of which can be found online at http://www.jflalc.org/newsletter/index.html) |
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4. |
Host exchange students from Japan. |
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Having exchange
students from Japan is as precious as our visiting Japan,
and it is a lot easier! Many of my students have hosted
students from Japan and they had a great time. There is so
much learning and understanding of languages and cultures
involved in this kind of experience. Students who cannot
host exchange students should be encouraged to join the fun
too; they can arrange a get-together at a Japanese
restaurant, a Karaoke party, etc. with the exchange
students. Besides, many exchange students are willing to
visit our class and make a presentation about the Japanese
culture for our students. The more opportunities for your
students’ to meet native Japanese speaker, the better!
Contact local home stay programs and English language
schools. They are always looking for host families and there
are so many Japanese people who visit the U.S. every year. |
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5. |
Get involved in a sister city program. |
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Does your city
or a nearby city have a sister city in Japan? Call city hall
and find out! Your help and involvement will benefit the
sister program tremendously. In my case fortunately, my
city’s only sister city is located in Kyushu and the program
has been very active and successful for 15 years. As a
member of the sister city committee for the past 8 years, I
go to a meeting at city hall once a month, meet many
wonderful local people, including mayor and city counsel
people, and participate in fun events. Our activities
include sending delegates to Japan, welcoming delegates from
Japan, and organizing exchange programs for students,
teachers, fire-fighters and nurses. Also, as a joint program
with the sister city program, our school’s JNHS (Japanese
National Honor Society) participates in the city’s holiday
parade every year. The JNHS members build a huge float with
a Japanese style to represent the JNHS and the sister city
program. Many local people come out to the city's main
street, see the students in wool kimono and happi coats on
the float, and cheer for them. This is one way to show that
our students are truly a part of the community. |
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6. |
Introduce native Japanese speakers
to students. |
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Students love
talking to native Japanese speakers! How can we make such
opportunities? If there are English schools nearby your
school, contact them. Chances are, there are many Japanese
speakers who might not have many American friends. They
probably want to practice their English with non-teachers
and non-host family members sometimes. Last fall, a group of
several Japanese people from an English school came to our
higher-level classes twice a month to help our students’
conversation skills. After a few visits, our students felt
very comfortable talking to them in Japanese and their
speaking skills improved so much! The Japanese people
enjoyed meeting and talking to the American students too.
The teacher can arrange how the conversation should be
carried out. For example, you can set a rule that the first
20 minute should be in Japanese only and the next 20 minutes
should be in English only. Some Japanese people are willing
to talk in Japanese only and sometimes my students keep
conversing with them in Japanese for the entire hour! Also
last year, a young Japanese lady attending a nearby college
needed some community service hours and she visited our
school every Thursday after school for 1 hour and many of
our students who wanted to practice speaking stayed and
talked to her. She went back to Japan in July, but my
students still miss talking to her. Thus, even if you know
just one Japanese speaker who can help students, it is very
valuable. |
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7. |
Encourage students to participate in
off-campus events. |
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Are there any
great events such as Japan Bowl, speech contests, and
cultural events happening around you? If so, encourage
students to participate in those events! They will
definitely enjoy their learning experiences. Also, even when
they take part in high-level competitions, emphasize that
the important thing is to have fun, learn new things, and
appreciate such opportunities, which are made possible
through much effort of the organizers and volunteers. Having
a positive attitude will make the experience even better.
Different organizations such as The Japan Foundation and
Japan Societies provide many opportunities, and you can
check with you local teachers’ association for such events. |
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8. |
Recruit students to your program. |
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You need
students who want to study Japanese in order to have a
successful program! All the positive things we do attract
students to our program, but you should also do ‘recruiting’
because there are many students and parents who don't know
whether or not Japanese is offered in their community or
where they can go to take Japanese. One of the recruiting
activities I do is to visit two local middle schools about
two weeks before the incoming students sign up for the
classes for the following year. A French teacher from my
school and I visit all the eighth graders' social science
classes in two middle schools in two days. We spend only 10
or 15 minutes in each class between the two of us, but it is
very effective because all the incoming students meet us in
person and they are informed that Japanese and French are
actually offered; Spanish is not the only choice for their
world language study. These visits definitely increase the
enrollment. |
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9. |
Attend workshops and conferences. |
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You can also
learn so many things every time you attend workshops and
conferences, and there are so many of them available through
national organizations such as The Japan Foundation, ACTFL,
NCJLT and ATJ, and local organizations, such as CAJLT, TJSC,
and CLTA in California, By attending them, you can learn
about the current trends in teaching, acquire important and
necessary knowledge such as the information on the
Standards, AP Japanese, and National Board certification,
get new ideas for activities, and more. |
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10. |
Keep the records of your professional
achievements. |
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Many of us are
encouraged to maintain a "Professional Portfolio” by our
school and the district. It is a great to way to keep the
records of what we do (like everything I have mentioned so
far, #1 – 9!) and to reflect on our teaching. We can start
by having a folder in a file cabinet and just throw in
anything valuable: copies of students' work, newspaper
article on the program, recognition of our achievements,
photographs of a special event, etc. |
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Part II: Different Ways to Let Your
Community Know About the Japanese Program |
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Now,
let the community know about all the positive things
happening in your program! They will appreciate the updated
information and you will make the students very proud of
themselves. |
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1. |
Send school E-mails (Your school, other
schools in the district, district office, etc.). |
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This is a very easy way to
communicate with your peers and administration. Let them
know the achievements of the students: their participations
of a special event, winning an award, etc.. |
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2. |
Have students write articles for the
school newspaper. |
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This one is easy too! If your
students are in a journalism class, encourage them to write
an article. If not, talk to journalism teachers. They can
send a student to write an article. Ask the student to take
a photo to go along with the story. Any little story of your
class will do. |
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3. |
Have
students write articles for a school /
district newsletter for parents and staff. |
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This is a great way to
communicate with parents and staff. Have students write
articles. Our school issues a newsletter for parents every
other month and the Japanese program always submits an
article. The JNHS students take turns and write articles on
a variety of things such as participation of a speech
contest, JHNS get-togethers with Japanese friends, a trip to
Japan, and hosting an exchange student. Attached photos
attract attention of the readers. |
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4. |
Ask a local newspaper to cover your
stories. |
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Contact a person in charge of
the education section of the local newspaper whenever there
is any kind of event they might want to cover. Positive
articles in newspapers, including free newspapers, have a
great impact on the community. Again, photos will attract
more attention. |
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5. |
School events: Participate as a
Japanese class / Japanese club / JNHS. |
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Are there any
school events your students can contribute to? Every year,
my school holds ‘Exhibition Day’, the day any student can
volunteer to show off their talent. The Japanese program
always offers an "Origami class". Volunteer students from
the Japanese classes teach Origami to other students. Last
year we had two one-hour sessions, and in both sessions our
classroom was full of non-Japanese language students who
were excited about learning Origami. (One freshman boy told
me, "This is the coolest thing ever!") |
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6. |
Class Play: Invite students, parents,
teachers, administrators. |
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Show off the
students' language skills in a fun way! Organize a class
play in Japanese and invite students from other classes,
parents, teachers, and administrators. This is how we did it
one time: 1) Japanese V class was divided
into two groups. 2) They chose a story. One group chose "Kasajizo"
and the other chose "Omusubi Kororin". They had learned
those stories in the previous Japanese classes. 3) Each
student wrote a part of the script and the leader from each
group put the script together. 4) They decided who will
direct, who will act, who will narrate, who will make
costumes and props, and who will be in charge of back ground
music and lighting. Even some drama students who were not
taking Japanese class helped us after school. We practiced
in class and also after school a few times. Meanwhile I got
permission to use a theater and sent an allschool e-mail to
invite the teachers and administrators to the plays. Parents
were invited too. The two plays were performed during class
time, two days in a row, and a total of 5 classes, several
parents, some teachers who didn't have to teach that period,
and some administrators came to see our plays. How did the
audience understand the plays in Japanese? Students came up
with a brilliant idea. They did "rewinding": After every few
lines in Japanese, they "rewind" their acting, walking
backwards and do everything backwards, and do the same lines
in English. The audience loved this idea. |
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7. |
Share holiday celebrations
(non-religious ones) with everybody! |
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On Valentine's
Day (2/14), students make "Origami Heart Cards" or "Origami
Heart Boxes" using pink copy paper, write a positive message
or simply "Happy Valentine's Day" to their teachers,
administrators, secretaries, librarians, and computer tech
people, and later student aides deliver the cards and boxes
to them. On Children’s Day (5/5), students, boys and girls,
make origami kabuto using old newspaper and wear it all day.
Tell students to ‘educate’ other people, students or adults,
by explaining the Japanese Kodomo no Hi. They love to wear
the kabuto and share the information others don't know.
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8. |
JNHS (Japanese National Honor Society)
cords at graduation ceremony. |
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At a ceremony,
graduating JNHS members who have maintained a certain G.P.A.
and a certain community service hours are awarded with red
and white JNHS cords. The students feel very honored and the
ceremony program, which is read by all the audience,
mentions the JNHS recognition. This is a wonderful way to
inform the community about the Japanese program. |
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Useful Links: |
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Japan Bowl:
http://www.us-japan.org/dc/japanbowl.php |
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Japanese National Honors Society
(JNHS): http://www.ncjlt.org/JNHS/index.html |
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American Council on the Teaching of
Foreign Languages (ACTFL):
http://www.actfl.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=1 |
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Information on National Board
Certification:
http://www.colorado.edu/ealld/atj/SIG/prodev/standards/nbpts/ |
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Links to all Japanese language
teachers’ organizations:
http://www.jflalc.org/?act=tpt&id=380 |
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