MLO 5: Cultural Internalization and Language Immersion
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5.1. Students demonstrate that they have actively immersed themselves in authentic Japanese cultural and linguistic environments and have internalized the language and cultural experience, from which they have developed a personal understanding and new perspectives of the community.
5.1. For this outcome I was able to substitute studying abroad with my experience as missionary in Japan. I was, with this experience, able to see how another culture other than America actually works with my own eyes. This experience was definitely irreplaceable, and this is what set me down my path to coming here to Japan, and gave me my goal of becoming a teacher of English in Japan. As a missionary we had a lot of rules that most of the students who went to study abroad didn't have. This kind of limited my experience since I really couldn't explore different places in Japan. I lived mostly in Fukuoka-ken and Kumamoto-ken, and I really wasn't allowed to leave the area I was placed in. Luckily, Kyushu has a lot of very interesting places, and I think I was able to adequately experience the Japanese culture that was available to me in that location. I have a great love for geology, and Kyushu is one of the most geologically active islands in terms of volcanic activity. So I was able to, when I was living in Yatsushiro in Kumamoto-ken, go to Aso-san and see the great caldera that locals boast as being one of the world's largest craters. The caldera was big enough to fit villages in it |
Then because of the manner of the experience I had in Japan, I was able to meet a great number of people. One of the people we were teaching told us that if we were to interact with Japanese people and be in Japan we had to fully experience the culture. For him the biggest part of the culture was an onsen, so he would take us to the onsen in nearby village Sakamoto. We would go there every now and then (I only have pictures of the building). Then we were able to go fishing in the Yatsushiro bay and also learn more about local Japanese culture and history by visiting Kumamoto castle. I really wanted to explore more of the area, but I couldn't due to restrictions at the time. When given the chance I would definately love to go and explore more places of Japan and more historic sites like castles, temples, and shrines all over the country. I would also like to go see What Tokyo is like, since a good amount of the areas I lived in were inaka or countryside.
Then as far as the academic part goes, as a missionary I was required to do personal and companion study every morning. This was related to missionary work specifically, but after this was done we had an hour to study Japanese. We did this with different grammar books we were provided with when we were studying at the missionary training center, and reading books, or practicing Japanese with our companions. The biggest aid and difficulty that was there for learning the language was just doing my job and speaking with the people. It was the biggest aid because you can't possibly have a better way of learning a language than by actually going out and getting real world experience speaking with the people. It's also the most difficult part because it takes time to be able to adequately understand what the people are saying. There is however, another aid that is our companion. When first going out to the country you typically have a companion that has a good amount of experience and command of the language, and they are able to help you understand what people are saying while helping those we're speaking with understand me. I was able to learn a lot from them. This experience was definitely one of my precious, and I am forever grateful for having it, as it started me on my path to CSUMB and then back to Japan.