Japn 301SL: Advanced Japanese Service Learning
This course gives students opportunity to deepen their knowledge of Japanese language and culture through their community service and to develop communication skills through discussions, reflection essays and presentations. Taught in Japanese.
Course Reflective Narrative
Out of all the other courses I have taken at CSUMB, Advanced Japanese Service Learning proved to be the most rewarding and fun class. I was able to improve my knowledge of Japanese, my critical thinking skills, my sense of compassion, social responsibility, justice and diversity, and I was able to gain invaluable teaching experience at Highland Elementary School in Seaside, CA.
While in class we read articles about social responsibility and marginalization as well as justice and diversity. Since there were over twenty Japanese exchange students in the class, I and many of my other American classmates had to get to know the material very well so we could explain some of the more difficult concepts to them. I think there were many aspects that proved difficult to them because of some large cultural differences, the main one being cultural diversity or Japan's lack thereof. I remember presenting a practice lesson plan at the beginning of the semester to the class about the marginalization of the American Indians in America and how many people think it is wrong for sports teams and companies to use them as mascots and logos. By conveying these ideas to the exchange students, I was able to gain a deeper understanding of my role as an educated adult in California. It was with these ideas in mind that we created our lesson plans for the 4th and 5th grade students that participated in the CPY (Community Partnership for Youth) after school program at Highland Elementary. We tried to teach them about fairness, equality, and justuce while also teaching them about Onigiri, Origami, Kanji, Totoro and other Japanese culture and language aspects. Many of these children come from a Hispanic background which is often a marginalized part of society. Their neighborhood is too dangerous to walk home safely in, so they participate in this program. Many of them have never had much contact with a culture outside of their own, so they were incredibly excited for our lessons. I now feel that in order to counter the effects of marginalization and systemic injustice, we must teach out children more about multiculturalism and let them know that there is a big exciting world out there. I will try to use what I have learned in this class to give back to my community in the future. |
service_learning_prez..pdf | |
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Service Learning Script | |
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