hosting japanese students
Starting a Japanese Culture Club (not Anime) in high school with my friend. Help with ideas please?
Ok, so my friend and I want to start a Japanese Culture Club in our high school. He’s been a foreign exchange student in Japan and he is hosting a Japanese student this year too. We were planning on giving mini-lessons on learning Japanese, bringing in Japanese food (snacks and dishes), talk about Japanese media (movies and music), crafts like origami, and talk about a exchange program with Japan perhaps. I was thinking we could maybe even have a penpal program but it’s all unofficial. Do you guys have any others ideas on a Japanese Culture Club because I’m not sure if all of the ideas we came up with will work out.
I’m not sure where you live but you might want to try contacting the Japanese Consulate nearest to you and tell them what you’re doing. Usually, Consulates have tons of information and other materials about Japan, some of which you might be able to borrow. Part of a Consulates job is to help increase the goodwill and understanding between Japan and other countries so I am pretty sure that they will be very happy to hear what you’re doing and do what they can to help.
The Consulate should also be able to help you get in touch with Japanese groups or organizations in your area who might be able to help you arrange things like cutural demonstrations, guest speakers, or perhaps a penpal program.
If contacting a Consulate seems to be a little overwhelming then ask your teacher to do it for you. Your teacher should have no problem explaining what you want to do and it would make it seem more official.
In the US, you can find the Japanese Consulate that’s nearest to you by looking at the Embassy of Japan in the U.S.A.’s home page.
http://www.us.emb-japan.go.jp/english/html/index.html
When I was a teacher, a Australian coworker of mine was doing a presentation on Australia. She was able to get lots of materials and other stuff from the Australian Embassy here in Japan. The Embassy gave her lots of stuff and let her borrow some others. So, check with the Japanese Embassy or Consulate in your home country and see what they can do.
4-H Arizona’s Japanese Student Exchange (Summer 2010)
