Hello,my name is Chaehyeon Lee and I major in English for International Conferences and Communication (EICC) in Hankuk University of Foreign Studies.
As a reporter of 12th JLNE Program, I will introduce JLNE program and the life in Kumamoto.
These are activities that I experienced on the first week.
The First Day in Kumamoto (1/8 Tuesday)
On the first day, we did orientation that contains introducing ourselves,learning some instructions we should know, campus tour and so on. Kumamoto University students, who are our teacher, tried to give a lot of information to make sure that we don't feel uncomfortable in our lives.
Campus tour
Below are the pictures of campus tour. They introduced us library, cafeteria, bus station and so on.
Greeting party
In a class, there is one teacher who is in charge of that class and other teachers who will help to progress that class. Teachers are all Kumamoto University students expect for baba teacher who is in charge of the first period of January 9th.
The Second Day in Kumamoto (1/9 Wednesday)
Introducing one of our friends to others
We had time for introducing one of our friends in front of class based on the pre-investigation sheet.
Poetry study
We had time for learning several poem that is written by one author and the author’s name is Kanekomisuzu. We spent time for learning the given poem and guessing what the last line would be. There were some assignment that is studying another Kanekomisuzu's poetry and write about what the author is trying to say, and what you felt.
The Third Day in Kumamoto (1/10 Thursday)
Ordering the piece of lyrics
We had time for ordering the piece of lyrics in right order while listening to the song.It was a pretty difficult work but the song was repeated until we completed so it was quite okay.
About speech contest
We will be having speech contest in January 30th so we were given some instruction about that. We will write a script for the speech contest and teachers will give feedback on that. After we finish working on the essay, we will practice for speech.It would be a great opportunity both Japanese writing and speaking but especially for speaking because you have to almost memorize that script in right intonation and speed.
Learning about Japanese dialect
We had time for learning Japanese dialect centered on Kumamoto, Osaka and Okinawa.With vivid explanation and examples, it was exciting and easy to learn.
The Fourth Day in Kumamoto (1/11 Friday)
Playing games named 'Karuta'
Karuta is a Japan’s card game. The way to do this is when the reader reads a poem, a person who find the first letter of a poem would get the card. The person who has the most cards would be the winner.
How to book on the phone
We practiced how to book on the phone. The first picture is about the basic form and the second picture is about detailed one.
Playing games named 'anything basket'
We did a game named ‘anything basket’. The way to do this is one person say some features of people, for example “The person who is wearing black skirt”, people who have that feature should move their seats. The remained person who cannot find his/her seat quickly should answer all the questions the others give. The game is processed by the remaining person who goes on to other features.
The Fifth Day in Kumamoto (1/12 Saturday)
Visiting Kumamon Square
We visited Kumamon square. In there, we could see Kumamon which is mascot of Kumamoto city. In one side, there were souvenir shop and photo zone.
Visiting Suizenji Jojuen Garden
After we visited Kumamon square, we went to suizenji Jojuen Garden. The admission fee was 400¥. It was good to take a walk with the beautiful scenery.
1/14 Monday
Nihon Banzai- Momokuro
We learned Japanese song which name is Nihon Banzai. This song contained Japan's certain area's name and special product of that region. For example, for Osaka, salted pollack roe is popular. We viewed all these special products of each region that is shown in the song. After that, we created a song that is related to Korea based on this. For my team, we made a song using Jeju island's Hanrabong, Phohang's Guemegi, Seoul's Namsan tower and so on. Also, we had time to present our own song in front of the class.
Finding correct place
Each person illustrated a certain place on their own paper, for example, hospital, classroom, or baseball field in Japanese. After that, the others found a correct place based on the paper.
Homonym
We studied homonym. For instance, if you hear 'hasi' in Japanese, three things could be come up to your mind. First is 'chopstick', second is 'bridge', and the last one could be 'the end'. It was pretty good for arranging confused Japanese word because Japanese has lots of same pronouncing words that could be viewed same Hiragana, while using different Kanji.
About the interview
We had an interview over three class that held on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.
On Monday, we constructed an interview questions. For my team, we planned to ask about transportation fee and study aboard. The interview was about to held on only Kumamoto University students.
On Tuesday, we did an interview to more than 20 students in Kumamoto University campus. It was quite difficult to ask a foreign person that I first met in foreign language. Most students, however, kindly replied to our interview.
On Wednesday, we presented the outcome of the interview.
I was able to see how the Japanese University students think about particular topics in real.
1/15 Tuesday
Making senanrio
We made one scenario based on characters we were given.
Introducing a famous person
Each of us introduced a famous person that we like. For instance, I introduced Jay Park. For example, I explained about his age, his famous song, and what attracted me.
1/ 16 Wednesday
Calligraphy
We learned how to do calligraphy and practiced calligraphy.
For Thursday, there was no class. Because we had MT for two days- which is Friday and Saturday- we did orientation.
We visited Mount Aso. The middle of the Mount Aso is still activate as volcano and the scenery was beautiful
About the MT- Friday, Saturday
Visiting Mount Aso
We visited Mount Aso. The middle of the Mount Aso is still activate as volcano and the scenery was beautiful
Also, we visited Aso shrine. I did 'Omikuzi' which is drawing lots with one's fortune on it. According to the legend of 'Omikuzi', if you hang the 'Omikuzi' on the row, them the bad fortune would be disappear.
Here is the place where we did MT. It was really clean and peaceful, but I couldn't sleep well because of freezing weather. It might have been warmer if Japan also take the floor heating system.
Observing stars
Kumamoto's sky is really clean so that this was my first time that I saw so many stars with my eyes. I highly recommend to observe the sky when you come to Kumamoto.
Making chapsticks and necklace
Talent show
It was a chance to get closer with both Japanese and Korean friend!
These are activities that I experienced on the third week.
Before I begin, I will paste the syllabus of third and fourth week.
The schedule is not precisely proceeded as the syllabus illustrates, but you can see the overall thing through this with my posts.
1/21 Monday
Who am I
We did game which name is 'Who am I'. We can only give three to five hints about something to others. Then, with the hint that is given, others should correct what the person want to say. For example, I illustrated the wallet. Hints were 'Really important things could be placed inside of this.', 'Almost everywhere including bus and convenience store might require this', and 'Lots of things including coins, paper money and cards are in it.'
Relay of Kanji
At the beginning of this class, we learned some Japanese Kanji and their components. Some Kanji are consist of itself, but a lot of Kanji compose more than one component. In this time, we learned Kanji centered on the radical. We learned various types of the radical and also did activity for finding right radical to each Kanji that are pieced.
1/22 Tuesday
Survival Game
We had discussion for what if our plane crashed in the desert, what kind of things should be given priority. Also, we had time for explaining why we thought that is important or less important.
Making four character idiom
We made four character idioms freely by using Kanji that we already know. In my case, I mixed the word 'cute', 'thing', 'best', and 'high'. This means cute things are always the best.
Cartoon
We had time for viewing the famous Japanese cartoon and reading the line of the cartoons. It was pretty interesting because we could see the terms that are frequently used in the daily life or dialects from the words of the cartoon characters.
1/23 Wednesday
About the interview
We watched a video that is about some rule of good attitude when you have an interview in Japan. In addition, we practiced the legit way of bow when you enter and exit the interview room.
Game 'Otomatobe'
We did game that is named 'Otomatobe'. The rule of the game is quite similar to game 'Finding Mafia'. The four participants will get the paper but only one person get the different content inside the paper. Through some questions, participants should guess who is the joker. However, the joker might not realize that he/she is the joker. In addition, all participants have right to lie, so it is hanged very carefully. It is VERY exciting.
Mimetic word
We drew facial expressions based on Japanese mimetic word. For example, 'niko niko' is mimetic word that express the emotion that is happily smile.
1/24 Thursday
Menu of 'Isakaya'(Japanese pub)
We learned about the menu of Isakaya that is Japanese pub. It was interesting because I could learn unique words that I didn't study yet like the name of thigh of chicken leg.
Idiom
We studied idioms related to our body components. For example, 'there is no eyes' means 'you really like something'.
Rabbling
We practiced rabbling with the sentence that are hard to pronounciate. In English, there might be like..'Betty Botter bought some bottle but she said the butter bitter'.
1/25 Friday
Tea ceremony
In Japan, the tea ceremony is famous so we experienced the tea ceremony. We had time for making tea, and sharing that tea with Japan's snack.
Opposite Karuta
I introduced about Karuta in the first week posting. However this time, it is about 'oppisite' Karuta. The game's rule is you have to find the opposite one of the word
that is suggested. For example, if the speaker say 'adult', you should find 'child'.
About the speech contest
As I introduced before, in January 30th, we have speech contest. Regarding speech contest, JLNE's teachers all gave us precise and detailed feedbacks. They fixed grammatically wrong senteces and explained all the principle of that grammer.
1/28 (Monday)
Making 'Monogatari'(story)
This activity is making a story that a lot people engage in making. If one person makes a sentence of story, then another people carry on that story. The story continues with no exact plans. Frequently, the probability of story runs out, but that factor makes this activity attractive.
Making role- play scenario
One group that is consisted of two people picked one situation in random and we made a scenario based on that situation.For example, my group picked a stiation that scolding parents and a kid. After making a scenario, we did presentation in front of class.
Sending polite email in Japanese style
We had time for writing polite email to Japanese professor. Because in Japan, the politeness is an important factor, there are standard forms of polite email. We studied how to show gratitude, comments and so on.
Conjunctions
We had time for studying and practicing diverse conjunctions. We studied what kind of things are for 'and', 'but', 'because', 'or', 'for example', 'by the way' and so on. Also, we made a story using conjunctions that we learned.
Making Omikuzi
If you come to Japan, it is easy to see Shinsa. In Shinsa, you can easily see 'Omikuzi' which is paper that your fortune is written in it. This time, we studied what kind of factors the Omikuzi have. For the factor, there are 'waiting people for you', 'relation', 'lost', 'find', and so on. In addition, we made Omikuzi and shared randomly with classmates.
1/ 30 Wednesday
Speech Contest
Finally we presented the speech contest. We rewrote our essay for this speech contest several times and spent time for practicing this speech for a month, so, it was meaningful to us.
After speech contest and presentig drama, we had award ceremony. For the speech contest, I got the first prize!!
They highly graded intonation and content of the essay. Afterward, we got the certificate of completion and had party together.
My short thoughts
It was really grateful to having this kind of mind-fulfilling experience for a month.
Kumamoto University students were diligently and enthusiastically taught us Japanese and helped us with bright attitude.
Frankly, my Japanese is not very good so I had hard time having class while others didn't. However, teachers who are Kumamoto University students gave explanation in Korean, English, and body language as soon as I asked them to help me. However, there were limitations so I highly recommend to study sufficiently and engage in JLNE Program.
I liked the life of Japan, especially comfortable transportation, clean road and lots of cute things. Still, I think there are more good things that I cannot see yet because of my lack of Japanese. Consequently, this program stimulated me to study Japanese more hardly to see and to communicate with Japan in bigger eyes.
I cannot give more thanks to JLNE teachers and friends who spent valuable one month.
This is my last review of JLNE Program. Thank you so much for viewing.
If you have anything to ask, please feel free to ask me !!
+) Some tips for transportation
Kumamoto City's transportation fee is really expensive so I will give you some tip.
When you come to Japan, I recommend to buy Suica. It is card that you can use in bus, convienence store and so on(you should check whether it is available because there are some restaruant that
suica is not available). You can charge money in that card and use it. Because Japan use lots of coins, it is comfortable if you use Suica.
As you can see, near the dormitory, there are transportation center. And the red one I checked are cheap ones.
Because this one takes the shortest way to go school, it is cheapest and shortest.
Thank you for viewing my review~!!!
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