My first thoughts going into the KAKEHASHI exchange were ones that were followed with nervous energy. I didn’t have a lot of confidence in my Japanese skill and was even more nervous that I wouldn’t even get along with the visiting students. I got into the class about right before the students’ arrival. Everybody was preparing things and it didn’t really immediately help with my nervousness, but when the students got there it was much more relaxed than I was prepared for. The students knew enough English and we knew enough Japanese to communicate through both languages successfully (although the Japanese students were more proficient at English than we were at Japanese). If we were confused with a word the Japanese students found a way to explain to us, and if they were confused we found a way to explain to them what we meant.
These mutual understandings we had of each others’ language allowed me to realize how much I had in common with the Japanese students from the KAKEHASHI group. I was able to relate most to them by asking about their music taste, because music is a very important part of my personal life. I got to learn that we even shared similar music tastes. I got to relate with a group of students over our shared interest in the Hip Hop genre as well as the jazz genre. I even met a student who shared an interest in the band “Ikimonogakari.” These shared experiences helped me get over those nervous thoughts I came in with. I’m very glad I got to meet with the KAKEHASHI group and get that experience of using the Japanese language to learn about kids I share similar tastes with.
Saturday, September 30 was a happy day for us! The second year of our citywide afterschool program, Japanese Plus, launched at Columbia Heights Education Campus, with 14 returning students and a new Japanese teacher, Chihiro Takahashi. These super-dedicated DC public high school students will be meeting twice a week from now through the end of May – studying Japanese; exploring Japanese culture, history, and potential college/career pathways; and engaging in cultural exchange with peers and others in the US-Japan space. In other words, soaking up all things Japanese. Excitement is the operative word.
So what were they thinking on this first day back?
D’Amonie
In this present moment, I am very excited to be back. I have looked forward to this time again. I still love learning languages and I’ve been very proud of my Japanese learning journey thus far. Being able to go places and read the hiragana and katakana on Japanese products is so exciting for me, but there’s more to learn, which is why I am back. I am confident that I will get to my goal of natural conversational Japanese this year. I can’t wait to go to the next level. I can’t wait for more exchanges and interactions. And I can’t wait to go out and explore firsthand.
Zitlaly
As I was going through the metal detector here at CHEC, it hadn’t hit me that I’d soon be sitting in my Japanese class. I guess you can say it felt surreal. I’ve always been hesitant to push myself beyond limits, especially with languages. Though due to my past year experience, I feel as I can finally reach my language goals in Japanese. So I’m not as nervous nor scared to admit when I need help. I wish myself the best of luck this year especially because I’m a senior and REALLY BUSY!!
Elias
It’s the start of Japanese learning level 2 and honestly I feel good. I’m not particularly nervous. It’s more of a joyful, can’t wait type of feeling. But now that I’m also thinking about my senior year, that sorta does slow me down a little bit but I can manage. Learning through all the challenges and going to places relating to Japanese and Japanese culture keeps me motivated. And because of that, I’ll continue to push through in order to learn Japanese and experience the culture and more.
Aaron
I’m very excited for this year of Japanese Plus. I’ve gotten to see some friends from the class that I’ve missed. I hope to find a way to incorporate my knowledge and learning of the Japanese language into my college courses next year. My dream is to be able to tour my music in Japan or the UK one day.
Kori
I am looking forward to learn more about Japanese culture as well as being able to extend my language. I feel confident that I’ll learn more than I did before, and meet new people, like how I met a Congressman, and traveled to the Embassy of Japan during the summer, which helped me learn more on the history of the persons and embassy. I want to be able to experience more than what I’ve done like the tea ceremony, and being able to try on a traditional outfit.
Aitana
I’m looking forward to the new possibilities year two has to offer to our Japanese class this semester. After my time in Japan these last four months, I am excited to share all about my experiences with my classmates and hopefully inspire them to want to study abroad too. Overall, my goals this year are to maintain my Japanese skills, stay connected with the Japanese community in DC, and seek out new exciting opportunities.
Zion
Coming back to Japanese Plus is like remembering the first time I walked through the doors of our room for Japanese 1. I was late for my first class on Japanese, remembering my first teacher, our first exchange program with Japanese students where we all got to practice our Japanese with native Japanese speakers. It is sort of like going from middle school to high school, with all that I have learned from Japanese 1. I plan to take that knowledge with me to Japanese 2 to further expand my knowledge.
Mai
I am feeling really excited and happy coming into my 2nd year at Japanese Plus, to improve my Japanese skills that obtained last year. This year I am looking forward to learning and understanding daily life Japanese conversations, such as being able to talk about our day and things we like. I also look forward to building complex sentences using kanji. Outside the language aspect of the program, I hope to engage with the Japanese culture such as learning to play taiko drums, Japanese festival, and host again a Japanese high school exchange program.
Felipe
I’m now a level 2 Japanese student which makes me happy but nervous at the same time. I feel like I came out of last year with a good understanding of the language but I think level 2 will ramp up the pace a lot quicker and I’m gonna have to keep up. Luckily I went to Japan over the summer for 3 weeks which definitely helped with keeping my Japanese memorized. I was able to get some speaking and reading practice in as well as just being surrounded by language. This year I’m looking forward to hopefully get to a basic conversational level of Japanese and start learning some kanji.
Chamiya
My main goal for the year is to converse and meet Japanese students. While I was in Japan over the summer, I had the opportunity to practice and learn more Japanese. However, I wasn’t able to talk to students who were my age except for my host sister. Talking in a different language to converse with someone from a different culture was super fun and exciting to me. I learned so many different aspects of their culture and I was able to teach my own culture. There were similarities too and I wish to do it again. That is my goal for this year – to converse with a Japanese student and learn about their culture.
Margarita
Glad to be back!!! Seeing my friends and using Japanese again is making me feel so excited. Although I need to review some things, I am glad I get to do it with a new teacher. Hopefully this year we all grow closer as a class now that we will spend more time in person, and expand our knowledge of Japanese language and culture. I am excited to see how much Kanji we can learn this year and hopefully be able to use it with more Japanese people.
Jennifer
Coming into my second year of Japanese Plus I feel a bit nervous and excited. I feel nervous because I think my Japanese skills aren’t good enough but then I reflect on where I started. I knew nothing but here I am having small conversations and I know how to introduce myself. I am excited to continue learning. I aspire to be fluent so that it may better prepare me for college. I hope to study abroad and this program helped me seek opportunities in which I can. I also hope to get a better understanding of Japanese culture, the language, making connections, and growing with my peers.
Penelope
Although it’s been a while since our last Japanese class, I’m looking forward to picking up where we left off and advancing our language skills even further. I hope that this year we can go to more events around DC to experience Japanese culture, because I enjoyed so many of the ones we attended last year, like Sakura Matsuri and the exhibit at the JICC. I’m also looking forward to learning more kanji, and, of course, working with our new teacher!
Tristan
When I first came back to the program I was surprised by how my peers had changed over the past five months. Along with this I felt a bit awkward initially re-entering the program. I hadn’t many opportunities to practice Japanese over the break, so I felt a bit rusty almost as if I were lagging behind. With that said it would be a lie to say that I didn’t miss the program.
Well now that the program is over for the year, I looked at some of the pictures from throughout the year, and reflected on the growth made. Here are some major points (portrayed as pictures) in my progress with the program.
Here is a photo from the beginning of the year. I’m there in the black coat. I’m an ambivert so I’m usually very antisocial in instances where I’m in a new place. I was very antisocial and kind of against the whole program in general. Not for a specific reason, its just harder for me to get accustomed to things like the Japanese Plus program.
I’ll be using the JICC visit to detail my middle point in my progress with the program. I think the JICC visit was where I kind of opened up a bit more than I was used to. Especially with the haiku I submitted for their exhibit.
That haiku was very personal to me and was normally something I wouldn’t write, much less show in an exhibit. I also think I was getting more accustomed to being in contact with the other students in the program and making genuine friendships.
You can’t see me in this image, but the Sakura Matsuri Festival was a really big final turning point for me in the Japanese Plus program into accepting the program into my life and enjoying it. I was way out of my comfort zone being that much in a public place, but I didn’t feel anxiety, or anything being there because I was there with the Japanese Plus group. Overall, being in this program helped me a lot with being open to new experiences. I hope that all of my classmates have a great summer, and that next year will be as great as this one was.
Our March 18 Saturday class was an overall new experience for me with meeting the group of 20 KAKEHASHI exchange students visiting DC from Okinawa, Japan. I arrived at Columbia Heights Education Campus (CHEC), where we held the exchange, not really knowing what to expect or think about it because I hadn’t gone to meet the first group of kids from the KAKEHASHI exchange program, and was kinda lost in what was going on, but it was an enjoyable experience and it was much better than how I thought it would go. I made more conversation than I thought I would and overall found myself having a nice conversation with a Japanese student.
We also learned about Okinawan culture, nature, and history. The thing I enjoyed learning about the most was Okinawan music and the music scale that they use and how it differs from the Western scale. The Okinawan musical scale cuts out the fourth and seventh scale degree to eliminate half step intervals. Basically there are two less notes than a Western musician would expect! We also learned about Okinawan food and that also was interesting to me because of the mixture of cultures that came together to create the foods. We talked about champuru, a stir fry dish composed of different vegetables to bring out the best parts of everything.
Overall the experience was new at first and I felt anxious about it, but as I acclimated myself to the environment I enjoyed myself more. I even got to make new friends and learn new information out of the exchange, and I’m excited to do it again!
Our SY2022-23 Japanese Plus program has begun, and that means intense Japanese classes twice a week. Here are some quick reflections from some of our students about starting out to learn one of the world’s most challenging languages.
Kayla:
So my name is Kayla and I joined my Japanese class almost a month ago and it has been one of the best things I’ve done for myself. Learning Japanese has expanded my intelligence. I don’t only know Spanish but I also am learning Japanese and as a young black lady that is wonderful and my family is very proud. Something that I really like about this class is the diversity. There are many different people trying to learn a new culture and language, that is very beautiful to me. I will continue my classes and I hope to learn so much more with my wonderful teachers and classmates.
Jahshawn:
I’m a little bit worried about keeping notes and keeping the knowledge I learned in each class in my head. The three alphabets also scare me a bit, especially because of the chance I’ll feel overwhelmed. I’m honestly scared of feeling overwhelmed and falling behind, but I’m excited to see all the amazing things we’ll do in this program, and the amazing and unique people I’ll eventually meet.
Margarita:
With Japanese classes I am surprised on how much we are learning so far. I feel that when we interact with the teachers and other classmates we learn more which I also find very fun. I like it when we talk to each other, because it makes us all feel closer as friends and/or a community. It’s also fun to see other people learn with you.
Chamiya:
Since I have started learning Japanese 2 years ago, the beginning lessons are reviews for me. I know the hiragana and katakana alphabet and a few phrases. But, there are still a few phrases that I have learned. For example, “Anoo, onamae-wa?” which means what is your name. I am really excited for future classes for this 2 year program.
Aaron:
I’ve been enjoying the classes so far. I feel like I’ve been keeping up well. I find it interesting how everyone is referred to a different way, depending on your relationship with the person. For example, you would always call your teacher sensei even when you leave school.
Thalia:
I think learning Japanese will help me grow – to try new things. So far I’ve had a nice experience. I’ve met people who have the same interest as me. I think the lessons are just right and if I practice and study, it can really help me.
Penelope:
I’m really enjoying Japanese Plus so far. I’ve studied Japanese before, but never in person, and I find that I’m learning new vocabulary much faster this way. One thing I find challenging is knowing when to use each level of formality, for example おはよう versus おはようございます. I’m looking forward to learning more during the next two years.
GLOBALIZE DC: JAPAN 