For my CIP I commuted to Mitsuba Kindergarten once a week to help out at the kindergarten for about 2 hours (from 2-4). The kindergarten is a 10 minute walk away from Doshisha’s Imadegawa campus so it was really convenient location wise. The kindergarten is not very structured and my job was basically to facilitate the kids’ play time for 2 hours. I usually spent my time doing puzzles with them, or drawing with them—essentially anything the kids wanted to do. 

It’s a really tiring job but it’s plenty of fun if you like kids. The 3 year olds were more shy so I was mostly approached by the 5 year olds to play. I’d recommend this CIP if you enjoy spending time with kids! It’s definitely rewarding but a very draining experience. I don’t think I learned much Japanese from this CIP but I made a few enduring memories with some of the kids that I’ll treasure. They’re very friendly children and I was expecting to have to try very hard to connect with them but they actually approach you! It was gratifying watching some kids open themselves up to me over the course of my visits. 

My advice would be to think carefully about what you want to get out of your CIP before you make a decision! I did enjoy spending time at the kindergarten but I wouldn’t recommend it for everyone. I didn’t learn a whole lot about Japanese culture or language from the CIP but I learned how kids minds’ work and how best to mediate their conflicts. I think you could transfer these skills to work at any kindergarten or institution with younger children.

This semester I volunteered at Happiness Kodomo Shokudou, a children’s cafeteria near Nishioji Station! Every Wednesday I would volunteer from 3-8 PM by preparing parts of that evening’s meal, serving food, cleaning, and keeping the children occupied.

No one at Happiness can speak English, so this was a great opportunity for me to be completely immersed in Japanese for almost my entire day. I enjoyed getting to know the other volunteers at the cafeteria, as well as getting the opportunity to attend additional activities like strawberry picking.

For incoming students, I would highly recommend making an effort to get to know the children quickly and early on. For those with whom I didn’t interact within the first week or two, it became very difficult to talk with them. Likewise, this CIP is loud and engaging, so be prepared to interact with many different types of people!

I was recommended Bazaar Café  by my classmate as my CIP. Of course, since I do not have a high cooking skill that could be compared to a professional chef, volunteering at Bazaar Café basically equals to helping around chores like washing dishes or ironing aprons. Yet, when the kitchen is not very busy, other volunteers or regular staff are very willing to teach me using some special kitchen tools or allowing me to do some side works while preparing the orders.

Clearly knowing how poor my keigo is, I was very nervous on my first day. Luckily, Bazaar Café is a place where everyone is here to support each other, and thus keigo is not something mandatory even when you are speaking with the manager. Regardless of that, I was still able to learn some nuances in workplace culture. For example, there is a co-volunteer, nice middle-aged lady, who always greets me with “おはようございます” even though I usually go to Bazaar Café around 3 pm. Then my friends, also my co-volunteers explained it to me that in Japanese workplace culture, one would always greet his or her co-workers with “おはようございます” when starting to work. Besides, sharing snacks or small souvenirs after a trip among co-volunteers is rather common as a way to build up the relationship.

In addition to my new findings of unique Japanese culture, meeting different kinds of people at Bazaar Café is my best memory within these several months. As some of us might have known, Bazaar Café is like a harbor for minorities, LGBTQ, foreigners, and immigrants. It is also the reason why on my first day of work, the manager suggested me to not ask some sensitive questions on personal background. I then struggled a while on how to get into the group without being sure about what are the topics that I could talk about. To my great surprise (in a good way), they accept me naturally by leading me through the things I could help around and inviting me to share food. After around three weeks, although my co-volunteers are still trying to memorize my name as I was struggling on writing down everyone’s name, I was settled in the kitchen as well as I know where I should put dishes back.

I haven’t mentioned the details of my conversations with these lovely people because it might involve a lot of personal information. Nevertheless, if there is one thing I have learned from this experience, it is how to communicate with your heart. I know it really sounds like preaching or those old talks, but to treat other people with respect and trying to help whatever is within one’s ability range is never a wrong thing to do.

For my CIP I volunteered at Hiyoshigaoka High School as an English teaching assistant. While I regretted not getting to use my language skills more, this was a valuable experience nonetheless. As I hope to return to Japan one day as part of the JET program, it was incredibly informative to see what the day-to-day life of an ALT looks like and hear about their experiences. Every Wednesday there are 5 ALTs at the school, which I hear is extraordinarily high number. Fortunately for me, I was able to talk to all of them about their time in the program and gained further insight into the experience. During one visit I sat in on a tutoring session where an ALT was helping a student with pronunciation differentiations. It was fascinating to observe how he described the mouth movements to better facilitate the sounds. I quickly found myself following his instructions and mouthing the words. I had never before considered the stark contrast between English and Japanese in terms of facial movements.

Since I go in the afternoons there is no fixed class, but an after-school, free-form English club. On Valentine’s Day there was big event where many students participated in themed, student-run activities. One such activity was こくはくreenactment skits in English. Students were given example situations in which to they had to こくはくsomeone (for example: on a train, at the beach…). This resulted in some high-quality acting and hilarious moments. Another one was a ‘speed dating’ activity, which I participated in along with the ALTs. We had to talk to the students and answer Valentine’s Day-related questions, which ranged from “What kind of candy do you like?” to “Should couples live together before marriage?” Needless to say the questions escalated realllly fast.

Engaging with the students was incredibly entertaining. One week we played an American pop music recognition game and they beat me with flying colors. Another week a student asked whether the McDonalds hamburgers in America were enormous in comparison to those in Japan. Unfortunately, the high school academic year started wrapping up last month and is now finished. I was unable to go in for a number of weeks because students were studying for and taking final exams. I wish I had known that this would be the case from the start of the KCJS semester and could have found an additional CIP activity, one that perhaps involved more Japanese practice. However, I hope to return at least once more before the end of the KCJS semester as the students return for the new school year.

During a semester in which you often find yourself on the wrong side of a language barrier, seeing others work on a foreign language is encouraging. In the English circle Klexon, I was not only able to interact with Japanese participants of various backgrounds– I was afforded a different perspective regarding my own Japanese studies. For all the moments you feel insecure, unsure, or even embarrassed during your interactions with native speakers, Klexon is a reminder that the embarrassment or discomfort is not mutual. In many ways, Klexon motivated me to study harder, interact more freely, and test my own Japanese in areas I initially may have shied away from.

As I continued to participate in Klexon weekly, I began to recognize a handful of faces, and became friendly with a considerable number of the circle members. Klexon’s Japanese participants vary in age (as do the native English speakers), but every one is extremely friendly, and very willing to talk. As friendships develop, you may find your English conversations slipping into Japanese. In my opinion, this is one of the great benefits of Klexon. For all the English you speak, you’ll find ample opportunity to work in your Japanese as well (in the all-important arena of informal conversation). With the older participants you may want to keep your Japanese respectful and formal, but you’ll find with your younger friends that slipping into comfortable and informal conversation happens quite naturally. This may be a consequence of the importance and function of age in Japanese relationships, and the way in which age affects interactions (especially in first-encounter situations). In a group setting such as Klexon, where internal hierarchy isn’t clearly defined by rank, significance is placed on age instead. In my own observations, I noted the use of polite Japanese between members of different age groups, but not exclusively from one side. In conversations where an older and younger circle member were speaking, both parties kept the exchanges polite and reserved. It seems that for those with less in common, interactions remain more formal by nature.

In direct contrast to this, I noticed that peers in the same age group would sometimes immediately jump into informal conversation once they realized they were students at the same university, or were both the same age. As a foreigner, you may be hesitant to switch from polite to relaxed conversation with a partner, and you may not know when or how to do so. In my experience, if a peer speaks to you informally, you should probably return the favor. It is at the same time a sign of comfort and friendship. Why reject it? I suppose in many ways Klexon helps a student understand how friendships develop in Japan, and when certain barriers of formality can be crossed and discarded.

Though Klexon has an informal atmosphere in general, one curious point I did notice is that at meetings all the English speakers stay seated, while those who came to practice English rotate from person to person every ten minutes. While this is of course practical, I couldn’t help but feel there was an element of respect attached to the gesture as well. We, as English speakers, provide a valuable learning resource for the Japanese participants. As such, we’re treated by the circle leader almost as guests. I suppose its something you might expect in a society where hospitality and manners are valued so highly.

The very first time I found myself at Kyoto Bunkyo, a combined middle school and high school in Higashiyama, something earth shatteringly shocking happened: I was cool amongst middle schoolers.

They laughed at my jokes. They got excited when I showed up. They all enjoyed talking to me. It was all my middle school fantasies of popularity realized a mere seven years too late.

Of course, as I was soon to figure out, this was not because some latent coolness gene had activated inside me sometime after high school. Rather, it was because no one could understand a word I was saying.

One would assume that this lack of communication should have been obvious after a couple of extremely one-sided conversations. And the truth is, it probably was. Just not to me.

And here, after a few weeks of painstaking observation, are the reasons why:

1. The English the students know, the students really know. It kind of works like a script. The students know certain phrases and sentences. They have them memorized like they’re preparing for a play. The most infamous is what I like to call the “How Are You” Script.

It goes like this:

“How are you?”

“I am fine, thank you. And you?”

“I am fine.”

As long as you stick to the script, the students can have a pretty passable, if a little bit flat, conversation. Unfortunately, they know the script so well, that your input is barely necessary. It doesn’t really matter what answer you give, the script will continue on regardless.

On one occasion, a student gave the entire script in one breath without my input at all. (“How-are-you-I-am-fine-thank-you-and-you. Good-bye.”)

Nonetheless, the fact remains that when these students are on script, they are in their comfort zone and, although their intonation is a little off, they speak smoothly and confidently. Since most conversations start out with scripts, and frequently contain more in the middle, it’s easy to believe that these students are understanding more than they are.

2.They laugh a lot. Which, as most English speakers are prone to, I usually took as a cue that they were enjoying my insightful and witty comments.

As it turns out, that wasn’t the case. The students frequently used laughter to cover up for times they didn’t understand. I think it was a combination of nerves, a desire to seem more fluent, and behaviors learned from their teachers.

That’s not to say that they never laughed because something was genuinely funny. They did. But it is not the special, “I don’t understand laugh”. The “I don’t understand laugh” is hesitant. All the students take a split second to make eye contact with each other and check if anyone understands. Then, when they do laugh, it comes out in a quick burst and stops just as fast.

But, it’s close enough to regular laughter to convince someone like me that the conversation was on track, and they enjoyed my jokes. Even the one about the platypus. (They actually did know the word for platypus, by the way. They had all studied in Australia.)

Anyway, between the scripts and the laughter, it took me an embarrassingly long time to realize that anything was amiss. When I finally did notice, there was much mortification on my part for a few days. Afterwards, I had to slow down my speech immensely, and our conversations degenerated into fairly bland repeats of the same discussions, but at least everyone was on the same page.

So, I guess the end result of this story is that communication mishaps are easy. Correcting them is a little bit harder. But at the end of the day, I like the think that learning to bridge a few differences and learning to detect a couple of new ticks is worth it in the end. If nothing else, I’ve won a few cool points, which is a victory in and of itself.

僕のCIP はクレソンという英会話サークルだ。CIPに入る目的は新しい人に会うことで、同級生と先生にそう言うと、みんなクレソンをすすめてくれた。それで、クレソンに入ることにした。クレソンは英語を勉強したい日本人のために作られたサークルだけれども、日本語で話す機会もあるので、留学生にとっても話すいい練習になると思う。サークルに参加している人は親切で、ミーティングになるべくたくさん話に来るから会話をするのはやさしい。クレソンのメンバーの年齢は人によって違うので、みんなは様々な経歴を持っているので、面白い話ができる。

クレソンは一か月に２回午後七時から九時まで会う。一週間おきにしかミーティングがないが、よくパーティーもある。僕はまだクレソンのパーティーに行ったことがないが、必ず学期が終わる前に行くつもりだ。色々なパーティーの種類があるそうだ。例えば、ホームパーティー、節分パーティー、なべパーティー。クレソンではパーティーだけではなく、メンバーはミーティングが終わってから、飲みに行くのも普通だ。そのような理由で、新しい人に会いたい人なら、僕もクレソンという英会話サークルをおすすめする。

私のCIPは、京都文教という学校で英語を教えることです。毎週、一、二時間くらい、三人の学生と一緒に英語で会話します。アメリカと日本の生活の違い、将来の計画、好きなテレビ番組や音楽、趣味など、色々なトピックについて、話します。最初、学生に話すのは、少し難しかったですが、少しずつ京都文教の学生と先生に慣れて、どんどん簡単になりました。

一番面白いのは、普通の日本人の中学生と高校生の生活を観察できることです。私が思ったステレオタイプと絶対にちがうので、ちょっとびっくりしました。例えば、日本の教育制度は、とても大変ですから、学生はいつも静かに勉強すると思っていましたが、今まで会った学生は、色々な部活動に参加して、よく笑います。もちろん、将来を考えていますが、今したいことも考えています。

今から、日本人の学生の生活を見続けたいと思います。学生と話すことを楽しみにしています。