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"Thanks for getting me on the same boat to discuss about education and
internet. It is so wonderful to meet you on the net." Isamu Shimazaki |
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Isamu:
My work in Japan, I mainly teach Japanese language for students who
came from Peru and Bolivia. They do not understand any Japanese for
the first time in Japanese school. They come to my international classroom
three or five times a week. They came from their countries. Their parents
wanted to work in Japan.
And I started to learn Spanish with them. Because their Spanish are not so wonderful in writing. They are fogetting their mother langauge as soon as learning Japanese.
Adri:
This is aculturation (does this word exist, Patti??? Help...), a way of
not
belonging to one culture or another... A person looses his references...
How do you deal with this problem, Isamu?
Is it a problem for you at school???
Isamu:
Both way to teach langauge, I use many graphic resources. Graphic can
be easily understood for them. I'm making web page for learning Japanese
and Spanish at
Japanese as a second language, there are many students in the world
leaning.
I'd like to communicate with them online and learn Japanese langauge with
them.
I'd like to know more about students language learning in your countries.
How about the second language, when students start to learn?
I'd like to write more about my work in Japan, next time.
Adri: Here in Brazil English is the most important and needed Second Language.
At school, they start at the 5th grade, but many students go to special
courses and begin very early... But only the ones that can afford for
it...
French is another option, but it is not so important.
MERCOSUL brought Spanish and it's receiving more atention now.
Many products, such as soaps, shampoos, tooth paste etc are written in
Portuguese and Spanish, because of the new economical ways of Mercosul.
Um beijo.
David: In Israel, we also have students from many cultures. This is not a simple
matter. It depends also on why the child's family is in their new country
Are they there for only a short time? Have they immigrated? Do they still
keep
strong ties (physicall and/or emotionally) to the "old country"? Are they
looking for a totally fresh start and want to "burn their old ties"?
Many people, in their first years in a new country, try very hard to adapt
to
that country and thus take on all of the cultural, linguistic mannerisms,
etc.
Many feel that they should distance themselves from the "old country" as
this
just keeps them from becoming a "natural citizen" of the new country.
Students
may feel ashamed of the way their parents dress, talk, etc., as it is so
different from their new surroundings. Therefore it is not a simple matter
in
relating to the culture the student comes from.
Often you find people making a strong effort to talk, act, dress exactly
like
the people in their new adopted country during the first five to ten
years.
Then slowly they start moving back to their natural roots, remembering,
returning to many of the mannerisms they threw off, and learning to mix
the
old with the new.
I think we could use the Internet here to help a student explore his/her
"native" culture. It would also give them a chance to present their
culture to
the other students, or even present it over the net with a homepage they
may
want to set up for this purpose. We may be able to find keypals for them
with
students from the old country where they can continue to communicate in
their
native tongue and nto forget their roots.
But remember, although we may see benefits in doing this, there may be
strong resistance from the family and the student him/herself. Best to
feel
our way. Maybe learn from each other as to how to best do this.
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