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

Summer has Arrived

Today is officially the first day of June! Time has flown by and most students are now out of school or almost finishing up their school year. I want to congratulate all students and teachers for doing their best despite this difficult time.

Not only has the Coronavirus has changed the lives of many in terms of job and living situation but also, many issues are being visible and confronted on a daily basis.

Being an advocacy coordinator, I often think about what can I do? What are ways our organization can further help? But I realize that advocating languages and promoting the value of learning a language is already a step into changing things for the better.

As a person who learned Japanese not only through my home environment but through college, jobs, and studying on my own, it made me absorb different cultural values and perspectives I wouldn't have if I didn't expose myself in learning languages. Being respectful of different cultural values have greatly helped me understand and connect to those who are culturally different and value their opinions and ideas in a respectful manner.

We recently had a month long project on our Instagram page called ＃みんなでがんばりマスク. On our www.instagram.com/jflalc page, we received various submissions from photographs, drawing, messages, and videos from Japanese language learners. We were unable to share all of the received submissions but we really appreciate what we all received! This project reminded me that Japanese learning community can come together and support each other. That we are not alone. So I hope those submissions encourage teachers and students that they have a large community that share the same passion and love for the language and culture.

I hope everyone continues to be safe and have a great summer!

Every Day is Japanese Day!

Happy Friday! Congratulations for surviving another week in this difficult time but we are getting through with it together!

I realized that the longer and longer stay at home order is being in place, it makes me realize on the importance of having a schedule for yourself!

Studying Japanese or setting yourself time to focus on a task is a great way to uplift your mood and improving your knowledge.

I know a lot of teachers are struggling as well in this sudden transition and I'm sure students are as well. It's new for all of us. But what we do know is that, it's okay to not be perfect! Just do what you can and focus on what you can do now.

We may stress ourselves about the unknown, how long this will last, am I doing okay?

You are doing more than okay! You are doing great :). We have so many resources we will continue to share to ensure you, you are doing great and we're here for you if you need any help in resources!

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!

End of the Year!

Photo from: Toshikoshi Soba Recipe

I hope everyone has been having a wonderful wrap up to 2019! It's been a great honor to be a part of JFLA family for half a year so far and I am looking forward to 2020 and being able to participate/improve advocacy ideas for Japanese teachers and students.

Whenever the end of the year comes for me, I think of toshikoshi soba. Toshikoshi is passing the year/year-crossing in Japanese and written as 年越し. Soba is そば and it's buckwheat noodles. It's usually eaten end of the year as the noodles symbolizes longevity and breaking free from the past. It's a nice way to start the new year and this time around, the year will be 2020! Looking forward for more ways to connect to Japan and hopefully, finding more and more wonderful things to showcase on this blog to share to everyone :). 来年もよろしくお願いします！

The 33rd Colorado/Wyoming Japanese Speech Contest

The 33rd Colorado/Wyoming Japanese Speech Contest took place last week! Congratulations to all of the participants who were in the Speech Contest!

There are many Speech Contest that takes place all over the United States to demonstrate and show the students' Japanese levels to not only their teachers but to others who are observing. Many students have their own individual topics and ideas they would like to share and speech contest is one of the ways to share!

More information/photos:
https://cjlea.weebly.com/

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

Hinoki Cup Roadshow!

There is a great roadshow starting from October until February of next year in Michigan that connects students with bilingual business professionals within the classroom! It's a great opportunity for students to gain knowledge of ways they could further develop/expand on their bilingual skills! further information is listed below.