Sensei! Why Japanese? Video Project

It has already become the month of August and we only have 4 more months until the year is over! I have trouble believing it as it feels relatively fast but slow at the same time.

But during this time, we interviewed various Japanese language teachers all across the U.S. to know what motivated them to learn Japanese and decide to consider Japanese teaching as their career. There were so many great stories and it's nice to see that everyone loved Japan and the language. Their love and dedication is such a positive influence to students and the students are sure blessed to have great teachers! The link to the videos and the descriptions are on our website so please take a look!

https://www.jflalc.org/jle-whyjapanese

Ways to improve Japanese on your own!

I hope everyone has been doing well and healthy during this difficult time and we hope that things go back to normal and be able to see our lovely folks who comes to participate in our events and Japanese courses! We also miss having face-to-face interactions on a daily basis but with technologies being implemented through Zoom and other digital learning tools for students and educators alike, we are still somewhat connected face-to-face! That is the greatest thing about technology, we are connected and reminded that we are all in this together and that is the same as language learning!

Being at home has been a challenge but a great time to reflect on strengths, ability, catch up on reading material, and focus on skills/languages more than ever before!

Some of the ways we could improve Japanese is:

-Read news articles through 優しい日本語ニュース：https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/easy/
Once you feel like you're up for the challenge, you could switch to trying to learn from regular NHK articles.

What's important is to read articles daily and familiarize yourself with subjects. It's a great way to see cultural differences and what Japanese people value in terms of information!

-Practice writing through worksheets and apps! Worksheets from websites such as プリントキッズ: https://print-kids.net/ and apps that Japan Foundation created called Hiragana/Katakana Memory Hint: https://kansai.jpf.go.jp/en/resource/e-learning/memoryhint.html are also a great way to brush up your writing skills in Japanese!

We have more resources on our website: http://www.jflalc.org/jle-learners-resources

There are many ways to learn Japanese but we all have the same goal to understand the language and become more culturally aware. So we hope these resources will continue to help and keep practicing! Feel free to let us know of your progress by tagging us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram!

Japan Foundation E-Learning Website: Minato

These past few weeks have been very challenging for educators and students alike with the rapid changing situation all around the world. As our daily lives have been altered to staying at home and learning/working through remote methods, we want to help by sharing JF resources that everyone can use for free!

We have an Japanese e-learning website called Minato (https://minato-jf.jp/) . You can register for free, take different courses and brush up on your Japanese skills! We hope that we are able to help students improve on their Japanese and expand their knowledge as much as possible!

There so many other resources and helpful resources on our website: https://www.jflalc.org/ so please feel free to take a look!

Flood Recovery Manual After Typhoon Hagibis

Recently in mid-October, Kanto-area was hit with one of the most devastating typhoon since 60 years ago in the 1950s. As Japan is becoming more and more globalized, articles such as Japan Times have pointed out how there is a necessity in having a free guide in providing recommended steps for recovery. The article is posted below but we will also provide the link to the free manual below. I think these resources are great for teachers to discuss among students and to understand how these disasters are really close to us more than ever.

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2019/10/24/national/flood-recovery-manual-typhoon-hagibis/

http://blog.canpan.info/shintsuna/img/RECOVERING_FROM_A_FLOOD_DISASTER.pdf

African American Youth Program

Here is a great opportunity to share!

The African American Youth Program is a program that gives young African American freshmen in high school who are from a low-income background the opportunity to go to Japan on a week-long summer program.

It is so important to give our youth more opportunities so they can open up greater possibilities for their future.  Deadline is March 1, 2018.  Eligibility includes: 1) African American freshman in high school 2) Low Income 3) Never traveled abroad and/or struggling academically.

See the following links for more information:

https://www.facebook.com/AfricanAmericanYouthTravelProgram/

Flyer

Please spread this around!