2023.04.28

Community "Nihongo Kyoshitsu" Activities Report, vol.7

In our seventh report, we are introducing Nihongo-shien in Komae City!

About Nihongo-shien (Japanese support)

As of April 1, 2023, Komae City has a population of 82,723 people, of which 1,412 are foreign nationals (according to a survey by Komae City). I went and interviewed Nihongo-shien, an organization that has been active in Komae City since August 2021. Nihongo-shien has two activities: the Nihongo Houkago-shien (Japanese After School Support) on weekdays and the Nihongo Salon (Japanese Salon) on Saturday afternoons. For this article I visited the Nihongo Salon held on Saturdays.

The Nihongo Salon is held on the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Saturdays of every month from 14:30 to 16:00 at the Komae City Central Community Center. In the first half of the salon, the students communicate through Japanese culture, and in the second half, they receive almost one-on-one instruction in Japanese. The salon's location was changed in April, so I got to learn about their new and spacious venue!

It was raining a bit on the day I came to visit, but 23 people (*with some who came and went) were participating.
The first half of the salon was a game called "Takara Sagashi (Treasure Hunting)."

A piece of paper with a certain location written on it is first given to the participants. Then they read the written sentences out loud, guess where that location is, and try to find it. At the location they find another piece of paper with new directions, read the written sentences out loud, and try to find the next location. The game continues like this until the actual treasure is finally found. After doing a practice round, the participants divided into two groups and created sheets of paper with instructions.

The blackboard shows examples of how to write the instructions. Following this example, everyone discussed where and in what order they should hide the instructions for the treasure.

Then, one team closed their eyes while the other team hid the pieces of paper with the instructions. Once both sets of instructions have been hidden, each team is handed their first set of instructions and the game begins! Everyone reads the written Japanese instructions out loud and searches for where they think the next piece is hidden.

The groups looked for treasures on the blackboard, behind the door, and near flower beds in the courtyard, etc. Everyone had a lot of fun trying to find the hints and treasures, asking each other "Where do you think it will be?"

Finding a treasure！

After everyone had returned from searching for treasure, the groups presented the treasures that they have found, saying "My treasure is XXXX." Each of the various treasures – memories of skiing, pictures they had drawn, their children, etc. – were precious to the participants. In the second half of the salon, the participants received almost one-on-one instruction in Japanese.

Each one of the participants had brought something that they wanted to study, and they started working on it.

The exchanges and learning were held according to the participants' levels, and the small children who still have difficulty participating in these types of activities studied by using karuta cards with pictures on them.

Everyone was super excited about learning! Right up until 16:00 they were asking lots of questions and studying.

Interviews with supporters

After the Nihongo Salon was over, I was able to talk with four of the people who support it. From the start they all had the desire to volunteer, and they decided to participate after seeing a flier for the Nihongo Salon on the city's homepage or after seeing a "Komaekubo (Komae City Citizen's Activities Support Center)" poster. Of the people I interviewed, some of them said it was their first time participating, and some who said it was their second time noted that they came back to participate again because the Nihongo Salon has such a great atmosphere.

As for the first half of the Nihongo Salon, which involves learning culture, one of the people supporting the Nihongo Salon came up with the idea while seeing what kind of things other organizations did. Because many of the participants are children, with some of them just being in kindergarten or nursery school, the classes were made so that they aren't just for studying. They said that it was difficult to come up with new ideas for each session and to get them to go as planned, but, after actually participating in the events, I felt like this was one of the ways through which the participants could naturally talk to each other. The theme for the session this time was "Takara Sagashi (Treasure Hunting)," but the theme for the previous session was "Making a Map of Your Country." It was an attractive theme because the participants could teach each other and then work together on the activity in accordance with the theme.

When asked about their reasons or motivations for participating in or continuing to come to these activities, it was really impressive to hear how many of the supporters said that it was fun.

"It's fun to be able to study Japanese in a relaxed and informal atmosphere."
"For both the children and the adult, I think that 'fun is best.'"
"It's important to incorporate fun and interesting things into learning, and I want to make it so that the participants will come as much as possible."

Both through the words that I heard during these interviews and the atmosphere that the activities take place in, I thought that people are able to learn by coming to the Nihongo Salon and having fun. By being devised in such a way that the teachers, students, adults, and children can all enjoy it together, I feel that the Nihongo Salon is not simply a place for learning, but that it exists as a place where the participants can comfortably spend time while being stimulated by each other.

Visit the group's Facebook page if you are interested in joining Nihongo-shien's activities!
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100087640876286

by MI

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