This past weekend, we had a program sponsored trip to Kawagoe, a town about an hour train ride from Ikebukuro Station in northern Tokyo. Once we got there, we got to experience a traditional tea ceremony and meditation at an 1200 year old temple, and explore a traditional alley specializing in candy! 

Outside the temple. 

The tea ceremony was beautiful. Even though there were so many of us interns there, the ceremony still felt incredibly intimate. The best part was that we could ask the monk leading the tea ceremony as many questions as we wanted! Lots of interns asked about the history of tea ceremony, how long it usually lasts, when it is performed, etc. The room the tea ceremony was performed in in the temple was a traditional room with a tatami floor, and there was a beautiful flower arrangement that was the focus of the room- apparently, the arrangement is changed every day to reflect the new day. We each received a delicious cup of fresh matcha tea, and also a Japanese traditional sweet- a type of rice gelatin with bean paste wrapped in a leaf. 

Various faces made while waiting for tea! :)

The Japanese sweet they served us. 

After the tea ceremony, we learned about meditation. For fifteen minutes, we experienced the ritual that monks complete for up to two or three hours everyday! We learned the correct position and correct breathing patterns (legs crossed, with one leg on top of the other, arms folded neatly, breathing slow and steady, and looking at a point about 2 meters ahead of you). We all sat in a line and meditated in the temple, watched carefully by the head monk who tapped us if our breathing was unsteady, our positions changed, or we became unfocused or distracted. All in all, an incredibly calming experience.

Lastly in the temple was a calligraphy class! We learned some history of calligraphy and were taught how to create one character on paper that we got to take home with us. Mine was incredibly messy and looked nothing like the example character we were given, but it was super fun to practice.

Teaching us calligraphy. 

My practice sheet. 

Kawagoe is a beautiful town to explore because there was so much to do and so much energy. The stores were very touristy but had all kinds of souvenirs and snacks to try. I got a sweet potato soft serve ice cream cone which was a lot more delicious than it sounds! We finally made it to the candy alley, famous for its different kinds of Japanese sweets (including a massive sweet soy breadstick that looked a lot like a charred French baguette, a strange pounded mountain root on a stick, and my favorite dango, or rice dumplings, smothered in sweet sauce). Unfortunately, by the time I arrived at the candy alley, many of the stores were closing, but I could still pick up a snack or two.

A quick look at some of the Edo-style buildings in Kawagoe. 

All in all, a great day trip. I love Tokyo so much, but it was nice to spend a calm day away from the city but know that I was close enough to return whenever I wanted. 

Interns and students play a guessing game. 

The second week of the program brought a few surprises and many tears. I had two new Japanese high schools students, Shu and Souto. Shu came in with an amazing wealth of English vocabulary but no way to connect the words into sentences- even by the end of the first day, it was astounding to see how much progress he had made in terms of speaking and how much he had already grown to love asking questions. Souto was a bit shyer and very nervous about speaking at first, but as he warmed up to speaking with the other two interns and me, he quickly got more comfortable and loved sharing ideas and talking about his daily life. Together, I think the two of them encouraged each other as well.

We kept a running vocabulary list throughout the week, teaching the students words like “combine” or “residual” and having them repeat the words and use them in sentences during class when they wanted to explain something to us. I believe this really helped them not only with skills in explaining concepts in English, but also helped them practice sounding out unfamiliar words and encouraged them to continue growing their English vocabularies!

Throughout the week, we covered complicated topics like ideas for helping the Tokyo 2020 Olympics be a success and ways to help the world use more clean energy. Our group found simple ways for every Japanese person to save more energy, whether it was turning off the lights when not in the room or not using as much water when you shower. In addition, my students were fascinated by the idea of AI (Artificial Intelligence) being used in electric cars, and wanted to find a way to combine both ideas into one energy saving vehicle. 

We quickly found that giving presentations was going to be the biggest challenge for these two- both were incredibly nervous onstage and had not yet gained the confidence to speak English in front of a larger group of people. The first presentation was rocky; however, the next day, they worked even harder to ask us questions on how they could improve. After we watched (via youtube) Steve Jobs and Malala Yousafzai give speeches, our group reviewed how to give a great speech and hold the audience’s attention. For their final speeches on their life missions, Souto and Shu borrowed things like Steve Job’s confidence and Malala’s repetition of important phrases to enhance their own speeches.

I also gave a presentation in front of the class this week- on my major at University of Chicago and on how it connects to my life mission. I think my presentation went okay- I definitely need to find a better way to explain how economics and my other major, Law Letters and Society, work together to form my life mission, but I think the students had fun with the economics logic puzzle I introduced to them. I hoped that my being on stage would help my students become more excited about getting on the stage themselves.

The Life Mission speeches Friday afternoon were a stark and amazing contrast to my student’s behavior during presentations earlier in the week. They had transformed from shy and nervous to excited and eager to share their missions with the class. Shu volunteered to be one of the first students to present, bounded onto the stage to present, spoke clearly and thoughtfully, and as he sat back down in his seat, asked us if he could present to the class again! He wanted to create a nonprofit to help send wasted resources in countries like Japan and America to war-torn countries. Souto did his presentation on his life mission using math and science- to make a more practical and easy way for people to listen to music. His idea, using audio waves on different frequencies for different people, was something I could barely explain myself in English, yet he excitedly shared his ideas with the class, giving examples until all of the interns and students were nodding along with his enthusiasm. 

Drawing out an explanation. 

All in all, we were so incredibly proud of these two for not only conquering their stage fright, but improving so rapidly in English in under a week. These students have once again shown me that I need to be a better teacher in order to keep up with how fast they can learn. 

Halfway through our first week with our Japanese students, we already seem to be making some progress! My group consists of six interns and two incredibly bright Japanese high school students, named Miyu and Kayato. Both started out a bit quiet on Monday, but throughout the week have gotten more confident with asking questions and reading. 

To encourage the students towards a global mindset, we’ve been discussing culture, the American and Japanese educational systems, and ways that our students can apply the subjects they love in school now to college, study abroad, and future life goals. To engage the students with speaking and listening to English, we have played games like telephone and story-creating, talked about the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, and given presentations on college majors and career paths for certain academic interests.

For the Olympics (Tuesday afternoon), we spent time having the students think of ways they personally could assist in making the Games a success. Responses included teaching foreigners about Japanese culture and language, opening up their homes to visitors from all over the world, and encouraging the government to introduce a large-scale free wifi program around Tokyo. They gave their responses a ton of thought and didn't hesitate to ask our opinions as well! We finished the discussion by creating posters and having the Japanese students in each group present their ideas to the entire program- probably a stressful experience for all of them, but it made our students really put the English phrases they had been learning for the past few days to work. 

Japanese students present alongside their intern mentors. 

The intern presentations on the universities we attend and our majors have hopefully sparked some interest in the students. My group has a good mixture of economics, math, and Japanese majors, and we all have other interests that came out in our presentations! Kayato asked a lot of questions during intern Lynda’s math major presentation, and Miyu seemed eager to gather as much information as possible on American universities overall. She and Kayato were also both interested in the focus on sports in college- Miyu loves to dance, while Kayato plays basketball, and both were wondering how to continue those interests at an American university. We ended up speaking about not only our academic interests, but on how we and other American students enjoy our time outside the classroom as well. 

On Tuesday, my students began asking questions about life in America versus Japan, and we spent a while (very interestingly) discussing Kayato’s question about why he thinks Americans are more creative than Japanese. The interns and students alike got very into the discussion while we thought of possible reasons, eventually finding some aspects of Japanese culture are even more creative than in America! 

The interns in my group have also been doing daily vocabulary lists for our students- just to keep track of useful words they’ve had trouble with and can practice more. Every morning when the students come in, we’ve been starting off the session by reviewing hard words from the day before. We’ve taught them the definitions of cooperate, unjust, and nuanced, just to name a few. The interns will keep building on our list as the week goes on, and give the students the final list at the end of the week for them to keep practicing. 

So far, the English level these students not only come into the program with but also the speed at which they pick up speaking is amazing to me. I hope that every week starts out as smoothly as this one.