Description:
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This course gives students opportunity to deepen their knowledge of Japanese language and culture through their community service and to develop communication skills through discussions, reflection essays and presentations. Taught in Japanese.
This class is the service learning program I took. |
Course Narrative
During the course of this class, I studied social issues, social awareness, being self aware, identity and especially how to impress upon others the concept of being self aware. It was very heavily anchored in ethics and the way we conduct ourselves being ethically aware of our own culture and the cultures around us, and where the balance comes in between the self and the community as a focus of one's life (see sample paper). We also reflected on language learning, and why it is important to education. In this reflection, I gained a deeper understanding of the main reason secondary language and culture learning is so important (see sample paper).
The class also focused heavily on understanding students and reflecting on what happens within the classroom, after every meeting. We started out by scanning the area and getting an idea of what the community and school are like so that we could understand our students better (see sample scan presentation). I worked with a group called the "Conquistadores" who were assigned to a small class at Highland Elementary School. Following each meeting with the students, we reflected on what happened, why it happened and how we could make these things better, by writing in Japanese (see sample reflection paper). By doing this, we cataloged what we had done already, and we moved forward with new ideas from our reflections.
The class also focused heavily on understanding students and reflecting on what happens within the classroom, after every meeting. We started out by scanning the area and getting an idea of what the community and school are like so that we could understand our students better (see sample scan presentation). I worked with a group called the "Conquistadores" who were assigned to a small class at Highland Elementary School. Following each meeting with the students, we reflected on what happened, why it happened and how we could make these things better, by writing in Japanese (see sample reflection paper). By doing this, we cataloged what we had done already, and we moved forward with new ideas from our reflections.
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