Category Archives: 訪問地

訪問地, 地域学習, 長崎県大村市

Team Building during the Class Orientation – Getting to know Japan and each other

Since Omura city was the very first stop for the February – April 2008 World Campus — Japan participants, we spent time talking about Japanese culture and norms, getting to know each other through various team building activities and preparing for our weekly community appreciation event – the “Arigato Evento”.

World Campus - Japan class February 2008

One of the team-building activities was called “Story of your life” where participants sat around in a circle to voice memorable events in their lives and hobbies. Then the participants found a counterpart who shares a similar experience or hobby to get to know each other even more.

Parts of the “Arigato Evento” preparation also focused on learning Japanese songs as well as for preparing “Cultural Pieces”. This is where international participants have the opportunity to demonstrate songs, dances and literary works from their country of origin. The creation of a stage performance itself became a great bonding experience.

The high point of the “Arigato Evento” preparation was learning a Japanese song with sign language. “Sekai ni Hitotsu dake no hana” (the one and only flower in the world), is a very popular song originally performed by a Japanese boy-band. The song contains a significant message which is also important for the path to becoming a global citizen: everyone is unique and should be valued for what they are.

訪問地, 長崎県大村市

Welcome Party in Omura City for the Feb – April 08 Class!

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On the evening of the 12th of February, a welcome party was prepared for the members of the World Campus International (WCI) spring session and the host families. We were treated with a sparkling performance of Taiko (Japanese drums), and then “Big Country Jazz Orchestra”, which consist entirely of amateur musicians. The great performance lifted everybody’s spirits. Participants of WCI and the host families danced along to the fantastic music.

My host father, Mr. Okuma, is the president of Up with Omura. He remarked that the welcome party was exceedingly pleasant and his heart was sobbing happily. He was extremely pleased with the enthusiasm shown by all the participants. He likes World Campus a lot because it is a program through which he can share his own philosophy and learn the culture of others. He really enjoys organizing the activities for us and mentioned he gets so much back in return. Therefore, he offers thanks to the participants for “being such wonderful people”. At the party everyone contributed and gained much in return.

I really enjoyed the evening and I am certain that all the host families, WCI participants, and Up with Omura members also did. Writing about a perfect evening isn’t easy, so I’ll summarize with a quote from my host father, “Meni Meni happi taimu!”

(Jotter Verhaeghe, Belgium)


訪問地, 茨城県水戸市

Mito City, Ibaraki

 

After touring Japan for nearly 3 months, we finally reached Mito city, Ibaraki Prefecture; the last city of World Campus International’s premier tour. We were invited by the Ibaraki University Elementary School for their special week to celebrate the 50th anniversary of that institution.

Each of our participants had a class of their own for the entire week. On the first day, the World Campus – Japan class had a welcome session and we were introduced to the 40 children that we were each working with. They had been preparing for our visit for more than a month, so they were extremely happy when we arrived.

The absolute highlight was the “Challenge Class”, where each of us had the chance to teach a lesson plan for 45 minutes. WCI participants had been drawing up the plans with topics as varied from playing soccer, teaching about their home country to talking about literature, depending on the participants’ specialty and interest. Mr. Yanagida, the Head teacher of the school, told us after the tour:

“You all looked like real teachers in front of the classes. You guys did a great job and kids will remember you for the rest of their lives.”

Our final “Arigato Evento” (Thank-you event) in the prefectural hall with a capacity of 1,700 people was an extraordinary experience. We taught a few songs and movements to the children during our stay at school, and it was an impressive image to see all 700 kids singing and moving together with us. Even from the stage, we could see some parents shedding tears.

On the following day at the Ibaraki University Elementary School’s official 50th anniversary event, we realized that the children and our class had gotten so close, and it was as if we were looking at our own students when each grade performed on the stage.

When the last day at Mito was over, it was hard to believe that it was time to say good-bye not only to our classes behind, but also to the fellow WCI participants, who truly became family members.