「Volunteering」カテゴリーアーカイブ

Michael Li: Volunteering at NicoNico Tomato

投稿日時: 投稿者:

My CIP experience, volunteering at NicoNico  Tomato at Kyoto University Hospital (which I plan on continuing next semester), has been both relaxing and worthwhile. Every week would provide a respite from the seemingly never-ending workload.  While I would help out with whatever activity or task needed to be accomplished, I always had the opportunity to communicate with others and actually use what I learned.

Having volunteered in a hospital in New York, it was interesting to note how the atmospheres and environments differ. NicoNico Tomato has a strong sense of community and volunteer base. Although it is volunteer run, they take their duties and commitment seriously. For example, they personally make handmade cards for most of the major holidays. They take several weeks to cut out paper in shapes of numerous characters and to create backgrounds for the card. I couldn’t wrap my head around the notion of spending so much time for one project. However, after I started distributing the cards to the children at a Halloween party and saw their reaction, I knew that it was time worth spent. It was occasions such as these where you realize the disparity between cultural mindsets.

In addition to realizing cultural differences, I have become less worried about making mistakes and to constantly engage in conversation even it if is just asking them questions about how to do something. While being the only foreigner at first made me uneasy, it naturally gravitated peoples’ attention and conversation to me (which was nice not having to always make the first initiative to engage in conversation). While the conversations ranged from talking with students, activity leaders, to other volunteers, conversations never ceased to be engaging—both interesting and allowing me use various vocabulary and formalities because of the varying range of situations. Engaging in conversation about varying customs to discussing similar music interests or even just hearing about someone’s day allowed me to not only to better develop my Japanese,  but also allowed me to better connect and forge bonds with other members of the volunteer group.

Ambika Singh: Angelnet

投稿日時: 投稿者:

When I first heard about the CIP project, I was at a complete loss as to what I would do. However, after some deliberation I decided that I would be an assistant English teacher. Back in the US I had been an art camp counselor since I was 14, so I figured that dealing with children would be basically the same regardless of what country I was in. Despite my initial confidence, my CIP proved to be one of the most challenging experiences of my life to date.

My CIP had its ups and downs, but I can definitely take away some life experience from it. I learned how to politely quit an organization (definitely an important skill), as well as how to handle situations in which you do not feel comfortable. In the US, politely quitting is not a common concept, as people tend to quit due to their job mistreating them or being less than desirable. However, in Japan this concept is well-known, and it seems that many people use it to leave their jobs. After realizing that my CIP was not what I had expected, I called my boss and thanked her for the volunteering opportunity and wished her the best. This conversation was pretty awkward, but in the end I think I accomplished my goal, to leave on a positive note.

Before I came to Japan I never had to deal with a situation like mine at Angelnet. I am less naïve now about volunteering, as it is not always an enjoyable experience, and I know that it can become very stressful and exhausting. Since I’ve also never had to deal with problematic children before, I’m glad that I now have the experience under my belt of how to handle them. In the future, I am definitely going to continue being a camp counselor in the US and I’m not going to let my CIP affect my love for volunteering.

Van Dinh: Farming

投稿日時: 投稿者:

When I started my CIP, I didn’t really know what to expect from it. To be honest, after the initial meeting with my CIP contact, I wasn’t really looking forward to it at all. It wasn’t because farming didn’t seem interesting or fun, but because I had such a hard time following along with what he was saying. My Japanese isn’t what you would call good. Of course, I knew that in theory, I should slowly improve as the program goes on, but still, I had my worries. What if I couldn’t talk to anyone there? Or no one understands me because my Japanese is so terrible?

During the first weekend, I admit that I didn’t really make a lot of effort to talk to the other people there. It was intimidating and I was afraid of making a lot of mistakes and embarrassing myself. However, they were really nice and would ask me simple questions about myself. Since I didn’t know what else to say, I just asked them their questions back at them. It wasn’t much, but it was at least something I thought. As time went on, it became a little easier to talk to the Japanese people. I found that it was better to talk to someone one on one versus in a group. It was less scary that way. Also, I adopted a strategy of asking them questions so I wouldn’t have to talk all the time.

In the end, I’ve learned that in order to progress with my Japanese, I need to stop worrying about how I can’t speak Japanese perfectly. People will respond to my efforts, and if I do make mistakes (which is inevitable), then they will be kind enough to correct them so that I won’t do it again in the future.

Cara Moriwaki: Church and English Assistant

投稿日時: 投稿者:

Hello!

In the past month, I have been meeting many more Japanese people through church!  One of the people I talk to often at church helped me to contact the leader of a Bible study circle at Doshisha, so I have been able to go to two of their meetings so far.  At the meetings, which are on Friday afternoons, we read a passage from the Bible and answer questions from a worksheet.  I bring my own Bible in English, but I still have trouble understanding the conversations because the vocabulary is difficult and they get deep, but I’ve learned that I don’t have to understand everything to enjoy myself!  The most important thing for me is this chance to meet many different people in Japan.  One of the girls who attends this circle regularly is not Christian, but she is interested in reading the Bible and learning about Jesus.  Even though I don’t always understand and don’t often contribute to the conversation, they have been very accepting of me.  By going to these meetings, I have learned a lot of different vocabulary and have been able to work on my listening comprehension, which has really taught me to make the most of any difficult situation!

For the last two church services that I went to, a lot of things happened!  We had communion!  Because it was very much like any other communion, I felt at home, and as though I have been going to this church for a significant amount of time, instead of just visiting.  I got to eat lunch with everyone afterwards, too!  The following week, I got to watch two girls get baptized.  After a group of the younger people sang songs to congratulate them, the two girls gave their testimonies.  Although, again, I couldn’t always understand what they were saying, I could still feel their emotions as they told us about their spiritual journeys.  I’m very happy that I had the chance to witness these girls take such an important step in their lives.

I’ve found that, at least at church and at the Bible study circle, Japanese people are not very different from Americans in their customs.  Just like the people I met at churches that I have attended in the United States, people here have been very inviting and patient with me.  Recently, I have had to go to church by myself, but I’ve learned that if I have even just a little bit of confidence in myself, I can have a lot of amazing experiences!  It is also thanks to the many people that I have met for very warmly welcoming me into the church community.    Despite my KCJS A-class status, I can still connect with many people!  Matthew 17:18 “I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move.  Nothing will be impossible for you.”

At Kamigyou Intermediate School, I have continued to help students with their English competitions.  There were two competitions, one which was for recording the story on a tape to be submitted, and the other for which the students had to perform their speech with arm motions.  Within one week, I saw that the students had improved in their intonation, pronunciation, and energy in their movements.  I remember that the school’s Vice Principle asked a student to do her best in one of the competitions, which made me realize that these students are pressured to represent their school as best they can.  Their determination to do their best for themselves and for their school is inspiring, and makes me want to ganbaru at Japanese, too!

Twice, I have had to casually converse with a couple of girls who were very shy about speaking.  Although the students are not shy about reading aloud their passages, they are not comfortable with normally speaking English.  Unlike my language teachers who speak to me in their foreign language, the English teacher here usually only speaks Japanese to her students.  I’m not sure if the emphasis on reading rather than speaking is a good thing because one of the people I met at church said that even though he studied English since he was little, he cannot say anything in English.  Well, in the end, I let the students speak mostly in Japanese to me, but I’ve realized that sometimes, it is more important for them to enjoy English rather than feel stressed out about it.

With only a few more weeks here, I want to make the rest of my limited time here as meaningful as possible by meeting more people and deepening my relationships with the people I have met!

Roslyn Li: Assistant English Teacher

投稿日時: 投稿者:

Over the past two months, I have been volunteering as an Assistant Language Teacher at Ohara’s joint Elementary and Middle School. I have had experience being a teacher’s aide before, but my experiences at Ohara have differed greatly from what I expected going into the position. Indeed, rather than being an assistant, I actually conduct most of the classes while the Japanese teachers I work with stand off to the side. As a result, the teachers tend to address me as their equal when speaking to me, and the students all know me as “sensei.” Now when I’m spotted in the hallways, I’m greeted by heartwarming choruses of 「ロスリン先生」or “Hello!”

We have had many fun times together, and I will be walking away from this experience with some very interesting anecdotes. For example, when I first introduced myself to the fifth grade class, I told the students that I have two younger brothers (in English). When one of the Japanese teachers asked「ロスリン先生が言った事分かった？」(if anybody understood what I had just said), one boy confidently exclaimed 「分かった！」(that he did). When prompted to explain what he had heard, he replied 「子供二人いるって」(She says she has two kids!). During another class, when I asked one boy what his favorite sweet is, he managed to say “my favorite sweet is” before a troubled expression overtook his countenance, and he fell into deep thought. As I waited expectantly, he cradled his head and muttered「チョコレート」over and over again before finally raising his head and asking, “Teacher, what is チョコレート in English?”

While I have only grown more and more fond of this school and its children, thoroughly enjoying the school lunches we’ve eaten together, the English lessons and accompanying games, as well as the few times I’ve been able to join the kids out on the playground after class, I have come to a rather alarming observation. Oftentimes, it seems that the ninth graders at Ohara barely surpass their third grade peers in terms of spoken English level. In fact, the younger the kids are, the more enthusiastic they seem about learning English and the harder they try. Additionally, I am often asked to teach two different grade levels with extremely similar lesson plans. When I suggest what to me seems to be a simple addition or change to what the students have been learning for at least weeks already, the teacher I work with usually questions whether or not it is too difficult for the students. For example, I have basically been teaching the following phrases to students ranging from first to fifth grade during my time at Ohara:

Q: “What’s your favorite _________?” OR “What _______ do you like?”

A: “My favorite _______ is ______.” OR “I like _______.”

The question is quite standard and has always been about either foods or animals, but I realized that the first answer needed an additional word to be correct—namely, “the.” However, after I convinced the teacher I work with to try to teach the kids to say “my favorite animal is the _______,” I was surprised in class to find that the students really did struggle with this one extra sound. In fact, I wonder if these words are all mostly nothing but sounds to them, for without prompting from the teacher, second graders and fifth graders alike have not been able to remember how to phrase a question in this manner. Thankfully, in this respect, I have seen that the ninth graders have much stronger grasp of basic English grammar structures and vocabulary.

While no teacher can force a student to be interested in learning a foreign language, I do wonder whether or not teachers are being too soft on their students in terms of English education in Japan. The fact that there seems to be a lack of a permanent teacher highly proficient in English at my particular volunteer location must make English education even more difficult, and I have come to understand why the teachers I work with all insist that I speak nothing but English around the children. For them, it really is an important opportunity to gain exposure to a native English speaker and for at least once a week, have a taste of being in an “English speaking environment.” However, the vast majority of the students I’ve met have chosen to rely on their Japanese teachers’ translations of my English rather than making an attempt to listen and decipher for themselves. I only regret that once a week for an hour at most with a couple of grades is simply not enough to give these kids a better learning opportunity, but they are all bright young children, and I hope that the right opportunities will come their way sooner or later.

As for me, I am nothing but grateful for having had this opportunity, which seems to have broadened my love for children of all ages. I had come in thinking that I could only enjoy teaching middle school students, but by the second week at Ohara, I had come to love a wide range of elementary school kids as well. Though it may seem a trite phrase by now, my experience at Ohara has taught me once again to never say never (except for the two times you need it to say the actual expression)!

Angela Lo: Zenryuji Nursery School

投稿日時: 投稿者:

I love children and I enjoy volunteering at kindergartens. Before coming to Japan, I volunteered at American preschools and Hong Kong kindergartens. This CIP at Zenryuji Nursery School certainly widened my horizon.

Routine
I volunteered every Monday from noon till around 1pm. Within this short period of time, children had lunch, brushed their teeth, changed into pajamas, and got ready for naptime; I was amazed by how these events took place smoothly. I was given a free meal and allowed to eat with the children every week. At the beginning, I mostly spent time with the children after lunch and I was treated more as a guest than a volunteer. As I continued taking initiatives in offering help, I was able to get closer to the teachers. After about a month, teachers started assigning me more chores such as distributing the dishes before meals and cleaning the chairs after lunch. I am glad that I took the initiative in starting conversations with the teachers during lunch. Since teachers were very busy at other times, lunch was the perfect time to have short conversations about their teaching experience. I think that getting to know the teachers was one of the learning aspects of this CIP. In addition, it would have been better if I prepared some easy English songs to sing with the children after lunch. As teachers in this nursery school welcomed creative ideas, I could have offered more learning opportunities for the children.

Interacting with children
Since the self-introduction on the first day, children were very accepting of me (perhaps because of my Asian face). Every time I arrived the nursery school, children would start shouting “AH! Angela-san!” and surrounding me. The older children tried “showing off” their English skills by reciting the number sequence or naming all the animals they knew—it was adorable.

While I thought Japanese people tend to maintain personal distance with strangers, I was surprised that some of the children showed their friendliness by holding my hands or attempting to tickle me. These interactions did not happen in my American nor Hong Kong observations. We became friends after my weekly visits. In the first few times, most of them called me “Angela sensei (teacher),” but eventually, everybody called me “Angela-san,” an indication as a friend instead of an authoritative figure.

Combining elective courses with CIP experience
Nursery school was a perfect location to observe and apply what I learned in KCJS elective classes: Families and Work in Post-war Japan (with Professor North) and Exploring Language and Food in Kyoto (with Professor Yotsukura).

Comparing with my experiences in the United States and Hong Kong, I was surprised by how much these Japanese mothers had to prepare for their children. Children in this nursery school had their own labeled handkerchiefs, cups, eating utensils, bed sheets, blankets, etc. Professor North mentioned that, these preparations were viewed as indicators of a mother’s love toward her children and her performance as a “good wife, wise mother.”

Nursery school was also a location to educate children about the Japanese cuisine and dining etiquette. Before and after meals, children had to say thank you (For example, “お父様、お母様、先生いただきます！”); teachers also introduced the dishes served. I learned from Professor Yotsukura that, the “one-soup, three-side dishes, and rice” module was the foundation of Japanese cuisine. Japanese children started learning about this module and the varieties of Japanese food at a young age.

Alex Breeden: Volunteering with Agricultural Groups

投稿日時: 投稿者:

I did my CIP through a volunteer agricultural organization called Mori No Megumi, or “Blessing of the Forest”, where I worked both on small vegetable plots in northern Kyoto and larger, more remote rice fields in the mountains east of Kyoto. What kind of activity we did varied every time we went there. The first time we did rice harvesting which was a really great first experience since I hadn’t ever worked with rice before. Moreover, the work required conversations about exactly how the rice should be cut, bundled together, and then put through the machine. On other occasions, we fertilized cabbages, cut weeds, and sorted rice. Even activities which sound like they would be boring, like hand sorting rice, turned out to offer their own unique rewards such as creating more opportunities for conversation. In fact, rice sorting gave me the chance to practice keigo as one of the volunteers spoke to me using honorifics. Thanks to recent class discussions I was able to understand her pretty easily and then follow her shift to less formal speech. It also provided a chance to reflect on what sorts of situations polite speech should be used in since I would have never expected someone to use keigo when speaking to me since the volunteer group was pretty laid back.

 I also went to the Kyoto University agricultural circle twice, though we didn’t do much and for whatever reason my friend and I didn’t really connect as well with the people there as we did with the people at Mori No Megumi.
 There weren’t any real language problems, or really any major problems for that matter. I was a bit worried about having to get boots and not being able to find them, but I was able to borrow boots from the group representative every time.
 One of the parts I enjoyed about my CIP which I don’t think you necessarily get in other groups was the wide range of ages of the people participating. This allowed me to see how age groups interacted with each other and myself get interaction not only with people my own age but also with older people. Also, I got to see some of the cultural differences in more rural settings, like the burning of pretty much anything that’s considered trash which occurs on a much larger scale than in the US. 
 My advice to future students is to try and do your CIP with someone else because if a group has two people asking about participating it’s much more likely that at least one of you is going to get a reply. That and when you suddenly blank on vocabulary you know but have momentarily forgotten the other person has your back.

エイミー・シン：エンジェルネット

投稿日時: 投稿者:

初めまして。ペン大のエイミーシンと申します。私 はエンジェルネットというところでボランティエをしています。エンジェルネットは 子供が来て、おやつをたべたり、宿題をしたり、あそんだりするところです。そして、毎週私は子供の手伝いをしています。

私はいつも二時半にエンジェルネットのビルに入って、靴を脱いで部屋に入ります。子供は私を見ると笑らいます．その後で子供はおやつを食べます。おやつは 私は子供に水をあげます。おやつの後でみんな歌を歌って、とてもかわいいです。歌はたくさんあるんです。例えばおやつの歌とかどんぶりの歌があります。その後で、子供はいっしょにレゴとドミノで楽しそうに遊びます。私は五時半まで子供とゲームをします。金曜日は散歩をする日です。散歩をする時は、エンジェルネットの外の商店街でします。ほかの人は子供達に「こんにちは！」とか「かわいい！」と言います。いつもとてもおもしろいと思います。五時半に私はエパートに帰ります。

これが私の普通のスケジュールですが、毎回同じというわけではありません。時々私はほかのことをします。例えば、時々エンジェルネットのちらしをたたんで、封筒に入れます。この仕事はおもしろくないと思います。でも、エンジェルネットにお客さんを引きつけるために、ちらしを配った方がいいです。

エンジェルネットに三人の先生がいるから、時々先生と話します。二人は英語を話せないから、日本語で話します。でも、一人は英語を勉強しているから、先生の英語の勉強のために英語で話します。子供は時々英語を話したり、時々日本語を話したります。でも、子供はとても早く話して、関西弁だから、時々全然分かりません．そのような時に、私は微笑んで、「分かりません」と言って、新しい話題について話します。でも、私はCIPを参加して日本語を習いました。だから、嬉しいです。私のブログを読んでくださってありがとうございました。

マイケル・リー：子供のボランティア

投稿日時: 投稿者:

私のCIPは京都大学病院の「にこにこトマト」というボランティアです。にこにこトマトはボランティアのグループです。そして、そのグルプの目的は入院している子供に元気になってもらって楽しませるごとです。私は子供が好きでセラピストになりたいのでそこでボランティアしたかったんです。

一週間に二回ボランティアしています。最近、レッスンを手伝ったりバザーの準備とか子供のためにハロウィーンのカードを作ったりしました。毎週たくさんレッスンとか紙芝居とか音楽セラピーがあります。そして毎年二回人気のバザーがあってハロウィーンの時には子供にハロウィーンのカードをあげます。ボランティアをしているみんなはほんとにやさしくて、手伝いが必要なのですごく慎重に集中してイベントの準備をしています。にこにこトマトの人だけでなく、京都のコミュニティーもいい人ばかりです。バザーのためにたくさんの人が色々な物を寄付してくれました。よかったら、ぜひイベントに来てください！

カーラ・モリワキ：教会と英語のアシスタント

投稿日時: 投稿者:

こんにちは！先月、日本の教会に初めて行きました。ショアさんにいい教会がどこにあったるかご存知か聞きました。北大路駅の近く京都福音自由教会に友達と一緒に行きました！教会のウェブサイトはhttp://www.eonet.ne.jp/~kyoto-efc/です。

まず賛美歌を歌って、祈ります。説教が全部日本語でしたが、やさしい女の人が翻訳してくださいました。教会はちょっと旧式で小さいですが、みんなはとてもやさしいです！サービスの後、教会のもっと若いメンバーが私たちに話しかけてくれました。たくさん親切な人と知り合えてよかったです。

一人でオーペンチャーチという教会のイベントに行きましたがさみしくありませんでした。その日、色々な活動がありました。フラを見たり、茶道を初めてしたりしました。ハワイから来たから、日本のクリスチャンのフラを見るのは面白かったです。とても楽しかったです。その後は台風と日本舞踊のクラスのせいで行けませんでしたが、もう一度行きたいです！

そして、上京中学校で学生の英語コンテストのために手伝っています。学生は声で選んだ読み物を音読しなくてはけません。毎週木曜日２：３０から４：１５ごろまで四人の学生の練習を手伝っています。みんなの英語はとても上手です！それからとてもかわいいです。毎週どんどん上手に英語を話せるようになっています。Yさんという女の子の話はブッダとカンダタについてです。Nさんという女の子の英語が一番上手です。学生がんばっています。やっぱり中学生が一番です！