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ISU Instructor and Japanese Minor Students Bound for Japan
Topics: ISU Japanese Program, Japan, teaching English, ISU students
Posted by paleopoet Tue Jul 1, 2008 09:57:34 MDT
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On July 15 ISU Japanese Instructor Sachiko Fukuoka and nine ISU Japanese Minor students will fly to Japan. Their destination is a small town in Kyushu, Japan's main southern island.  There they will teach English during a three-week-long summer English camp for Japanese K-12 students. They will return on August 5.

Every summer for the past four years, Ms. Fukuoka has offered a study tour of Japan to give ISU students an opportunity to experience life and culture in Japan.  Usually the group visits historic and modern sites throughout the country, but this year the class will be a little different.  This year, students will teach English to Japanese students at an English summer camp hosted by the school district of Kumamoto, in her home town of Nankan.  Nankan has a population of about 20,000.

Each day after they are done teaching, the ISU students are going to enjoy home-stay with a Japanese family.  In addition, they will attend various local cultural events including a Japanese summer festival, tea ceromony, traditional Taiko drumming, and visit a Japanese noodle factory. 

Ms. Fukuoka's experience has been that although all Japanese students must learn English, few adults can converse in the language. She hopes her Idaho students, who will emphasize practical English, can help change that. The camp is one of her recommendations for changing the English curriculum in K-12 education that are currently being evaluated by the local school district and the Kumamoto Prefectural Board of Education.  She hopes that her summer English camp will be a yearly event.

caption for photo

Left to right, standing: Jason Wert, Haven Werth (camp leader), Brooke Taylor, Connor Collins, Sean Elison; seated: Rick Hatch, Issac Pottenger, Sachiko Fukuoka. Not shown Bradley Gower, Camille Ballard.    

 

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Comment From: Jen1180

Very cool! I may use this for my print edition. Thanks for posting.