2016 Activity Report
March Activity Report
March 2017
Global Japan Office Coordinator
Yamagishi Ami
1. Reception of Japanese Teaching Trainees
This year, we were able to welcome another two teaching trainees from TUFS. In the two weeks between 5th and 17th March, the trainees, Bao Tong and Jin Xianghua, took charge of the second year intensive reading classes. The coordinators gave support with lesson preparation, enthusiastically asking questions and requesting reviews from the university’s teaching staff, as well as observing and giving feedback on lessons. In the lessons, the trainees they attracted the students’ interest and wrote lots of example sentences on things such as their experiences in Japan. Even after the lesson had finished, they took many questions from the students, and it showed the students’ confidence in them as seniors in Japanese learning.
Over the duration of just two weeks, the trainees identified flaws with their feedback and earnestly tackled them. This was the first teacher training for both trainees, but they felt that they had accomplished much in the two weeks. There were comments from the students such as “their pronunciation doesn’t sound like a Chinese person’s!”, “the lessons were all in Japanese, so it was interesting since they were different from usual”, “I was happy that they did their best to answer questions”, and “they piqued our interest in many different ways. For example, I had heard that Japanese people apologise a lot, but after listening the (trainee) students’ stories I wanted to look into it some more”.
The pair also took part in the ‘Japanese Corner’ held at lunchtime, and were involved with the students even outside of lessons.
The Japanese Corner topic on the day that the two participated was ‘The Tohoku Earthquake: Past and Future’. They spoke about their experiences of earthquake disasters in Japan and about the trends of foreigners in Japan at the time. The students listened attentively to the stories that can’t be learned from just the news.
Impressions from the Trainees
Teacher training at Shanghai International Studies University was extremely enjoyable and was a good experience. The teachers were all very kind, and aside from living support, they gave us feedback and advice on the lessons, so I was able to identify my points to improve, and I came to always think about how I can make the lessons even better. The students were all very endearing and listened enthusiastically in the lessons. In the final lesson, when one student said “the teacher’s lessons are wonderful’, I was very moved, and felt that this was worth doing. These two weeks were very short, but they were a very productive and happy two weeks. (Jin Xianghua)
When I first took to the teacher’s lectern, I had all kinds of worries. However, Prof. Yamagishi and Prof. Suzuki gave me guidance and were an enormous help.
I had heard that the Japanese level of the students at Shanghai International Studies University was high, so I did a lot of preparation. The lessons didn’t go exactly as I expected, but I think that it was an extremely good experience. In particular, I found out how important preparation before lessons is. I received the opinions of the teachers and progressed while being advised on my speaking speed and lesson speed. Through this training, I could see the points I need to improve, and I think that, in order to carry out better lessons from now on, I want to work hard and study Japanese language and culture more. (Bao Tong)
2. University visit from Prof. Nagasaki Teruaki and Saito Minami of the Student Affairs Division from TUFS
On 23rd March, Prof. Nagasaki and Ms. Saito came to the university and had an informal meeting with the director and vice director of this institute. Afterwards, they observed a lesson in which the students were enthusiastically studying Japanese.
3. Japanese Corner
This month, we once again held the Japanese Corner once a week at lunchtime. The topics were as follows:
①3/9 Academy Awards and The Japan Academy Prize
②3/14 The Tohoku Earthquake: Past and Future
③3/21 Graduation
④3/28 Let’s Play Othello!
February Activity Report
February 2017
Global Japan Office Coordinator
Yamagishi Ami
The new term has begun. The students who had gone back to the capital have returned, as has the activity at the Institute of Japanese culture and Economics. As we approach the doll festival, the corridor was decorated with dolls, which lots of students are taking photos of.
1. Japanese Corner
This term too we are holding the Japanese Corner once a week.
27th February – Hometowns and Valentine’s Day
We introduced the souvenirs and famous products made in our hometowns. We had an animated discussion about the things that are famous in our hometowns and the foods we would like people from other areas to try. Also, we talked about the big event of February, Valentine’s Day. There are large differences between Valentine’s Day in Japan and in China, and our discussion had no end.
2. Preparations for receiving TUFS Japanese Teaching Trainees
This year too we will be welcoming two Japanese teaching trainees from TUFS. The training is to include observing lessons and support for lesson planning.
January Activity Report
January 2017
Global Japan Office Coordinator
Yamagishi Ami
As we welcomed the Lunar New Year, we welcomed the second New Year in Shanghai. The Lunar New Year holiday was from the second week of January, and at GJO Shanghai I was doing things such as accepting enquiries by email. As part of my spreading information on Japanese culture, I sent out information about the Japanese Ney Year game, ‘fukuwarai’, as well as about Setsubun (contents below).
Fukuwarai
The player is blindfolded and has to arrange features such as the eyes, nose and mouth on top of a piece of paper that has the outline of a face drawn on it. Just what kind of face will it turn out to be?
Of course, it ends up as a strange-looking face.
Everyone has fun laughing at these funny faces.
It’s very simple to play, so do have a go yourselves!
3rd February is Setsubun, when we drive away evil spirits. We drive away evil spirits by and the smell of fish, which they hate, and by scattering beans. We do this while chanting “Demons go outside! Luck comes inside!”. Also, we eat a kind of sushi called ehomaki. This year, we eat it while facing south-southeast.
Soon, the new term will begin. Next term we will hold the Japanese Corner once a week, where we plan to hold a Japanese playing card tournament among other things.
December Activity Report
December 2016
Global Japan Office Coordinator
Yamagishi Ami
As we approach the end of the year, it’s been a busy month. It has also been a month where the wails of students who don’t have a Christmas or New Year because exams are near could be heard.
1. Japanese Corner
This month we continued holding the Japanese Corner. From 12:10 to 13:00 every Monday we talk about recent matters in China and Japan.
① 5th December- the Year-end Song Festival
Even among the students, the Year-end Song Festival is a seasonal tradition. After an introduction to the Year-end Song Festival, we talked about a wide range of topics including this year’s contestants, how we were spending New Year’s Eve, what makes a good singer, and which groups we thought would win the contest.
② 12th December- Buzzwords
The coordinators began with an explanation of the word of the year. Next, the students introduced and explained several buzzwords that had been trending in China in 2016, and everyone had fun with using them. In China, it seems that words originating from online slang and regional dialects easily become buzzwords.
③ 11/19 お歳暮
We introduced the culture of year-end gifts, which in recent years has gradually been declining. We touched on various different topics such as what kind of gift we would like to receive, to whom we would like to give gifts, and how much you should spend on a gift.
2. Japanese culture experience- Japanese playing cards
From 13:00 to 14:30 on Friday 9th December, we held a Japanese playing card, or hanafuda, event. There were students who knew of the cards’ existence from films like Summer Wars, but actually playing with them was a first for everyone. This time, we played koi-koi.
After memorising the types and functions of the cards using the materials we distributed, we started the game. There was a strong voice saying “I want to play again!”, so I would like to host another game soon.
November Activity Report
November 2016
Global Japan Office Coordinator
Yamagishi Ami
Each day is getting colder, and it’s starting to feel like winter. Now, there is only around one week remaining of this term. This month was once again involved in Japanese Corner activities.
1. Inviting vice-president Hayashi of TUFS to a symposium.
We invited vice-president of TUFS Hayashi Kayoko to the SIUI Japanese studies international symposium hosted by Shanghai International Studies University on 12th November, and the annual Japanese language education in China research meeting, where she delivered a keynote speech.The keynote speech was on the state on education at TUFS among other thigs, and covered the topics of ‘The internationalisation of TUFS’ and ‘international Japan research’.
2. Japanese Corner
This month we continued hosting the Japanese Corner every week. From 12:10 to 13:00 every Monday we talk about recent matters in China and Japan.
① 7th November- athletics festivals
At Shanghai International Studies University the athletics festival is held on 3rd and 4th November. Taking this up as a topic, we talked about athletics festivals in Japan and China. The students listened to and asked questions about events often held in Japan, and talked about their own memories of athletics festivals.
② 14th November- emojis
Based on the news that New York’s Museum of Modern Art has added the 176 emojis that were invented in Japan and later spread to the whole world to its collection, we talked about our own way if using emojis and their pros and cons. From our conversation, we were all surprised to find out that the way emojis are understood varies between cultures and age groups.
③ 21st November- The kanji of the year
After receiving an explanation of the kanji presented at Kiyomizu-dera temple every year, the students thought about which character they would choose if they were to take a look back on the year and describe it with one character, and also made predictions on this year’s kanji. This year, because there was an extremely large number of disasters such as earthquakes in Japan, there were predictions for the character “災” (disaster).
④ 28th November- Obvious poems
We took up the topic of ‘obvious poems’ which have been trending on Japanese twitter. These are poems that describe obvious things as if they were exceptional, presented as motivational posters, which have become a trend among young people. We read several poems and shared our thoughts, and tried composing our own poems. We had a deep discussion on things such as what kind of words will make something seem poetic and what makes a poem attractive.
3. Briefing session on borrowing