Submitted by Noriko Fujiokaito

Objectives:

Content:
Students will...

• demonstrate understanding about international student life in Japan (e.g., daily life in a dormitory or an apartment) as well as study abroad programs in Japan using their knowledge acquired from a variety of resources they accessed.
• identify the roles of host families and friends for international students.

Cultural:
Students will...

• demonstrate understanding about how international students interact with friends through extra-curricular activities as well as daily life and host families while on vacation.
• gain an insight into yearly events such as New Year's Day in Japan.
•  Identify potential difficulties of cross-cultural adjustment and demonstrate understanding about how to solve the problems which might be caused from cultural differences.

 

 

Language: Content Obligatory
Students will...

• comprehend and use vocabulary related to college life and new idiomatic expressions such as (~ba~hodo, ~igai~no/~igai~ni, ~zu, Kanarazushimo~to iu wake-dewanai, N bakari, Narubeku, V (plain) beki) learned throughout the previous lesson.
• use comparative sentences and vocabulary related to college life (introduced in Lesson 1) to compare and contrast college students' life in Japan and the US and to discuss advantages and disadvantages of study abroad.

Language: Content Compatible
Students will...

• use the conditional forms (e.g., ~ba, ~to, ~tara), complex sentences (e.g., toki) to describe international students' college life and daily life.
• use honorifics (polite expressions/forms) learned in the previous year course to ask questions about the society and the college life in Japan to interviewees.

Learning Strategies / Social and Skills Development:
Students will...

• analyze the cultural differences between the educational systems and the roles of host families and friends by working collaboratively to describe international college life and daily life.
• develop organizational skills by synthesizing data obtained from their research and summarizing information about study abroad programs.
• engage in active participation through the discussion with interviewees.
• foster critical thinking skills by generating pros and cons of study abroad.

 

Time Frame:

Three 50-minute class sessions and 30 minute homework assignments

Materials Needed:

• Videotape: Nihon Shokai Video Series Nihonjin no Life Style  THE WAY OF LIFE IN JAPAN Ryugakusei Daresu to Tahman FOREIGN STUDENT IN JAPAN: DARES AND RAHMAN NHK International Kokusai Koryukikin Kikaku, Seikatsu
• Comprehension Check Worksheet (Handout 1)
• Interview Sheet (Handout 2 )

Description of Assessment (Performance Project):

 Introduction:

 

Lesson 2 is comprised of three-day lesson plans.  On Day 1 and Day 2, students’ views toward study abroad are enhanced by viewing videotapes which shows them real international student life of two college students from Asian countries and interacting with people who actually studied in Japan.  At the same time, students utilize the vocabulary, expressions, and grammar introduced in Lesson 1 to ask questions and comprehend the videotape.  On Day 3, students identify advantages and disadvantages of study abroad and express their opinions during debate, using their linguistic knowledge and  information obtained through resources.  At the end of this lesson, students summarize their opinions based on the viewpoints broadened through oral discussion.

Day 1

Pre-task:

Students briefly discuss the potential problems (e.g., students need to negotiate with their universities to transfer credits in case where students went to study abroad without partnerships; they might not be able to make any friends if they are very busy in studying and cannot participate any extra-curricular activities; or their staying in large cities is too expensive) using basic background knowledge obtained though the reading passage which was introduced in Lesson 1.

During-task:

1. Before viewing the video, the teacher distributes the Comprehension Check Worksheet (attachment 1).  Students read comprehension check questions so as to set their minds for topics of the video.
2. During viewing the video, students use the vocabulary learned in Lesson 1and watch for the answers to comprehension questions on the handout.  By focusing on two main characters in the video, students understand the perspectives of international students in Japan and realize some difficulties of their life (e.g., how to handle time constraints or limited financial budget).
3. After viewing the video, students are paired up and compare their answers of comprehension check questions.  If opinions (especially to Question 8, which elicits students' overall views of international student life during study abroad) are different, they discuss their perspectives of cultural differences between the US and Japan.

Post-task:

The class discussion is conducted to express their opinions about international student life in Japan (e.g., whether or not international student life is easier than they had expected, and if their life is hard, how they should handle the hardship). 

[Homework]

1. Students continue to conduct their research on study abroad by visiting websites and using books (Refer to the section of References and Resources in Lesson 1). 
2. Using the vocabulary and sentence structures learned in Lesson 1, students who have not studied in Japan for more than six months prepare interview questions using the first half of Interview Sheet (Attachment 2).  Students who have studied for more than six months recall their experiences in Japan and get ready for answering the interview questions.

Day 2 

 

On Day 2, students are divided into two groups—students who have never or not studied in Japan more than six months belongs Group 1, and the second group is comprised of those who have studied in Japan for more than six months (if there are not enough students in Group 2, guest speakers who have been to or come from Japan are invited from a community.  Also, the teacher can play a role of an interviewee). 

 

Pre-task:

 

Each student in Group 2 very briefly provides his or her background about college/school life in Japan.  While listening to interviewees' experiences (e.g., place and duration of study), the students in Group 1 decide whom they are going to interview.

 

During-task:

 

The students in Group 1 ask their questions to two or three people in Group 2 so that they can acquire multiple viewpoints about Japanese society.  The discourse of interviews should be extended from each single question so that the students in Group 1 can synthesize deeper views learned through interactions during  their interviews afterwards.  The teacher watches the time and make sure students to interview at least two people.

Post-task:

Students summarize the findings of their interviews by integrating results of their previous research using resources such as websites.  (This activity could be done in writing or as a group discussion.)

 

Day 3

 

Pre-task:

While synthesizing the findings through video-viewing, interviews, websites, etc., students point out positive and negative aspects of college life in Japan.  The instructor lists them in the table which shows the advantages and the disadvantages on the board.

 

During-task:

Students discuss advantages and disadvantages of study in Japan and decide their positions (i.e., whether or not they want to go to Japan to study).  Based on their positions, a debate is conducted.  One of the students whose Japanese proficiency is fairly high leads a discussion as a referee.

 

Post-task:

Students write the short summary paper (Attachment 3) which indicates their positions including the reasons why they want to go to Japan to study or not.  This summary paper is collected and evaluated using the Summary Paper Rubric (Attachment 4) by the instructor after class.

Assessment:

1. The oral summary of a reading passage is evaluated in class according to how well students could obtain information.
2. The Comprehension Check Worksheet (Attachment 1) is collected and used as an evaluation of how well students could understand about international student life.
3. The Interview Sheet (Attachment 2) is collected and evaluated from the perspectives of  grammar and vocabulary accuracy and content.  The first half is evaluated by assessing how well students used expressions and vocabulary introduced in Lesson 1.  Using the last half of the Interview Sheet, how well students developed the insights into international student life in Japan is evaluated.
4.  The first summative evaluation is conducted using the summary paper worksheet (Attachment 3).  This summary is evaluated by using the summary paper rubric (Attachment 4), which consists of five criteria—1) Organization of expressing ideas, 2) Understanding of topic, 3) Accuracy of content information, 4) Completion of work, and 5) Accuracy of language use. 

References and Resources:

Videotape:

Yookoso Nihon e Starting Your Life in Japan--Kaigai Gijutsusha kenshu Kyokai Three A Network.

Websites:

StudyAbroad.com Country Home Pages (English)

http://japan.studyabroad.com

Ryugakusei seikatsu no-tame-no Rinkushu (Links for Foreign Students' Life) (Japanese)

http://cfrp.shinshu-u.ac.jp/staff/bao/internat/Life.html

Attachments:

NOTE: some attachments are in PDF form (get Acrobat Reader)

Attachment 1: Comprehension Check  Worksheet
Attachment 2: Interview Sheet
Attachment 3: Summary Paper
Attachment 4: Summary Paper Rubric

A Lesson from the CoBaLTT Project
/cobaltt
Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition
University of Minnesota