Nihongo Practicum:
Teacher Training in China
By Ai Ueta
About 20 students, including Kahori Kitadai, a 3rd year student from the Dept. of International Studies, went to China for a teacher training course last September. Every year a group of students do this kind of practical training for the Japanese teacher’s license. They went to a university which is affiliated with Kochi University, and stayed in the hotel (except for a one-night home stay) which the university owns, a system common in China.
They woke up at 6 a.m. every morning because school starts at 8 in China, had breakfast, and went to the university. At lunch time, they ate with friends and Chinese students in a cafeteria as we do in Kochi University. After school finished, they went back to the hotel, and had dinner. Ms. Kitadai told me the taste was fine but there was too much food because of Chinese way of thinking: they serve more than we can eat.
On the other hand, in Japanese culture, it is considered impolite to leave food on your plate. Because of this cultural difference, the Chinese served a lot of food as usual to make the eater leave some of it, but the Japanese students thought they had to eat everything so they did. The cycle continued when the Chinese would then cook more and Japanese students ate more. “We could see some friends who gained weight during the stay in China”, Ms. Kitadai said. During dinner time, a lot of guests came to have dinner with them - exchange students who are from Japan, Chinese Japanese teachers, and so on. After dinner, it was free time, but most students were busy preparing their teaching plans. Chinese teachers who were working at the university took care of Japanese students while at school, with an average of one teacher for every 2 or 3 students. Students gave lessons to classes led by the mentor teacher so it depended on the mentor-teacher how many lessons students had to teach.
Through spending the time with Chinese students, Ms. Kitadai noticed that Chinese students were interested in the Japanese students much more than she expected. She thought they would treat Japanese students simply as teachers who are in training, but they were very kind and cute. They talked to Japanese students a lot; some students gave Japanese students their number, saying “Just call me if you need any help”. There were also students who asked the mentor-teacher if they could have the Japanese student come for a home-stay.
Ms. Kitadai said she was interested when she heard a student who was studying for the Japanese Language Aptitude Test, saying that, “Japanese is very difficult to understand the meanings because many expressions are so vague”. We often hear Japanese is a vague language, but she has never understood the real meaning of it since she is a native speaker. Listening to a Chinese student say this, it made her think anew about her own Japanese language. She thought Japanese language reflects Japanese culture, such as leaving the meaning vague, not being direct, and so on.
Kahori insisted that, “if anybody is thinking about participating in this program, I would strongly recommend going”. She thought, before going, that it would probably be difficult to get to know Chinese students due to the fact that Japan and China have lots of historical issues. However, they gave the Japanese student-teachers a warm welcome. She concluded by saying “I was moved very much when I saw people who were studying our language in another country so seriously”. It seems like programs like this can do a lot to bridge differences and a complicated history. Good things like these don’t often get reported in the mass media.
"Campus News" トップ
「日本語教員とは」
「＜日本語教師＞という経験」
They woke up at 6 a.m. every morning because school starts at 8 in China, had breakfast, and went to the university. At lunch time, they ate with friends and Chinese students in a cafeteria as we do in Kochi University. After school finished, they went back to the hotel, and had dinner. Ms. Kitadai told me the taste was fine but there was too much food because of Chinese way of thinking: they serve more than we can eat.On the other hand, in Japanese culture, it is considered impolite to leave food on your plate. Because of this cultural difference, the Chinese served a lot of food as usual to make the eater leave some of it, but the Japanese students thought they had to eat everything so they did. The cycle continued when the Chinese would then cook more and Japanese students ate more. “We could see some friends who gained weight during the stay in China”, Ms. Kitadai said. During dinner time, a lot of guests came to have dinner with them - exchange students who are from Japan, Chinese Japanese teachers, and so on. After dinner, it was free time, but most students were busy preparing their teaching plans. Chinese teachers who were working at the university took care of Japanese students while at school, with an average of one teacher for every 2 or 3 students. Students gave lessons to classes led by the mentor teacher so it depended on the mentor-teacher how many lessons students had to teach.
Through spending the time with Chinese students, Ms. Kitadai noticed that Chinese students were interested in the Japanese students much more than she expected. She thought they would treat Japanese students simply as teachers who are in training, but they were very kind and cute. They talked to Japanese students a lot; some students gave Japanese students their number, saying “Just call me if you need any help”. There were also students who asked the mentor-teacher if they could have the Japanese student come for a home-stay.
Ms. Kitadai said she was interested when she heard a student who was studying for the Japanese Language Aptitude Test, saying that, “Japanese is very difficult to understand the meanings because many expressions are so vague”. We often hear Japanese is a vague language, but she has never understood the real meaning of it since she is a native speaker. Listening to a Chinese student say this, it made her think anew about her own Japanese language. She thought Japanese language reflects Japanese culture, such as leaving the meaning vague, not being direct, and so on.
Kahori insisted that, “if anybody is thinking about participating in this program, I would strongly recommend going”. She thought, before going, that it would probably be difficult to get to know Chinese students due to the fact that Japan and China have lots of historical issues. However, they gave the Japanese student-teachers a warm welcome. She concluded by saying “I was moved very much when I saw people who were studying our language in another country so seriously”. It seems like programs like this can do a lot to bridge differences and a complicated history. Good things like these don’t often get reported in the mass media.
"Campus News" トップ「日本語教員とは」「＜日本語教師＞という経験」