Sunday, June 21

Welcome to the blog about University of San Diego 2015 Tokyo Program!

We all left San Diego, and have arrived at Tokyo. Most of us had easy flights, but some encountered a little difficulty (thanks to some US-based carriers), but we are now all here!

We are having dinner this evening in a nice restaurant in Tokyo's Shinjyuku area. Will be posting updates regularly. Please enjoy our posts!

Sunday, June 21

It looks like the whole gang made it to Tokyo safely despite unexpected cancellations, delays, and having to take a longer route to the intended destination.

It was a fabulous dinner we had together as a community of learners.  To kick start the learning process, a mini lesson on how to use chop sticks was given.  Gwen, you did a wonderful job!

Monday, June 22 

I have to say, the first day of our cultural exchange with the students of Waseda University was phenomenal.

When we first arrived in Takadanobaba, we were greeted by Natsumi, a  student who had visited the University of San Diego this past February.  She, along with Shun, gave us a tour of the campus.

Waseda University's  Library 

Natsumi commented that Olive was the first to try to imitate the Founder's facial expression instead of taking a picture of his majestic frown.

Where classic meets modern inside this renovated building.

Paul, Micheal, and Olive enjoying a fresh cup of water in Waseda's cafeteria.

Can't visit a University without taking a group picture with Waseda's mascot.

After out tour around the campus, both USD and Waseda students gave a presentation of their action research.

Paul gave us a brief overview of his Action Research, addressing the issues students face when solving word problems.

Gwen shared with us her passionate belief that all children are capable of learning and that as educators we must analyze how we explain subjects to students.

Michael showed us the importance of educators listening to students' feedback to improve their practice and who they are as individuals.

Olive and Nicole shared their observations at USD's ELA and the various concerns that surrounds the assessment of students needs.

Natsumi's presentation was a perfect example of how to combine two paradigms and come to one's own understanding of reality.

Shun's presentation caused everyone to become conscious of the various stages of reflections we undergo as educators.

As a break between presentation, we had a wonderful lunch.  I know it looks strange, but honestly, it actually quite delicious.

You can't end the day without having a bowl of noodles.

 Tuesday, June 23

On Tuesday, June 23^rd, we got to take a bus tour around Tokyo. As the guide gave us information about the various locations as we passed them, I found myself fascinated by the architecture of the city. The looming skyscrapers and winding streets reminded me of my walks through San Francisco. However, no matter the similarities in the layout of the city, the differences of the individual sites, Tokyo Tower, in-progress Olympic stadiums, and sheer number of people were striking. It was a strange mixture of familiar and alien.

  

At Meji Shine, I was entranced by the size and majesty of the structures. As I passed through the Torii gate, the leaves of the surrounding forest marked the difference between the city and the shrine.  We were asked to perform a purifying ceremony before entering the shrine, washing our hands with holy water.  The graceful slopes of the buildings within the shrine reminded me of the water used during that ceremony.

           

After the shrine, we travelled to the Imperial Gardens. The gardens were beautiful, another serene space within the bustling streets of Tokyo. The elegant landscape makes the extensive running path around the gardens a popular running path for local businessmen and women. As we walked inside the gardens, we encountered a terrifying half-fish, half-tiger statue that was once used as a warning for potential attackers. I challenged the fierce beast but suffered a quick defeat.

Last, we travelled to Asakusa shrine. Even though it was the middle of the day on a Tuesday, the shrine was full of people.  We found a place where we could pay to know our fortunes. My fortune was terrible! Luckily, I was able to get rid of my bad fortune by folding the paper and tying it to a rack of other bad fortunes the monks would later burn.

   

The tour was a wonderful way to see some of the amazing sites of Tokyo and spend time in the some spiritually and culturally significant locations of Japan. I feel quite privileged to have had this opportunity.

This is an addendum to my 23 June blog post.  Above is a photo of the largest torii gate in Japan located at the Meiji Shrine.

Fearless Gwen takes on a half-tiger, half-fish at the Imperial Gardens.

Olive and Nicole check out their futures at the Asakusa Shrine.

Tuesday June 23

Today’s learning experiences centered around the Japanese culture as we embarked on a tour of Tokyo. Meeting up at the hotel a little before 8 AM, we were transported from the Keio Plaza Hotel to Hamamatsu-cho Bus Terminal to meet our tour bus from Hata Bus Company (The Yellow Bus Guys!) Our tour guide Haruko (“Harry”) kept us informed the entire trip about the various sites we were seeing and going to during the 4 hour tour.

Our first stop was the Meiji Shrine dedicated to the Emperor Meiji and his wife. He was Emperor from 1868 to 1912 and was the main catalyst in opening Japan’s doors to outside influences. The Shrine is home to the largest Torii Gate in Japan (Otorii) which is made of cypress wood from a HUGE tree brought to Japan from Taiwan. After we participated in the traditional water purification ceremony, we proceeded into the temple grounds. Our Guide informed us of many of the traditions associated with the Shrine, perhaps the most interesting being the small dents found on the front side of the six pillars in front of the ‘altar’ area. These dents are from coins people throw toward the offering box during the New Year since they are not able to get close due to crowd sizes.
More to follow about the Imperial Gardens, Asakusa, and the Ginza - our schedule is packed!

After visiting the Meijii Shrine our bused guided us to the Imperial Gardens near the newly renovated Tokyo Train Station.  The Gardens has been recently opened to the public.  It was a nice and quiet walk through some very beautiful grounds allowing us to get up close and personal with some of the walls that were built centuries ago.

Following up our appearance at the Imperial Gardens we proceeded to Asakusa and the famous Temple site.  The temple has been rebuilt numerous times becasue of fires, but still looks majestic.  This was the last official stop of our tour.  Gwen, Nicole, and Olive decided to stay and explore the area while Paul and Michael stayed with the Bus which dropped them off in the Ginza.

The tour was a reasonable way to see some of the sites of Tokyo (saw lots more from the bus too), without fighting too many crowds or getting drained by the heat.

 

Wednesday, June 24

We met up early today to visit one of the finest high schools in Tokorozawa, a city west of central Tokyo. The school principal and vice principal treated us as special guests in the conference room. After brief self-introductions about ourselves and the school, the two important figures began to take questions from us ranging from the lack of technology used and the use of a high platform for teachers in Japanese classrooms.The open discussion soon ignited the brainstorming of educational ideas where the east meets the west.

Some of the classes we observed were Geography, P.E, English, Biology, Calligraphy and Art.

Guess who’s the most popular star of today? The two who got the chance to show their real talent in calligraphy! Thumb up for you two!

From left to right, the beautiful characters mean “rain” and “sky”.

Though, they did have help from an expert teacher!

Here goes lunch time! Way too delicious, as always.

After lunch, we headed to the teacher’s education centre where we got to know the outline of the education system in the city of Tokorozawa. The students from Waseda University also gave us a wonderful presentation centered around the development and problems of English education in Japan. Going off of that, Dr. Inoue led a deep reflection on how the urgency and openness of acquiring a new language pushes the forwardness of language education.

Before we consume more food for thought to take back home,  we literally need more food and drinks for our stomach after a tight schedule..

Come on, it’s time for the delayed Welcome Party!!!!

The game is on! A bit of adding to  the traditional paper-rock-scissor game rules and we rock the whole night! Simple but fun! Thanks Waseda students’ for your creativity!

 

 

Gifts exchanging. T-shirts from the Global Centre of USD and individual gifts from our own USD students.

 

 

 

Finally, a group photo.

All the happiness will be remembered after today..

So will the friendships.

Thursday, June 25

It was an honor that Namiki Elementary School allowed us the opportunity to teach an English-based lesson to  their 3rd and 4th grade students.  We had so much fun with the students whether it was dancing, playing telephone, Simon says, or moving around and playing math games, both parties taking away something from the experience.  Below is a description of what each one of us did.

Paul with 3rd graders

I introduced myself to the Japanese 3rd grade students by showing them a picture of my family.  I then asked all of the students to tell me their names.  There were about 25 students in this class.

I proceeded to show a short video of the 3rd grade class in which I was a part-time Student Teacher.  The Japanese students were interested in seeing what my students looked like and they got a kick out of one of the boys who had a mohawk!

We then proceeded to talk about numbers and adding them in English.  The Japanese students were very good with naming numbers 1-10 in English so that part of the lesson was pretty quick.  The class was then divided into two sections and I had the two groups stand on opposite sides of the class.  I then played "telephone" with them.  The words I used were cat, hat, pen, and math.  The last Japanese student in each line would come up to me and tell me what they heard and then write the word on the chalkboard in katakana.  I would write the word in English and the Japanese translation.

Lastly, we played Simon Says which the students really enjoyed.  We played about 4-5 games with a different student winning each time.  Prior to the game I wrote the English and Japanese words on the board to ensure students knew the parts of the body I was touching and talking about.

With a few minutes remaining, I asked the students if they had questions for me so we talked about food, homework, families, etc...

Overall, my experience was fantastic with great interaction.  Japanese 3rd graders are rather outgoing and truly enjoyed talking with an American.

Gwen and Nicole with 3rd graders

 For our lesson, Gwen and I wanted it to be exciting to to get the students up and moving,  As such, we chose to teach a class of third graders the Cha Cha Slide, this would introduce them a part of American culture and learn a few verbs. 

First we introduced ourselves by writing our names on the board in English and in Japanese.  As we were setting up, we had some minor chaos at the beginning of class because of audio and translation difficulties.  With the help of the Waseda students, we were able to slowly lead the students through the dance steps.  Once we went through the important steps, we finally played the song and started dancing, a couple of times with us and one time without our help.

We danced for nearly the entire period and although the adults were covered in sweat by the end, the children loved the class, even demonstrating some of their favorite dance moves at the end.

While students were cooling of from the dancing, we asked if any of the students had any questions.  Some of there questions were about our favorite food, how long have we been dancing, if we have been to Disneyland, etc.  When it was time to end the questions you can tell they were disappointed.

From this experience we learned how important it is for educators to be ready for the unexpected and be will to improvise.  But, that is what makes teaching so exciting.

Olive and Michael with 4th graders

And the program continues-

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