Service learning fall 2021
japn320s: japanese for the global community
course description
This course is for students who have completed JAPN300 or equivalent who have reached an intermediate level of proficiency, and want to continue to build a higher level of proficiency. This course counts toward fulfilling CSUMB’s Japanese Major Learning Outcomes (MLO 1) and it also fulfills CSUMB’s upper-division service-learning requirement. Students will have the opportunity to engage with community projects of import and relevance, while examining issues of justice, compassion, diversity, and social responsibility. Students have the opportunity to deepen their knowledge of Japanese language and culture through their community service to promote global citizens and develop communication skills through discussions, reflection essays and presentations.
course narrative
Alongside my partners Nami Olson and Jeremy Ruiz, I provided instruction in Japanese language and culture to eighteen third to sixth grade students at Del Rey Woods elementary school in Seaside, CA. With assistance from the after-school volunteer program, Community Partnership for the Youth (CPY), I was able to serve twenty six hours on site. As I was the dedicated group leader amongst the three of us from CSUMB, I took plenty of time outside of the classroom to form bonds with students, put together lesson plans, collaborate with the school staff and CPY volunteers, as well as keep up with assignments and projects for the course itself.
Within this course, I was able to participate in both written and oral discussions surrounding the behavior of ourselves as teachers, rather than focusing on how to control the behavior of our students on site. I think this was extremely beneficial to all students of JAPN320s, as it allowed us to look inwards at ourselves and be aware of our own biases, cultural assumptions and stereotypes, systemic privilege, etc.
By observing the areas around our school sites in our community scan project, we were able to analyze how the demographics and socio-cultural dynamics factor into the lives of the students and families living there before we even set foot on site. This project absolutely helped me learn more about the community I live in, and was a great help in communicating with and understanding the students at Del Rey Woods.
After working with our students for an extended period of time, we had a midterm project which expanded on the lesson plans we formulated, what we thought we did well, what was challenging, and how we could improve. We had a similar final project at the end of the semester as well, where my group and I talked about how our community service relates to the service learning outcomes and our overall thoughts. We had many lesson plans which taught not only about Japanese language and culture, but also world peace and global competency. I hope that through those lessons, our students were able to learn how to start their journey on becoming a global citizen and an advocate for second language learning.
Being able to participate in service learning in person was definitely a core memory of my college learning experience. Of course, as I want to become a teacher in the future, much of the material in this course and the community service I took part in made my motivation to pursue that career skyrocket. I would like to continue learning about how to mold myself into a better teacher, which includes learning what type of class material engages students the most according to their age and prior knowledge, observing how students of certain age demographics interact with each other, and especially how to keep myself positive even when times are stressful and overwhelming. I’m glad I could start working towards my goals in this course, and I am so excited to learn much more.
Within this course, I was able to participate in both written and oral discussions surrounding the behavior of ourselves as teachers, rather than focusing on how to control the behavior of our students on site. I think this was extremely beneficial to all students of JAPN320s, as it allowed us to look inwards at ourselves and be aware of our own biases, cultural assumptions and stereotypes, systemic privilege, etc.
By observing the areas around our school sites in our community scan project, we were able to analyze how the demographics and socio-cultural dynamics factor into the lives of the students and families living there before we even set foot on site. This project absolutely helped me learn more about the community I live in, and was a great help in communicating with and understanding the students at Del Rey Woods.
After working with our students for an extended period of time, we had a midterm project which expanded on the lesson plans we formulated, what we thought we did well, what was challenging, and how we could improve. We had a similar final project at the end of the semester as well, where my group and I talked about how our community service relates to the service learning outcomes and our overall thoughts. We had many lesson plans which taught not only about Japanese language and culture, but also world peace and global competency. I hope that through those lessons, our students were able to learn how to start their journey on becoming a global citizen and an advocate for second language learning.
Being able to participate in service learning in person was definitely a core memory of my college learning experience. Of course, as I want to become a teacher in the future, much of the material in this course and the community service I took part in made my motivation to pursue that career skyrocket. I would like to continue learning about how to mold myself into a better teacher, which includes learning what type of class material engages students the most according to their age and prior knowledge, observing how students of certain age demographics interact with each other, and especially how to keep myself positive even when times are stressful and overwhelming. I’m glad I could start working towards my goals in this course, and I am so excited to learn much more.
action plan
As part of our course, each service learning group had to choose an action that could potentially change the community for the better and form an "Action Plan" to do before the semester ended.
My group decided to advocate for early second language education as we were simply appalled at how many students wanted to join our Japanese lessons (so much so, we didn't have room in the classroom for all of them), and how, besides through CPY, it is a rare sight to see foreign language courses offered at schools below the high school level. We wanted to make parents and school districts more aware of this issue, as we believe foreign language education can be beneficial in many ways.
In order to put this plan into action, we first sent out surveys to the parents of our service learning students asking about their thoughts on second language education. We then collected our data, and presented it to the principal of Del Rey Woods, Mrs. Lynn Ebora. Mrs. Ebora was delighted to hear our cause, and gave us hope for language classes in the future as well as offered me a position to work at Del Rey Woods after school! The presentation that includes all of our survey questions, data findings, and overall thoughts can be found in English here.
(Pictured: Alyssa Powell, Del Rey Woods Principal Lynn Ebora, Jeremy Ruiz, Nami Olson. Taken December 1, 2021)
My group decided to advocate for early second language education as we were simply appalled at how many students wanted to join our Japanese lessons (so much so, we didn't have room in the classroom for all of them), and how, besides through CPY, it is a rare sight to see foreign language courses offered at schools below the high school level. We wanted to make parents and school districts more aware of this issue, as we believe foreign language education can be beneficial in many ways.
In order to put this plan into action, we first sent out surveys to the parents of our service learning students asking about their thoughts on second language education. We then collected our data, and presented it to the principal of Del Rey Woods, Mrs. Lynn Ebora. Mrs. Ebora was delighted to hear our cause, and gave us hope for language classes in the future as well as offered me a position to work at Del Rey Woods after school! The presentation that includes all of our survey questions, data findings, and overall thoughts can be found in English here.
(Pictured: Alyssa Powell, Del Rey Woods Principal Lynn Ebora, Jeremy Ruiz, Nami Olson. Taken December 1, 2021)