Year: 2019

Katie’s Final Reflection

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By Katie Nguyen

Food etiquette in Japan has greatly influenced my life as it has made me more respectful when eating at the table. Things like coughing or sneezing, sticking your chopsticks into rice, passing food, etc. is rude to do at the table. Coughing or sneezing is understandable, you wouldn’t want somebody accidentally spreading germs onto your food when coughing or sneezing, and is considered bad manners. Instead you should step out to do so or just hold it in till you are by yourself or if you were finished.

Sticking your chopsticks into rice is extremely rude as it is practiced in funerals. When I learned about this, I was reminded to never do this. However, my sibling has done it once, but it was slanted, however my dad got really mad at him for doing so. Passing food seems harmless, right? WRONG. Passing food was also practiced during funerals but instead of using food, they used bones.

Furthermore, in Japan, they also use different styles when eating like saying “itadakimasu,” meaning “I greatly received” (food), before you start eating as a way to show respect for the cooks who made your food.  After finishing, they say “gochisousama deshita,” meaning “thank you for the feast.” Finishing and clearing your food is also considered to be good style. If there is food that you don’t like, then you should tell your server to remove them in advance.

For drinking, you shouldn’t start drinking unless everybody has their drink and the glasses are raised for a cheer, “kampai!” When drinking alcohol, you should let others pour your drink or vice versa, because it is customary to serve each other. Some restaurants allow you to be drunk as long you don’t bother other customers; however, in high end restaurants, it is considered bad manners. If you don’t drink alcohol, then you can refuse to drink and ask for other non-alcoholic beverages instead. All of this made me aware of what to do when eating and gave me some future references if I ever wanted to go to Japan, like when I ever go drinking or eating with friends or co-workers.

Jonah’s Final Reflection

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By Jonah Nguyen-Conyers

With Japanese Plus there have been so many opportunities that came my way and it really showed that many people want to aid me in my journey in being the best global citizen I can be. These opportunities that were given to me really aided in my outlook on life, and allowed me to see a future for myself that falls within my interests. Back when I was in Japan in DC, I was not initially interested in Japanese culture and globalization in general, as I am now, but that has changed for the best and has opened one door after another, while all at the same time really pulling me into the entirety of Japan and its culture.

During Japan in DC I was able to meet many amazing people who had connections to Japan, who were able to share its greatness, always pulling me into the next group discussion, the next outing, and much more. Me showing my interest in Japan during the program, I was able to continue my exploration of Japan and its culture, like the Blue Star of Life event, going to Japan, and then being admitted to this amazing Japanese language class. With this language class I have seen so many doors open for me and it really instilled the idea of people wanting to make opportunities for me and aid me in my future. Through this class I have been able to have so many opportunities to speak with Japanese people and have native people share what Japan really is, I have also been able to speak with colleges that want to provide further educational opportunities for my language learning, and bring the world together.

In all, this program shared the importance of globalization, and the ways the world is connected, and my place within it.

Alexx’s Final Reflection

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By Alexx Thompson

I think throughout the year, I’ve changed a lot. In the beginning, I came in with prior knowledge, and unreasonably expected everyone to be on the same level. Thinking that way skews your judgment and holds you back from being able to actually judge people correctly. I used to be a bit harsher back then, not understanding why some people messed up on certain things, or why they didn’t grasp it as quickly. Then as I spent more and more time working alongside my friends and classmates, I began to really open my eyes.

Not everyone is going to be on the same level as you, whether that be lower or higher.

And that’s a good thing.

You can use these experiences to help yourself grow as well as helping other people grow. It’s easier to empathize with people knowing this. I know in the beginning a lot of things weren’t exactly easy for me, and it only became better with practice. So whenever I offered help I tried to explain it more, and practiced alongside everyone else.

You can’t help someone if you don’t try to put yourself in their shoes. Even if you try, it’ll just be extremely difficult. I was really glad to humble myself and get my mind out of the high pedestal I’d placed myself on. Everything is about practice and what resources are available to you. A fact of life is that everyone isn’t going to have those same resources.

Growing alongside everyone really helped me see that. We’ve all improved and worked our hardest. I’ve seen our classmates work really hard to achieve their goals and I was really inspired. It pushed me to work even harder than before. I really enjoyed playing study games and doing review with everyone. Especially the skits. It was really cool to see how everyone came up with new ideas and really were able to use their Japanese.

It was also fun playing karuta to learn Katakana and Hiragana. It was a nice and fun way to review with everyone, and we always had loads of fun. Once I let down my judgmental barriers about my class, I was able to open up easier and have more fun. Life isn’t black and white or this or that. It’s a fun scale of diverse people, and that’s what our class is. You can’t always like a person 100%, but that doesn’t mean you should automatically dislike them forever for one little thing. Embrace differences and look at yourself first. What can you fix about yourself.

From the bottom of my heart this class will definitely change the way you view the world, and yourself. I’m really honored to be a part of this Globalize DC class, and hope to continue with everyone to learn more!

Jazmin’s Final Reflection

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By Jazmin Angel-Guzman

One major thing I have learned in Japanese Plus is the importance of language learning. Before I came to Japanese Plus, my hobby was self-learning languages, but I didn’t learn much about the cultural implications within a language. What I mean by cultural implications is that there’s more to language other than grammar, sentence structure, etc. That is just the surface of the language, but there is also more to learn by asking why do you say this? Or why do you say that instead of this?

I’ve learned that there can be so many ways to say thank you in Japanese depending on how formal you are. I’ve experienced that too within my household and my family. There are certain things that I can’t say to my mother because I’m formal to her. There are different forms of saying “you” in Spanish, but I wouldn’t say the casual form to her. Learning some of the cultural implications in the Japanese language has made me appreciate more of the cultural aspect of Japan.

The cultural implications have also made me learn from my experience when I went to Japan in February of 2018. I went to Japan with the KAKEHASHI Project and fortunately I stayed with a wonderful host family – although back then my Japanese was so limited I could barely say thank you, somewhat formally. I would say “arigato gozaimasu.” It wasn’t until Japanese Plus, that I could say thank you really formal. You would say, “Domo arigato gozaimasu.” Although the addition was just “domo,” it was such a significant snippet that was added to the formality of the phrase to the extent it changes the casual to more formal. I remember my host dad saying my Japanese was good, but for me I still felt kind of guilty I didn’t know much Japanese.

Lucca’s Final Reflection

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By Lucca Bey

I’m Lucca, I’m a 16 year old, black, trans dude, who, until last year, only knew two languages, Chinese and English. I had discovered Japanese Plus through my school, and I vibed with it immediately.

In the beginning, I truly didn’t have an idea to which extent the Japanese Plus program was going to have an impact on me. Though this is primarily a Japanese language learning program, the language and culture are intrinsically connected, and thus, we ended up learning a great deal of both. Japanese Plus really opened my eyes to how foreign, yet closely connected we are globally. Even though they’re completely different places, the similarities with Chinese culture, Japanese culture, and American culture were a huge surprise to me, and the differences and new concepts we learned about drew me in.

It felt a bit like an immersion experience as we got to experience first-hand Japanese culture inside of our own city. Through the enriching events that we attended to the guest speakers in our class, it really widened my perspective and taught me that Japanese cultural experiences are so much more than just Kimonos and Sushi.

A lot of the speakers we had in the program even exposed me to how valued a global education and vantage point are in both college and career settings. Seeing all these great people talk about how excited they were at the opportunity to have us study abroad in Japan, and how many colleges are more than happy to have students who spoke and understood another language, gave me this revelation.

In short, this program helped me diversify my mindset, and taught me the value of a global education. I am more grateful for this experience than I can put into words.

Respect: Angel’s Final Reflection

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By Angel Njoku

While taking this Japanese class, I learned a lot about respect. Respect is a very important aspect about the Japanese culture. Learning about the different ways respect is shown in the Japanese culture has shifted my way of understanding in a world’s eye view. Since respect is already a prominent part of my upbringing, I can say that the respect in the Japanese culture is very different from the way Americans view and see respect.

This has impacted my thinking of the world view of respect, because Japan intertwined respect within many aspects, like staying at work to help a coworker even though your hours are up, or taking off your shoes when you are in someone’s house, and even giving people presents when you come back from a vacation or going to someone’s house.

Learning how respect plays a role in everything they do helps transform my knowledge about how my version of respect is different from the Japanese style. This has changed the way that I feel about the world, because it shows that while respect is important to other people, there are different places around the world that take respect into a more knowledgeable way.

This also made me realize that respect in Japan revolves more around the society being respectful rather than the individual aspect of respect. This has also made me understand that as a homogenous society, respect in general is under the iceberg, while the different aspects and ways of showing respect is on top of the iceberg. My former knowledge about Japan was that they are similar to other Asian countries that bow as a sign of respect. By now I know that there is more than bowing, and that respect is something that is built within their culture.

Carlos’s Final Reflection

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By Carlos Ramirez

The time flies as the last minutes of the program seem to go down. Lately, I have been imagining what I would be with my life outside the program. It’s been a rough year. I had difficulties in my school (academically) and personal life. What the program did to me was giving a sense of family since I’ve been here in the US. Every time I went to the program I sensed a great feeling of community, outside learning a new language that is always a pleasant experience to better understand the variety of culture that this world could offer and the expansion of knowledge about Japan. However, even I have to say that my biggest motivation was not only learning the language but passing time with my peers. However, that does not mean that I went every Wednesday and Saturday to just talk.

I never expected to really, genuinely like a class as I did love Japanese Plus. Being surrounded with people who have the same likes as you, it feels comfortable. People who are really interested in learning like you. That sense of community, knowing if we get something wrong, we are going to be corrected from our peers. Be with people who think like you, and people who will support you because everyone wants to learn.

It is amazing to have this sense of community as the Japanese. Japanese people are more a community system, as Americans are more individualistic. I learned that making groups and hearing everyone’s expressions is really important, and that can lead to a great idea. I like that the program builds that sense. For me personally, I’m always being an individualistic person. This program taught me that I need to learn as others learn. It also taught me about friendship, cooperation, and unity.

This is the end of one chapter for a few of us. We have lost peers that for some reason decided to leave, but the sense of community is still there and now is stronger than before. I will miss everyone’s face from now on (at least in class). It was a great year with many smiles that I (most of the time) provoked. It was a safe space where everyone was the same but unique at the same time. Personalities have grown and most of our peers have experienced growth, thanks to the program. They were taught that everyone has a talent. However, even if you do not have the talent you want, we all have talents that complement us. In this class, no one is better than anyone. We are all the same but different at the same time. I am going to miss it, but encourage everyone to keep up the hard work. Keep having the community feeling, keep, keep being better, do not give up. Every day is a new day. Mina-sab Ganbatte! And Arigato!. Jyaa-ne! I will see you around.

Join us at our May 29th Final Presentation

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Please join us for our

JAPANESE PLUS
YEAR-END STUDENT PRESENTATION

Our DC students will share some of what they’ve learned and experienced this school year
in our afterschool Japanese language, culture, and career exposure program.

Wednesday, May 29, 2019
The Charles Sumner School
1201 17th Street, NW (17th & M) – near Farragut North metro stop 

5:30 – 6:30 pm: Student Exhibit and Reception
(an informal meet and greet, with light refreshents)

6:30 – 7:30 pm: Final Student Presentation
(seating is limited, so RSVPs required to guarantee a spot) 

Please contact me at sally@globalizedc.org to RSVP, or if you need further information.

How far we’ve come

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By Lucca Bey

As the school year’s close is fast approaching, so does a period of reflection. With our final presentation for our Japanese I class closing in, it’s crazy to look back on how much progress we’ve made as a class so far. We learned over 90 different Japanese characters, excluding Kanji, learned over 120 different vocabulary words, and too many cultural aspects than I can count.

While we still are in the beginning of our Japanese journey, it’s important to look back on how far we’ve come in just a year. Whenever you study a language you begin to recognize it in places in your everyday life more than you thought could actually be possible. It truly gives you an entirely different perspective on little tidbits on the world around you. The connections that can be made from the basics of Japanese that we already know is amazing.

For example, just the other day I was browsing twitter and saw a post with Japanese. Now while no one in our class is completely fluent (yet), I wanted to give it a go. I didn’t go into the post expecting to understand any of it, yet surprisingly enough, I did! Well, kind of.

One doesn’t become fluent in a day, but the post had so many of some of the basics we learned in class, and some words I picked up along the way. Before I start droning on, as I tend to do, I’ll cut to the chase. The post was about a girl who was studying art, and how she had progressed from her first year to her third year. While I can’t say “progress” in Japanese, I do know the words “study,” “art,” general number counters, and how to say “year,” so all I needed to do was some light guess work to fill in the blanks!

It was a pleasant surprise that really made me reflect on how much we’ve managed to learn in such a short period of time, and I’m excited to show that off during our Capstone project on the 29th!

Seeking Japanese teachers for next year’s Japanese Plus program

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Globalize DC is growing its Japanese language programs in the 2019-2020 school year!! Japanese Plus is our innovative afterschool Japanese language, culture, and career exposure program for DC public high school students citywide. Review this website for much more information about the program.

We are seeking one or two new dynamic part-time Japanese teachers to join our team. Interested? Download the job announcement here:

2019 Japanese Teacher Recruitment

We will fill the position as soon as we find the right candidate(s). Please share this announcement with anyone you think might be interested.

Any questions? Contact sally@globalizedc.org.