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 2^nd 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.