Skip to main content

Daniel- Japanese Elementary Schools

Japanese Elementary Schools [ 小学校 ]　(Daniel)

As I had mentioned before, part of being a Hippo intern includes traveling to various elementary schools in Tokyo to give presentations about the HIPPO Family Club as well as multilingualism and multiculturalism.

A Typical Japanese Elementary School

Interestingly, multilingualism and multiculturalism is sort of a big deal in Japan. Japan is an ultra-homogeneous nation with a population that is 98.5% ethnically Japanese. 

Although Japanese study English, schools only focus on reading and writing. As a result, people don't have enough practice speaking and are too shy to try. Many of them are left believing that it is impossible to be proficient in more than one, maybe two, languages.

HIPPO members and I go to elementary schools to demonstrate that isn't true. Language acquisition is based on the language spoken in one's environment. If you create a multilingual environment, you will create a multilingual person. That is exactly what we do in HIPPO.

 Multiculturalism At Its Finest

During the school visits,　I give a small presentation in English and in Japanese about my life in America. Although I don't know very much Japanese, I memorized the words of my presentation, to make it seem like I do. The children are surprised to hear me speak Japanese and try to talk to me afterward, thought I have no idea what they are saying.

 My friends and I


An interesting thing about Japanese schools is that you have to take your shoes off before you enter. The students put their shoes into these cubbies and change into their special school shoes.


There are also a bunch of rubber slippers, usually dark green, for visitors.


Wearing these green rubber slippers is no ordinary task for me.

My American Bigfoot Feet Don't Really Fit Into Japanese Slippers.
  

Oh well. At least they make a fun photo!

I have never been a famous, but I assume that it feels similar to what I experience in Japanese elementary schools. The kids crowd around me, hug me, tickle me, fight over who gets to hold my hand, all while yelling "Danieru! Danieru!" [my Japanese name.]

At one elementary school, the kids crowded around their classroom window to yell goodbye to me as I was leaving.




These kids are such cute little angels.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Stephanie-こんにちは！Konnichiwa! Hello!

こんにちは！Konnichiwa! Hello! My host sister Asuka and I in 小えど, Japan Hi everyone!  My name is Stephanie, but in Japan I've already been given the nickname  Su-chan　 す－ちゃん    (su from Stephanie since the Japanese pronunciation is su-teh-fah-nee, and -chan is added to the end of a name when you are speaking to a younger person or a friend), so you can call me Su-chan! I am one of the five Hippo interns working in the LEX headquarters office in Tokyo this year. In addition to me, from Wisconsin, the intern team is made up of Tino from Mexico, Sakun and Ken Ken from China, and Hiu-chan from Korea. It's great to have such an international group!    Before coming to Japan I attended the University of Wisconsin and graduated with a degree in fine art. During that time I also worked for Wisconsin 4-H International Programs, which is how I first learned about Hippo through the 4-H/Hippo summer and yearlong exchanges. Last summer I had the opportun...
Post a Comment
Read more

Daniel- Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas 「メリークリスマス」　(Daniel) A knock came at the door around eight in the evening, just as we were finishing eating dinner.  I yelled out, " IRANAI～～～ ", meaning "we don't need it", pretending that it was some late working door-to-door salesman. My host mom laughed and went to answer the door. She came back carrying a huge USPS box from America. Oops. Just kidding. I need that. I really need that. My parents in the US decided to surprise me for Christmas by mailing me a box of my favorite items from America. They somehow managed to pack a pair of pants, two jars almond butter, five boxes of gum, four giant chucks of  halva , and four packages of chocolate. I have no idea how my parents managed to shove all of that stuff into such a small box. But knowing my parents, there is always a way. Needless to say, I was ecstatic to receive my gift. Although my parents told me about the package beforehand, its physical presence was so overwhelming. I fe...
Post a Comment
Read more

Daniel- I have Guests!

I Have Guests! [訪れていた] (Daniel) After a trip to the Middle East, my sister and her husband decided to return to the US flying over Asia instead of Europe, so that they could stop by in Japan and say "Hi". Y-A-A-A-A-Y. It felt really good to see some family after seven months away. Unfortunately, the two of them could only stay for 3 days, so we were quite busy during that time. The three of us visited obvious famous places like Shinjuku, Harajuku, Shibuya, Asakusa, and Akihabara. But I personally enjoyed going to a park where we did the tea ceremony in a tea house on the park's pond. The two of them found it strange that there were no chairs and the process to drink some tea was so formal. I guess I didn't really think about it, I have become so used to traditional tea ceremonies that they don't seem strange to me anymore. I guess I'm becoming a local  I also really enjoyed introducing my sister and brother-in-law to my co-work...
Post a Comment
Read more