{"id":12555,"date":"2023-12-03T22:24:04","date_gmt":"2023-12-03T13:24:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kcjs.jp\/?p=12555"},"modified":"2024-06-07T10:56:19","modified_gmt":"2024-06-07T01:56:19","slug":"holly-middlebrooks-volunteering-at-mitsuba-kindergarten","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kcjs.jp\/blog\/2023\/12\/03\/holly-middlebrooks-volunteering-at-mitsuba-kindergarten","title":{"rendered":"Holly Middlebrooks: Volunteering at Mitsuba Kindergarten"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-12559 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/www.kcjs.jp\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMG_5386-590x742.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"584\" height=\"734\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.kcjs.jp\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMG_5386-590x742.jpg 590w, https:\/\/www.kcjs.jp\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMG_5386-193x243.jpg 193w, https:\/\/www.kcjs.jp\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMG_5386-768x966.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.kcjs.jp\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMG_5386-238x300.jpg 238w, https:\/\/www.kcjs.jp\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMG_5386.jpg 1399w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 584px) 100vw, 584px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>For my Community Involvement<\/p>\n<p>Project this semester, I chose to volunteer at \u307f\u3064\u3070\u5e7c\u7a1a\u5712 (Mitsuba Kindergarten) due to my love of kids and desire to learn more about the Japanese childcare system. Every Monday, I would walk to the kindergarten from campus, and spend two hours assisting the kids in their daily activities, playing with them, and help them practice both their English and Japanese writing skills. This was a super rewarding experience, as in addition to becoming close with the kids, by the end I was also being acknowledged by fellow teachers and even some of the parents as a part of the Mitsuba community. I also felt as if there was a very equal exchange of culture that occurred, as while I was able to learn all about the inner-workings of a Japanese kindergarten (which I found to be shockingly hands off compared to my expectations), the kids were always eager to hear about my experiences as an American (and of course, freak out over me speaking English after relentlessly begging me to). I would highly encourage future KCJS students to pursue a CIP like Mitsuba where there is an existing community which is also accessible to break into, especially if you\u2019re on the more reserved side. In the end, kids don\u2019t judge and just want to have a good time, and by including you in their fun, you\u2019ll be able to interact with other members of the community like teachers, parents, and other volunteers. Overall, I am very thankful for this experience and can\u2019t wait to see the kids again next semester!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For my Community Involvement Project this semester, I chose to volunteer at \u307f\u3064\u3070\u5e7c\u7a1a\u5712 (Mitsuba Kindergarten) due  &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kcjs.jp\/blog\/2023\/12\/03\/holly-middlebrooks-volunteering-at-mitsuba-kindergarten\">\u7d9a\u304d\u3092\u8aad\u3080 <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":652,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_locale":"ja","_original_post":"12555"},"categories":[46,177,6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kcjs.jp\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12555"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kcjs.jp\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kcjs.jp\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kcjs.jp\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/652"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kcjs.jp\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12555"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.kcjs.jp\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12555\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13933,"href":"https:\/\/www.kcjs.jp\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12555\/revisions\/13933"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kcjs.jp\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kcjs.jp\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12555"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kcjs.jp\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}