Feature: Teaching Culture in the Language Classroom · 2010-12-14 · Feature: Teaching Culture in the Language Classroom Pathways to Understanding A Day in the Life ——p.10 包むTsutsumu:

Feature:

Teaching Culture in the Language ClassroomPathways to Understanding

A Day in the Life ——p.10包む Tsutsumu: Wrapping

Japanese-language Education Around the World ——p.12Thailand

TJF News ——p.13Winners of the Second Lesson Plan Idea ContestAnnounced

No.10February1998

ISSN 1342-4238

I owe my idea of teaching about Japanese riceto my Mexican roots. I’ve always loved cook-ing, and my father owns a couple of Mexicanrestaurants, so our family was always involvedwith food, preparation of dishes, and otherthings to do with eating. I knew how impor-tant tortillas and chiles are to Mexican cooking.In Mexico, the different Mexican tribes havespecial ceremonies in which corn and cornmealis used, for example, in rituals for the dead.Then again, the Mayan culture has a cuisinevery different from that of the Aztecs. When Ilearned about the role of rice in Japan, I real-ized that there are many similarities to the roleof corn in these cultures.

So I dedicate one entire week to teachingabout Japanese rice and related foods. The firstthing I have to do is get rid of the misnomersthe children have acquired—that Japanese eat“dogs and cats,” or “chow-mein”—so that theywill begin to see that each Asian culture has itsown particular foods and customs. And, ratherthan talking about how “weird” these foodsare, I try to give them the background, show

the rich history of rice, for example, and showthe correspondences to the tortilla of Mexico,the bread of France, the pasta of Italy.

In teaching you have to plant the seed of en-thusiasm, and for this purpose I think that cul-ture is crucial. It is impossible to separatelanguage from culture. If you do not incorpo-rate culture into language instruction, you mayfind that students grow fluent to a certain ex-tent and become very knowledgeable, but theydon’t become really enthusiastic. It is importantto develop linguistic proficiency in Japanese,but if you don’t have a love of the culture, it’snot going to be contagious. In our societytoday, I think people are finally coming to un-derstand that Japanese is a unique languageand Japan has a unique culture. They are real-izing that Japan is different and distinct fromThailand and China, and are learning to ap-preciate it. This can be accomplished throughteaching about food and other aspects of cul-ture. While each culture is unique, there arealso many universalities and features sharedamong different cultures.

The Japan Forum Newsletter No.10 February 1998

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Teaching Culture in the Language Classroom Pathways to Understanding

At the 1997 meeting of the American Council on Teaching of Foreign Languages (Nashville, Tennessee) the Japan Forum held a session on November 22 entitled “How Can Culture Be Taught in the Language Classroom?” At the session, Sandra Lopez-Richter, winner of the grand prize in TJF’s first (1995) Lesson Plan Contest: Ideas and Examples of How to Teach Culture in the Japanese-language Class (targeted at Japanese-language teachers at elementary and secondary schools in countries other than Japan) and Kano Yoko, another prize-winner, talked about the reasons they teach culture in Japanese-language classes. Peggy Hagmann, who won a prize in the foreign-language education division of the 1995 American Teacher Awards presented by the Walt Disney Company and McDonald’s, discussed the importance of linking cultural understanding to Japanese and other foreign-language education for young students.

This issue of The Japan Forum Newsletter introduces summaries compiled from the presentations in this session and considers the place of Japanese-language education in American schools. The experiences recounted here confirm the importance of cultural understanding in foreign-language education, not only in the United States but everywhere.

Culture Through FoodSandra Lopez-Richter

Sandra Lopez-RichterTeaches Japanese andSpanish at CrestwoodMiddle School, Royal PalmBeach, Florida. Her lessonplan “History of JapaneseRice” won the grand prizeat the secondary school level in the 1995 TJF lesson plan contest.

It is quite a joy, I must say, to go to a sushirestaurant in my community and find childrenfrom my classes there, enjoying the food. Theygo regularly, the sushi maker tells me, and thekids themselves tell me they are going to studyJapanese in college. This gives me a real thrill.I have found that the longer I teach, whether itbe Spanish or Japanese, the more I realize boththe unique qualities of each culture and thesimilarities among them.

My program begins with telling the childrenabout the different words for rice in Japanese—kome, gohan, raisu—and so on. The seventhgraders know how to write “raisu” in katakana.I explain how this food is called “raisu” wheneaten with Western food and “gohan” when itcomes with Japanese-style food. I tell themabout the different types of rice—related cere-monial foods including sekihan and o-mochi forO-shogatsu. Right before Christmas break I buyfrozen o-mochi and this year we will grill themon grills that I brought back from Japan. We’llwrap them in nori and dunk them in shoyu, andexplore some of the other customs that go withO-shogatsu.

I tell them about shinmai, about how rice wasonce used in place of money, and why it is soimportant to eat every little grain of rice in yourbowl. We learn about onigiri. I have access to

an Asian food store that sells umeboshi—whichI love myself—and we make proper onigiri.

About two weeks ago we had a lesson onJapanese breakfast. I got fish, natto, tsukemono,and made tamagoyaki and misoshiru, and thekids had quite a time. It was wonderful. Andnow the children are saying, “Is there a tradi-tional Japanese lunch we can have?” So thisyear we will have a little bonen-kai in the class-room, learn about the ingredients for sukiyakiand try it out. In that connection I think I’ll tellthem about the differences between Kansaiand Kanto.

There is a great deal you can teach about cul-ture in the Japanese classroom. For examplegood table manners: they have learned thatone does not point with one’s o-hashi. Youshould not suck on your chopsticks, put themin the bowl or stick them upright in your rice.We note the differences between Chinese andJapanese chopsticks. I have also done a lessonon noodles and slurping, telling them how it’sall right to slurp Japanese noodles and thelouder you slurp the more you express howgood it is, but that they shouldn’t slurp theirchicken noodle soup.

I can feel the children developing a fascinationin Japanese language through this kind of cul-tural experience and I know that it will foster

in them a desire to learnmore and perhaps to goto Japan. I love teaching.It is priceless to be able totouch the hearts of youngchildren who at one timeperhaps viewed Japaneseas people with “slantedeyes” or other stereo-types, but who becomereally interested in thisdifferent culture. And Ihave found that teachingabout the culture of foodis a very effective ap-proach for drawing outstudents’ interest and en-thusiasm. ❧


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Gohan Bento

Mochi Onigiri

At the very beginning of the school year, firstlevel, on the very first days of class—when en-rollment has settled down—I start teaching aboutJapanese language and behavior in the culture.

I take due advantage of myself as a nativespeaker, because for many of them I am theonly Japanese they have ever come into contactwith. Although I have been living in theUnited States for seven years and have becomerather Americanized in many ways, in theclassroom I try to be “Japanese,” to go back tomy roots. For example, instead of pointing tomy chest, as Americans do, to indicate myself,I point to my nose, as Japanese do. If I have anassistant teacher who has just come fromJapan, I tell the students to notice the typicallyJapanese character of their hand gestures. Forexample, when they are embarrassed, theirhands go to their mouth. It is an ideal oppor-tunity for students to see how Japanese behaveand interact with each other. They can eaves-drop on what we are saying in Japanese. Theycan see us bowing to each other and saying“Onegaishimasu,” and so on.

I encourage the students to be observant, andto exercise insight and understanding aboutthings that may initially strike them as strangeor different. Observing others perceptively alsohelps students think about their own character.They may think it odd to see Japanese bowinginto the telephone, but when they think aboutit, Americans, too, use hand gestures and ex-pressions as if the person on the other endcould see them. Behavior may be displayed indifferent forms, but it plays essentially the samerole. Students don’t have to start acting likeJapanese themselves, but they need to becomeaware of different gestures used in other culturesand that some gestures mean different things inother cultures.

One aspect of learning Japanese—learningany foreign language—that is particularly valu-able is that it is an opportunity to acquire dif-ferent characteristics. The American friends Icame to know as foreign students in Japan,whom I met later here in the United States, be-haved quite differently in Japan from the waythey do here in their own country. Obviouslythey adopted some characteristics in Japan asAmericans speaking Japanese. I always tell mystudents that they will acquire something dif-ferent in the course of studying Japanese.These are young people who are still learningsocial expectations, rules, and manners. It is agood chance for them to become more awareof what they are doing and how they look.

At the very beginning stage, I introducebowing and nodding (aizuchi) during conver-sation. I emphasize that nodding means “Isee,” “I’m listening,” not necessarily, “I agree.”I explain how, depending on your relationshipto the other person, the way you bow or nodwill be different. We also talk about smilingand laughter. They sometimes think that Japa-nese laugh at the strangest times. In Japan, ifyou step on somebody’s foot, you might grin


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Learning Body LanguageKano Yoko

KanoYokoFormer Japanese-languageteacher at John T. HoggardHigh School, Wilmington,North Carolina. Kano nowteaches Japanese at theUniversity of North Carolina.Her lesson plan “Body Language” won a prize in the 1995 TJF lesson plancontest.

or laugh in embarrassment and apology, butsometimes it makes American people angry—they declare it’s not something to laugh about.

We talk about saying good-bye. Japanesehave a tendency to repeat farewells over andover, until they are out of sight. But someAmericans do the same. I point out the simi-larities and they realize that it’s not just somekind of strange Japanese behavior. They like topoint out how Japanese still try to bow whenthey are inside a car moving away. I remindthem that this is the custom that goes backeven before there were any cars.

I do notice the students acquiring new kindsof behavior. When they meet their Americanteachers in the hallway they greet them Amer-ican style, but when they see me—especially atthe beginning of the semester—they start bow-ing deeply to me, saying “Ohayo gozaimasu.”Little by little they will learn when to use avery deep bow and when a brief dip and waveof the hand is appropriate. That shows themhow in Japan, as we move from very distant re-lations to very casual ones, the way we bowchanges.

My second objective in teaching these thingsis as a technique for achieving classroom disci-pline. That’s why I do this lesson very early inthe beginning. I tell them I am still adapting toAmerican culture, and some kinds of behaviorreally make me very angry or uncomfortable.I ask for their cooperation. There are certainkinds of behavior I find very distasteful andit’s the kind of thing that Japanese in generalfind distasteful. If they want to achieve goodor smooth communication with Japanese, theyhave to be aware of certain things.

I always teach the various common gestures,such as for indicating that something is deli-cious, for signaling for someone to comecloser, and for meaning “money.” I talk abouteye contact, which was something I found dif-ficult to get used to in the United States, wherepeople look you straight in the eye from firstacquaintance.

What students learn with their bodies, theywon’t forget. They may forget how to say “Kon-nichiwa. Hajimemashite” or “Ohayogozaimasu”—they may forget the words—but they will notforget the body language. So in the futurewhen they come into contact with Japanese,they will remember the body language. Theirusage and accent may be wrong, but theirbody language will help those who meet themto trust them and feel at ease. ❧


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Interest in culture in the classroom often beginsas an expression of curiosity by the teacher. Ateacher who is interested in things—differ-ences, similarities, characteristics—can be thedriving force in learning. It puts us in the pow-erful position to pass on our passion. Teachingculture can be a vehicle not only for learningabout another way of life but for encouragingstudents to seek and pursue things about whichthey feel passionately, no matter what it is. Itcan affirm that curiosity is good and important,now and throughout their lives.

I approach the teaching of culture throughwhat I call “Kyo no Bunka” (“Today’s Culture”or “Culture for the Day”). I have a sign hangingup in one corner of my classroom over theblackboard, and under this sign I write theword and various notes when introducing Kyono Bunka. It is part of the way I keep my pro-gram organized. I introduce a wide variety oftopics from broad conceptual themes to veryspecific, concrete things—from morning greet-ings to mimikaki (ear picks)—sometimes plan-

ning well ahead of time, sometimes on the spurof the moment. I don’t attempt to do a Kyo noBunka culture point every day. I don’t let it be-come a burden. I chose when to present some-thing—occasioned perhaps by a day that fallson one of Japan’s annual events (like Setsubun),by the visit of a guest from Japan, by a gift I’vereceived from Japan or a question that comesup in the classroom. I always include languagewith culture.

The teaching time for Kyo no Bunka is from5 minutes to 5 days; I like it to be flexible, butorganized. It can be adapted to any level, Kthrough 12. Terms and expressions can be in-troduced as appropriate to the level, and thematerials used include anything and every-thing Japanese, a ramune bottle, a mimikaki, ora Daruma figure. Or sometimes nothing, noth-ing tangible, that is. It can be simply to explaina particular topic, like “Shogatsu” or “haiku.”

I write the term on the board, at the very firstonly in romaji, and after that in hiragana orkanji. The students are expected to be account-able for the information I tell them about eachKyono Bunka topic, so when they need to, theytake notes. I have them repeat the word overand over, and this repetition is important forunfamiliar terms. Then I demonstrate or tell astory. Since I am usually working in a team witha Japanese assistant, we may present a littledialogue, with myself as the curious Americanand the assistant as the Japanese, responding tomy questions. Or, I may have a guest speakerwho has brought a gift for the classroom or forme, and we talk about it and I ask questionsabout it. I always give the kids plenty of time towrite what they hear in their notebooks.

The items used for Kyo no Bunka, which wekeep in what I call the Bunka Bag, can bebrought out and used over and over. For ex-ample, I started out one year with a Norakuroalarm clock. The alarm chimes with voice of


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Passing on PassionPeggy Hagmann

The souvenir Daruma Ms. Hagmann brought from Japan for her students with the explanatory note she always provides for Kyo no Bunka items

Peggy HagmannJapanese-language teacherat North High School, Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Prize winner in the foreign-language education divisionof the 1995 AmericanTeacher Awards presentedby the Walt Disney Com-pany and McDonald’s. Former Spanish-languageteacher

the little black and white dog saying “Ohayo!Ohayo,” so we can use this in the very first daysteaching aisatsu. The Daruma figure can bebrought back to use for eyes, nose and mouth,for “Ikura desu ka,” and many other things. I in-troduce mimikaki because it’s something wedon’t have in American culture, but they’re acommon sight in Japan.

Other topics that are keyed to certain timesof the year are seibo, nengajo, Shogatsu, etc. Onebrief topic I introduce is nori, because beforewe do onigiri, we have to know what nori is. Ipass out pieces of nori and let the studentstouch, smell, and feel it, and then I give themarare with little specks of nori in it or wrappedin nori. Later, when we take up onigiri, theyknow what nori is and how healthy it is.

I organize the topics somewhat, making sureI cover seasonal topics at the right time of year,but otherwise move things around flexibly orshift them to Japanese 3 or 4, when the stu-dents will be ready for them.

The students take notes, some more carefullythan others. I tell them a lot of detail and tellthem that they are responsible for knowing thedetails. But I don’t write it all down on the board

and I don’t give them handouts. I make them re-sponsible for keeping notes if they need to.

I don’t check their notebooks or demand thatthey look neat and nice, but I tell them they’llhave to study from their own notes, becausethere’s no other place to look up these things.Some don’t take many notes and some can bepretty sloppy; but what matters is whetherthey remember what I told them; they can eachdo it in their own way.

I do reviews and quizzes of the Kyo noBunka culture points. This corner can be help-ful in filling in extra time, too, if you finishearly after a guest speaker or you have an extrapocket of time. I teach them phrases and termsto go with each topic, like “Oni wa soto, fuku wauchi!” with Setsubun; “Itadakimasu” with hashi,“nengajo” and “Akemashite omedeto gozaimasu”with Shogatsu. Big topics bring up smaller top-ics, perhaps better taken up separately.

It helps to personalize culture, by having anative speaker talk about topics, telling aboutpersonal experiences, and so forth. It also helpsif students teach “Amerika no Bunka” to Japa-nese assistants or guests who come to the class-room. In this way, passing on passion alsoprompts students to teach the culture theyhave learned to friends, substitute teachers,parents, and family. ❧


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A student who carved the characters for “Japan” on a Halloween pumpkin, and her father

After a class using the Norakuro alarm clock, one student who enjoys baking made this cake, decorated with the dittyheard from the clock, in hiragana

A student’s notes on Kyo no Bunka

Many, if not most, Americans are unconvinced that lan-guages other than English are relevant to their lives. If theyhave thought about language at all, they basically believethat the learning of another language is unnecessary (“theworld speaks English”), impossible (“no one really learnsa foreign language”), or irrelevant (“most language coursesfail to address my real world communications needs”).

These attitudes result in the current situation in theUnited States, where only one third of students enroll in alanguage course at any level in the educational system. Ofthese, only approximately ten percent attempt a languageother than French or Spanish, the only languages generallyavailable at most schools and universities in the UnitedStates. Of the students who even attempt the “harder lan-guages” (like Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Rus-sian), only a small proportion ever reach even a basic levelof functional proficiency.

The study of Japanese in the United States has to be con-sidered against this broader context as well as in light of itsdifficulty for English-speaking Americans. Studies haveshown that it takes approximately three times as long toreach a basic functional proficiency in Japanese as it doesin French or Spanish. This situation is exacerbated by thefact that study abroad in Japan, the prerequisite for any de-gree of language mastery, is not generally accessible tomost students, given the high cost for Americans to liveand study there.

In spite of these obstacles, enrollments in Japanese lan-guage expanded significantly through the 1980s,* produc-ing a spate of new programs at the school and collegelevels. This growth was supported by school systems, col-leges and universities, as well as by private foundationsand governmental agencies in the United States and inJapan.

There are now signs, however, that the situation of con-stantly expanding enrollments is over and that public andprivate sector resources supporting Japanese-language pro-gramming are shrinking. Now, as never before, strategicplanning is required to ensure that future investment of re-sources will support the building of a strong field architec-ture capable of sustaining Japanese-language learning inthe most effective and cost-efficient manner for the fore-seeable future.

In response to this new reality, the Japanese-languagefield currently is engaged in a field-wide process which isunprecedented in American language education. The goalis to develop mechanisms to guarantee the health of Japa-nese language programming in the United States for theforeseeable future. The major Japanese language teachers‘organizations, the Association of Teachers of Japanese(ATJ) and National Council of Secondary Teachers of Japa-

nese (NCSTJ), are joined in this effort by founders as wellas by other national voices concerned with the language inthe United States.

In the United States, a new vision on the future of languagelearning in the new world of global communication isemerging. This vision assumes that language programminghas to do “more with less”: more languages, more students,more tasks, more competencies; and it has to do all of thiswith steady or even diminishing resources. This new system(termed “System III”) assumes that the language-learningprograms of the future will “customize language learning”to enable students, whatever their interests and schedules,to select additional learning opportunities from an on-linemenu of modules and tutorials, as well as learning com-munities.

This vision depends on full advantage being taken of theincredible advances in modern communications and infor-mation technology, particularly the WWW. It also assumesthat language fields, and their representative organizations,will play a much stronger role in school and campus pro-gramming than they have in the past. In addition to pro-viding services to individual members through conferencesand journals, field-wide organizations will have to supportthe establishment and enhancement of programs in schoolsand on campuses. This will require that founders broadentheir focus from strengthening individual programs tobuilding strong language field architecture.

The Japanese-language field in the United States is par-ticularly well positioned to implement a new vision of lan-guage learning, one more capable of addressing the changingJapanese language needs of the twenty-first century. Theleadership of the field has begun the process. With great an-ticipation, we all await the results of their efforts.

* Draper and Hicks of ACTFL report that between 1982 and 1990 Japa-nese enrollments in public high schools grew from 6,246 to 25,123 andthat “The fastest growing language continues to be Japanese, whichalmost doubled its secondary school enrollment between 1990 and1994.” The Modern Language Association reports that Japanese lan-guage enrollments between 1968 and 1990 grew tenfold, from 4,324to 45,717.


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Japanese Language Study in the United StatesRichard D. BrechtDirector, National Foreign Language Center, U.S.A.

This feature of our newsletter considers Japanese-languageeducation, particularly at the elementary and secondarylevel, through the three presentations given in the TJF-sponsored session at the ACTFL conference. One of themost important purposes of teaching Japanese—or any for-eign language—at the elementary and secondary level ofeducation is to foster among students familiarity with othercultures and international understanding. The ways toachieve this goal presented in this session are summarizedhere.

● Purposes* To contribute not only to knowledge of language but to the education of students in the broad sense* To expose students to unfamiliar languages and cultures* To foster communication skills through knowledge of culture* To cultivate students’ interest in culture and motivation for learning

Foreign-language education, because it provides an op-portunity for contact with a previously unknown languageand culture, can be much more than simply the learning oflanguage; it can contribute immensely to the education ofyoung children in the broadest sense. The study of lan-guage and culture is useful in many ways in the develop-ment of young people’s abilities: exposure to unfamiliarsounds and writing systems cultivates powers of concen-tration and perception; contact with other cultures en-hances the ability to observe and enriches powers ofimagination; learning to speak other languages brings withit the discovery of shared human traits and the awarenessof universal human qualities that transcend culture.

In the course of such study, moreover, students begin tothink consciously about language and culture, thereby ac-quiring heightened appreciation of and tolerance towardother peoples that can be catalysts for broadening theirworldview.

● Stance of Teacher* Curiosity, open-mindedness, and enjoyment

Particularly regarding foreign languages and cultures, stu-dents learn the most from the attitude and stance of theteacher himself or herself. Enthusiasm, open-mindedness,and enjoyment of learning another language and culture onthe part of a teacher is infectious, readily prompting stu-dents to accept the challenges the teacher presents. An at-mosphere in the classroom that is flexible about themistakes students make is also very important for teachinga foreign language in a way that will promote cultural andinternational understanding.

● Topics, Activities, Resources* Familiar, easily-understood topics* Activities that students can do and experience themselves* Practical items that will arouse students’ interest

It is important to choose materials that are suited to students’age and stage of development and that are familiar and eas-ily grasped. Their interest can also be aroused by incorpo-rating information or topics about Japanese young peopleof their same age. At the elementary school level, songs,dances, and other activities with physical activity and useof the five senses, are particularly effective.

● Points for Incorporating Culture* Emphasize critical thinking * Do not over-generalize* Encourage comparison with own culture

Above all it is important to have students think about thelanguage and culture in question, rather than simply mem-orizing information. Care should be taken not to make state-ments that over-generalize about or stereotype Japaneseculture. It is also important to have students look at theirown culture and make comparisons, not only in order to no-tice the differences but to shed light on the common qualitiesthat lie beneath the disparities. Also, by becoming aware ofthe fact that there are people of many different backgroundswithin their own culture, they can think about the diversitywithin culture and realize the danger of generalization.

●Methods* Promote visibility* Encourage students to take pride in what they learn

Understanding of the benefits of learning a foreign languagecan be achieved through cooperation with teachers of otherforeign languages and by introducing culture in the broadsense through cooperation with teachers of other subjects.For example, Japanese geography can be taken up in coop-eration with classes in social studies, animals of Japan in sci-ence class, and Japanese arts in music or arts classes. It isalso important, of course, to let the school principal and ad-ministrators know the results and impact of such efforts.

Presentations directed at the family members of students,students not currently taking language classes, as well asfor the community and for other schools can be effective ingarnering support. Such presentations need not be heldonly by teachers; it is valuable to have students themselvesmake presentations about what they have learned. Positiveresponse to their efforts enhances their confidence and in-volvement.


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How Can Culture Be Taughtin the Classroom?

Points to Keep in Mind

When giving gifts or sending presents, it is customary inJapan to accord special care not only to the contents but tothe way a gift is wrapped and the wrapping itself. So, whena Japanese gives someone a present, they may feel takenaback if the recipient tears the package apart withoutthought for the wrapping, even when they know the persondoes not mean to be rude. In Japan the polite way to open apresent, especially in the presence of the giver, is to undo itcarefully, without tearing the paper, and some people neatlyfold the paper, saving it for reuse.

“Wrapping” things is more than a convenience in Japan.It is something to which people give special thought andcare. Let us consider the meaning of wrapping in Japaneseculture, looking at how it is a part of daily life.

TsutsumuWrapping (tsutsumu 包む) or tying/binding (musubu 結ぶ)things has special meaning in the context of Japanese ritualand belief, signifying not only enveloping something with a

covering but demarcating it as special and sacred. The sig-nificance of tsutsumu can be explained as an act that marksofferings as pure and clean and separates them from dirt ordefilement. It is said, moreover, that tsutsumu derives fromthe word tsutsushimu慎む, which means to be discreet andrestrained, and to show respect.

Tsutsumu, or wrapping things, is done not only to keepthem clean and protect them from harm, but also toexpress the giver’s heartfelt respect for the person they arepresented to; tsutsumu signifies the spirit of giving not onlysome material thing but feeling from the heart.

Gift-givingAlthough the many very specific ways once used for wrap-ping things are not as widely known today as in the past, thespirit of those traditions is still prized. Even young peopleare particular about the color and type of ribbons and paperused to wrap birthday or anniversary presents and bouquetsor flowers sent to others. Often the wrapping is done verysimply with a minimum of paper and tape, making the gifteasy to unwrap. It is sometimes said that Japanese gifts areover-wrapped, with various inner layers and very compli-cated folds, but people do prize and reuse good paper inwhich they have received gifts.

The main occasions of gift-giving in Japan are what areknown as “seasonal greetings,” the chief of which are chugen中元 and seibo 歳暮 gifts. Chugen gifts are given in the hotmonths of summer, mainly July, while seibo are winter, year-end presents. Both kinds are sent in order to express grati-tude for kindness, help, or consideration the giver hasbenefited from over the preceding months. It is customaryto give such gifts mainly to persons of higher standing, suchas one’s employer or boss, or the nakodo仲人 or formal “go-between” presiding over one’s marriage. Once it was com-mon to carry such presents directly to the person at their


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A Dayin

the Life

包むTsutsumu(Wrapping)

Noshigami のし紙 : Paper festoon for a formal gift.Features a noshi, originally a decoratively foldedpaper with a strip of dried abalone inside, an element symbolizing a happy occasion. A strip ofyellow paper may be substituted for the abalone.Today, the noshi and mizuhiki string are oftenprinted on the paper itself.

Mizuhiki 水引 : Decorative cord used to tie gift-wrapped articles and make ornaments. Red andwhite is commonly used for happy or auspiciousoccasions and other formal gifts; black and white isused for mourning and condolence gifts.Celebratory occasions require certain types of knotswhile funeral or sympathy gifts require others.

Name of person sending gift

A seibo 歳暮 gift

Box wrapped in a furoshiki

Bottle of sake tied up in a silk furoshiki 風呂敷

home, but today the normal pattern is to have them deliv-ered by a department store.

During the chugen and seibo seasons, department stores andother shops cancel their usual holidays and hold sales of giftsespecially designed for this purpose. While seasonal gift-givingis becoming less common among the younger generations, whotend to think of the practice as empty and old-fashioned, it isstill vigorously continued throughout Japan.

For all gifts, including chugen and seibo, there are manydetailed rules and customs of wrapping, pertaining to thetypes and patterns of the paper, the direction of the paper’smotif, ways of wrapping, use of traditional mizuhiki 水引string or noshi のし, many of which have implications forthe auspiciousness and message of the gift. When carryinga special gift to give to someone, moreover, sometimes it isfirst put in an attractively decorated box and then the boxwrapped in a furoshiki風呂敷until it is presented directly tothe person.

FuroshikiA furoshiki is a square of cloth used for wrapping up things,either for storage or carrying. Furoshiki come in various sizes,from about 70 centimeters square to larger ones 220 centi-meters square (approx. 30 to 90 inches square).

The kanji used to write the word 風呂敷 evoke the urbanlifestyle of the Edo period (1603-1867) when people madefrequent use of the public bathhouses (sento銭湯) that werea fixture of every community. People would bundle theirtowel and washbasin in the furoshiki when setting out for thebath, and then use it to wrap up their clothing while in thebath, as well as a kind of bathmat: 風呂 furo (“bath”) and 敷shiki (“spread”).

A furoshiki can be used, by simply tying the ends together,to wrap up things of almost any size and shape. Unlike abriefcase or bag, which has a predetermined form, it is ex-

tremely handy and can be folded up after use and used towrap or carry something else.

The simplicity and flexibility of the furoshiki wrapping clothis similar to that of kimono. Kimono are made in such a waythat they will neatly fit the body of the wearer by adjustmentof length and breadth using sashes and cords. When takenoff, however, a kimono folds up neatly into the simple shapeof the original strips of cloth from which it was made.

Since the end of World War II, most people have optedto use modern-style bags, briefcases and satchels, so furo-shiki are not seen as commonly as they once were, except attradition-centered events such as weddings and funerals.Furoshiki today are made not only of silk and cotton, but syn-thetic fibers, and are printed with traditional as well as moremodern designs.

Gifts of MoneyGifts of cash continue to be common in Japan, but they mustbe presented in a wrapping, appropriate to the occasion. Thetype and decoration of the wrapping varies for wedding gifts(shugi 祝儀 ), condolence gifts (koden 香典 ) at funerals orwakes, or other purposes. Such gifts are a feature mainly ofadult society, but children, too, often receive gifts of cash, es-pecially in the form of otoshidama お年玉 or “New Year’s pre-sents” from their parents and relatives. Some childrensurrounded by generous grown-ups have the good fortuneto receive quite large sums in the form of otoshidama. Thesechildren may buy toys or other coveted items with themoney, but many thriftily put it away in savings accounts.

Otoshidama are also handed over in specially designed en-velopes. The characters printed on the envelope in the photo-graph below are a simplified form of the decoration on thetraditional wrapping, which would have been festoonedwith a noshi strip of folded paper. ❧


11

Shugi祝儀 envelope and koden香典 envelope

Otoshidamaお年玉 envelopes

Way to fold paper for wrapping cash gifts for auspicious occasions (shugi tsutsumi). This is useful when giving cash that includes coins.w Align point A with point B. Then fold point A over to align with point C.e-r Open the upper flap of the small triangle (X) along the crease and fold by aligning point A with point D, forming a pocket.t After placing a coin in the pocket, close the pocket by folding over the corners marked A and D to point E.y Adjusting the length of the envelope to the size of currency enclosed, fold up bottom corner of envelope.u Close envelope by folding along long side and lapping corner over back.i These envelopes can also be used when presenting honorariums or other remunerations.


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Noppawan BoonsomPrapa SangthongsukTeaching Program Officers Japan Foundation Japanese Language Center, Bangkok●According to the National Education De-velopment Plan instituted in Thailandin 1977, education is divided into fourstages: preschool (kindergarten), ele-mentary, secondary (first phase: juniorhigh school; second phase: senior highschool), and higher (junior college anduniversity) education, with six yearsfor elementary school, six years forsecondary school (three and three),and four years for higher education.

Japanese Language in the SchoolsIn Thai senior high schools (approxi-mately 1,500 throughout the country),the primary foreign language taught isEnglish. French as a second foreign-language is taught in about 250 schoolsand German in about 40 schools. Onlya very few schools are believed to pro-vide instruction in Chinese and Korean.As shown in the table below, the num-ber of schools where Japanese is taughtas a second foreign language, the num-ber of instructors, as well as studentsenrolled in Japanese classes have in-creased annually, a trend that is ex-pected to continue for the time being.

In Thai senior high schools today,Japanese is generally offered as a re-quired subject, an elective subject, oran extracurricular activity. A requiredsubject consists of approximately 600

hours of study, six hours a week andextending over three years. Japanese isa required subject at about 25 percentof schools where it is taught. Free elec-tives consist of about 200 hours ofstudy, three hours a week and extend-ing over two years, and about 60 per-cent of schools where Japanese istaught offer it as an elective. Japaneseis also taught as an extracurricular ac-tivity at about 15 percent of theseschools, usually one hour a week forone year.

Why Japanese?What kinds of interests prompt Thaistudents to learn Japanese? There aretwo main reasons: One is that the trap-pings of popular Japanese culture area familiar presence. Not only Japan-made automobiles and household ap-pliances but instant noodles and otherfoods, as well as many other items ofdaily use from Japan abound in Thaimarkets.

People wait in long lines to purchasepopular Japanese toys such as Tamago-tchi. Video games and children’s comicbooks from Japan as well as CDs bytrendy groups such as X JAPAN andSMAP also sell well. Children’s car-toon series like Sailor Moon, Doraemon,and Crayon Shinchan as well as dramaprograms such as Ie naki ko [Girl With-out a Home] and Ai shite iru to itte kure[Say You Love Me] are regular fea-tures on Thai TV. Kero-kero Keroppi,BADBADTZ-MARU and other Sanrio-brand character goods are among thebags and stationery goods popularamong school children.

The other main reason for interest inJapanese is that it can be an advantagein seeking employment. In the case ofsenior high schools in areas whereJapanese factories are clustered, thereis a strong tendency for students totake jobs in Japanese corporations assoon as they graduate.

Difficulties for TeachersWhile interest in Japan and Japaneselanguage is quite high in Thailand and

the number of schools where Japaneseis taught is steadily increasing, there isa severe shortage of teachers. One rea-son for the shortage is that studentswho have majored in Japanese in uni-versity tend to seek out jobs in privateindustry, where employment condi-tions are favorable, rather than pursuecareers in teaching.

In many cases instructors of Japa-nese have not had adequate trainingin teaching methods and are notequipped with sufficient proficiency inJapanese themselves. The averageJapanese-language teacher is responsi-ble for 20 (and some even 25) hours ofinstruction per week, and some mustteach other subjects as well. Consider-ing the routine administrative tasksthey also have to perform, they are in-ordinately busy.

These circumstances force Japaneseteachers to rely heavily on textbooks,but there are fewer textbooks availablein Thai than in other languages forhigh-school-level students. RecentlyThai and Japanese publishers havebegun to translate language textsavailable in Japan with commentaryfor Thai students as well as produceoriginal texts specifically suited toThailand, but they are still very few innumber. Budget resources for Japanese-language teaching, moreover, are farfrom adequate, as Japanese is simplyone of several foreign languages beingtaught. Many teachers find that theyhave to pay out of their own pocketsfor copying and other costs of pro-ducing instructional materials.

Plans are in the works to changeThailand’s university entrance exami-nation system, and reportedly Japaneseis being considered as one of the sub-jects to be included on the entranceexaminations. If this should happen,the emphasis in Japanese-languageeducation in Thai high schools is boundto shift from an emphasis on quantityto greater stress on quality. ❧

Vortex of Cultural andEconomic Interest

Thailand

Japanese-language Education Around the World

A Japanese-language class at Wat ra-cha-o-ros School.

Students vie with each other in a game of gestures

Note: 1997 figures are as of July. No. of schoolsdoes not include vocational or technical highschools. No. of students is calculated on the basisof the increase rate in the number of schools.Source: Japan Foundation Japanese LanguageCenter, Bangkok.

Japanese-language Education in Thai High Schools (between 1994 and 1997)

1994 1995 1997

Schools 18 41 65

Teachers 32 60 105

Students 1,022 2,300 3,700

Japa

n Fo

unda

tion


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TJF is pleased to announce the winnersof its second Lesson Plan Contest: Ideasand Examples of How to Teach Culturein Japanese-language Class. The recip-ients of the grand and second prizes,who passed the first and second stagesof screening by Japanese-language ed-ucation specialists, are as follows:

Elementary education levelGrand Prize:“Mix Pizza,” Sagae Satoko (U.S.)Second Prize:“Communication/Buntsu,” Yoshida Yoshiko (Australia)Content-based Lesson Award: “Snails,” Catherine Speechley (Australia)Cultural Tradition Award:“Kimono,” Nobuko Weeks (U.S.)Secondary education levelGrand Prize:“Petto o Katte Imasuka,” Janina Carlon(Australia)Second Prizes:“Picture Bride,” Hiroko Vink-Kazama(U.S.)“Let’s Sell Canadian Products! ” Tsurumi Michiyo (Canada)“Japanese Bath,” Liu Shuyan (China)“New Year,” Helen Gilhooly (U.K.)All Round Lesson Award:“Initial Introduction,” Mary GraceBrowning (U.K.)

Japanese-language teachers at elemen-tary and secondary schools in coun-tries other than Japan were invited toparticipate, with the deadline for en-tries set at the end of September 1997.A total of forty-six lesson plans en-tered, not only from English-speakingcountries (Australia, United States,Canada, Britain, and New Zealand)as in the first contest, but this timealso from other countries includingChina and Brazil, revealing Japanese-language lesson plans that serve toincrease students’ international aware-

ness and understanding of Japaneseculture. Most of the entries, as previ-ously, dealt with popular topics fromJapanese daily life that easily catch theinterest of young students. Karaoke,Tamagotchi (the egg-shaped electronictoy), and other popular trends in con-temporary Japanese society were alsointroduced. Some teachers showed howthey use computers to teach language,and others teach Japanese jointly withother subjects in the same class.

The prize-winning lesson plans willbe made available in a booklet and onthe TJF Web site so that interestedJapanese-language teachers can sharetheir ideas. The grand prize winnerswill be invited to Japan in fall 1998, fora visit during which they will have op-portunities for exchange with Japaneseor foreign-language teachers and edu-cators in the area of international un-derstanding, through presentation ofmodel lessons and seminars.

*Persons interested in the prize-winninglesson plans for our first lesson-plan con-test, entitled Opening the Minds and Heartsof Your Japanese-Language Students—SelectedLesson Plans from the 1995 TJF Contest (inEnglish, summaries in Japanese), pleasecontact TJF, attn: Lesson Plan Booklet.

The TJF Web site has been continu-ously improved and amplified since itopened in March 1997. Expectationsare rapidly rising in the potential andinteractive capabilities of computersin our advanced information societyfor the supply, sharing, and exchangeof information in the fields of interna-tional exchange and cross-culturalunderstanding.

TJF seeks to transmit informationuseful for cultural understanding inthree languages, Japanese, English, andChinese.

* The eight windows on the TJF headpage introduce its main topics.

What is TJF?Opening this window brings you to anoutline of TJF programs, includingpublishing and other activities. TJFnews and the latest issue of the JapanForum Newsletter are available fordownloading.

TJF PlazaEntering the brick gate takes you to apage for exchange between TJF and itsWeb site users. Introduced here aredescriptions of programs for whichapplications are invited, TJF’s philo-sophy of education for internationalunderstanding and foreign-languageteaching, and its action plans, as wellas comments and messages to TJF,and profiles of people who supportTJF activities (forthcoming). We planto make this plaza a base of two-wayinformation exchange and discussionbetween users and elementary and sec-ondary school students and teachers.

Japanese-language Education

The gateway showing a teacher andstudents standing together at the win-dow of a classroom is a corner forJapanese-language education, themain thrust of TJF programs, with re-sources for elementary and secondaryschool teachers.

Centering around topics dealt within curriculum guidelines in variouscountries, the window presents teach-ing materials and information that canbe used in actual classwork, as well asuseful ideas for lesson plans.

For example, there is a series of linksfeaturing a boy named Kentaro intro-duced with photographs showinghow he spends his day and explainingrelated cultural items with pictorial andtextual material. Study items, targets,and curricula, drawn up on the basis ofthe curriculum guidelines of the Stateof Wisconsin, outstanding Japanese-language lesson plans submitted byteachers from overseas, and teachingmaterials are all linked to one another,offering rich resources for encouragingcultural understanding among chil-dren through language education.

Winners of the Second Lesson Plan Idea Contest Announced

TJF Web Site Improvements in Progress

Japanese-language MiscellanyClicking on this sliding Japanese doorbrings you to a mixture of useful Japa-nese phrases and vocabulary. Illustra-tions complement explanations of thenuances of Japanese homonyms andsynonyms as well as mimesis andonomatopoeia.

Chinese-language EducationThis link introduces information onChinese-language education at seniorhigh schools in Japan. TJF promotesthe education of Asian languages inJapanese senior high schools.

It is TJF’s hope that this link willpromote networking by providinginformation to teachers and studentsof Chinese language. A guideline ofsenior-high-school Chinese-languageeducation, data on Chinese-languageeducation, how it is actually taught inthe classroom, and ideas for lessons arealso introduced. Teachers of Chineseand other languages outside Japanmay also find helpful information here.

Chinese-language Miscellany

This window, with its red Chinesemotif, brings you tidbits of informa-tion for a better understanding of Chi-nese culture. The “photo studio” offersglimpses of the daily lives of threehigh school students in Beijing andDalian, vividly described in both Chi-nese and Japanese. This corner isequipped with sound, making possi-ble simple pronunciation practice forinterested users. One link introducescharacters used differently in Japanand China as well as Chinese expres-sions of special interest.

Japan-related BooksThis section, mainly dealing withJapan-related books, introduces TJF’sbook-donation program and invitespersons or organizations to apply forthe books available, as well as journalson Japan and further information onrelated books.

Related Web SiteLinks to organizations either related

to international and cultural under-standing or to Japanese-language ed-ucation are listed here.

Seeking to further improve the contentof its Web site, TJF looks forward to re-ceiving opinions and messages fromthose who access this TJF Web site.

Students study-ing Japanese out-side Japan areinterested in howyoung Japanesetheir own agelive, how theyspend their time,and what theythink on various

issues. Because there is little informa-tion available about the way Japanesereally live and think today, however,they have a hard time forming imagesof their counterparts in this country.

TJF sponsored a photo contestaimed at Japanese senior high schoolstudents, featuring scenes and mo-ments from their daily lives. The con-test invited entrants to submit a set offive photos showing how a highschool student—the applicant him- orherself or a friend—spends a day. Theprocess of preparing such photos can bea valuable opportunity for the photo-grapher and/or the subject to pauseand rethink their daily lives. We chosethe medium of photography not onlybecause it is familiar to young people,but because it can effectively captureimages of Japanese as individuals, re-placing the stereotypes that prevail inthe minds of many people overseas.

The winners of the contest will be se-lected by a screening committee inFebruary 1998, and the prize-winningphotographs will be made availableon the TJF Web site and introduced inTJF publications.

Japanese-language education overseas,especially at the elementary and sec-ondary level, lacks adequate resourcesfor introducing Japanese society andculture to students. Information aboutJapan and its language is taught notonly in language classes, but frequentlyby teachers in history, geography, andsocial studies classes as well.

TJF, which aims to promote culturalunderstanding among elementary andsecondary school students overseas,arranged for a forum in the city ofBoulder, Colorado in November 1997in order to find out what Japan-relatedinformation is needed in Japanese-language and social studies classes.The meeting was attended by teachersof Japanese and social studies teacherswith an interest in Japan, who wouldbe unlikely to meet otherwise, to ex-change information or ideas and tomake use of the fruits of such exchangefor further activities.

The thirteen participants includedteachers at the high school level, spe-cialists in university-level Japanese-language education, and officials of theColorado State Department of Educa-tion in charge of foreign language andsocial studies education. The forumwas realized with the cooperation ofLaurel Rodd (Professor, University ofColorado, President of Association ofTeachers of Japanese) and Lynn Parisi(Social Science Education Consortium,Inc.; leader of the Rocky Mountain Re-gion Japan Project, a project for instruc-tion about Japan in social studies classesat the elementary- and secondary-school level).

At the five-hour meeting divided bya luncheon break, participants pointedout specific needs pertaining to teach-ing materials, instructor training, andinformation and networking. The dis-cussion revealed the little-known ob-servation that materials on Japaneseculture used by social-studies teacherscan be very useful for Japanese-languageteachers. Moreover, regular supply ofgood-quality information about present-day Japan of interest to young peopleis badly needed by teachers in bothareas. High school social-studiesteachers also pointed out their needfor more detailed resources aboutJapanese high school students’ per-ceptions and attitudes concerning reli-gion, economic issues, and othertopics, including their personal con-cerns and anxieties.

Starting with this first step, TJF


14

Photo Contest: Daily Lives of Japanese High School Students

Linking Japanese to Social Studies Curricula

hopes to develop the informationobtained at the meeting to furtheramplify beneficial links betweenJapanese-language study and othersubjects. TJF is planning successiveprograms to furnish Japan-related in-formation and create teaching re-sources not only for instruction aboutJapan and its language but for the en-hancement of the quality of educationin the broad sense.

More than 100,000 students are learn-ing Japanese at the secondary level inChina today, but there are seriousshortages not only in teaching materi-als but in opportunities for teachertraining. To meet these needs, TJF heldits Second Study Seminar for Juniorand Senior High School Teachers ofJapanese in China, co-organized byDalian Education College and otherorganizations. (The first seminar washeld in Changchun, Jilin Province, inAugust 1996.) The training seminarwas attended by Japanese-languageteachers from 42 schools from the threenortheastern provinces (Heilongjiang,Jilin, and Liaoning) and the InnerMongolia Autonomous Region, wheremore than 90 percent of the secondaryschools where Japanese is taught arelocated, as well as 6 Japanese-languagespecialists from educational institutesin those areas. Building on the experi-ence of the first seminar, the content ofthe second seminar was as follows:

Compilation of Training and Teaching Resource MaterialsAn original set of teaching materialswas compiled, designed expressly tobe useful not only for the training ses-sion but as resources in the classroomthereafter, including distinctionsamong synonyms, conversationalphrases, and categories of verbs. Thesematerials were all greatly appreciatedby the participants. In anticipation of athird Study Seminar, these materialswill be improved and pronunciationand reading materials added.

Japanese-language Education for Cultural UnderstandingTJF, which seeks to promote “foreign-language education for interculturalunderstanding,” encouraged the par-ticipants, as at the first seminar, to con-sider ways of incorporating culturalunderstanding in their Japanese lan-guage classes. Foreign-language edu-

cation, it was pointed out, should notbe confined to simply teaching the lan-guage itself, but stress understandingof the culture that lies behind it, broad-ening students’ perspectives and vi-sion of world, and sensitizing them todifferences in culture.

Links to Chinese-language Educationin Japanese High SchoolsPart of the seminar schedule includedan exchange meeting between Chineseteachers and four Japanese high-school teachers of Chinese. It is hopedthat the friendship and rapport estab-lished at this meeting will lead to con-tinued personal contacts among theparticipants that will further invigo-rate their language-teaching activities.

The Third Study Seminar will be heldat Heilongjiang Educational Institutein Harbin. TJF will continue its pro-grams promoting the teaching of Japa-nese in China until these trainingseminars are taken over as an on-going activity by the Chinese side.

In China, revi-sion of highschool Japanese-language texts(3 volumes) inresponse to theannouncementin 1995 of newc u r r i c u l u mguidelines for

Japanese-language teaching by theState Education Commission, began inMarch 1996 under the leadership ofthe Curriculum and Teaching Materi-als Research Institute affiliated withthe Commission. The revision andediting of the texts was done by com-mittees in Japan and China with thecooperation of the Japan Foundationand TJF. In June 1997, the revised first-

year text was completed, and its useby new first-year students began inSeptember.

The revisions, geared for the needsof the twenty-first century, include thefollowing innovations.

(1) Conversation: Conversationallanguage is introduced with the pur-pose of enhancing communicationskills. Lessons are arranged in order tohelp students speak naturally in con-versational language in the various sit-uations students encounter in theirdaily lives.

(2) Topic columns: To link Japanese-language learning to better under-standing of Japan, topic columns havebeen inserted to introduce the mattersrelated to lifestyle, traditional culture,and fundamental aspects of Japanesesociety.

(3) New readings: A variety of topicsare chosen for the readings, aimed atbroadening students’ international per-spectives and interest in global issues,that touch not only on Japanese andChinese cultures but also on issuesconfronting the entire world, includ-ing the environment, resources, peace,and the space exploration, as well asthemes shared by people everywhere,like friendship and love.


15

This newsletter is published anddistributed by

Shinjuku Dai-ichi Seimei Bldg. 26F2-7-1 Nishishinjuku

Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 163-0726, JAPAN

ISSN 1342-4238

PublisherUshijima Michihiko

Editor in ChiefNakano Kayoko

Associate EditorOguri Akira

ProductionFurukawa Noriko

Editing and TranslationCenter for Intercultural Communication

Cover DesignSuzuki Hitoshi+Takeuchi Saori

Cover IllustrationKino Toriko

The TJF Newsletter follows the practice ofplacing the Japanese surname first.

Training for Japanese Teachers in China 1997

Broader Perspective for Japanese-languageTexts in China

The teacher carefully corrects each student’spronunciation

Quest for Common UnderstandingThe Japan Forum (TJF) is a private, independent, nonprofit foun-dation established in Japan in 1987 funded initially through amajor grant from Kodansha Ltd., Publishers, and donations fromfive other Japanese publishing related firms, and other organiza-tions.TJF continues to rely on donations, in addition to investmentincome, business revenues, and membership fees, for the fundingof its operations. The main objective of TJF is to promote culturalexchange and mutual understanding among people of differentcultures. Language lies at the heart of every culture. Those whoinhabit the global community of the 21st century will need todevelop new skills to traverse the boundaries between cultures—boundaries essentially defined by language differences. In recogni-tion of the central importance of language skills in facilitating com-munication and mutual understanding among people around theworld, TJF conducts a variety of activities centered around its twoessential concerns: language and culture. In all these efforts, TJFhonors the individual peculiarities of respective cultures andembraces their underlying commonalities, in order to illuminateboth the individuality and the universality of every culture.

To date, these efforts have focused primarily on Japanese lan-guage education in elementary and secondary schools in theAsian-Pacific region and Chinese language instruction in Japanesehigh schools and we are planning to expand our program toinclude information on the teaching of other Asian languages inJapan.

TJF also works to disseminate vital information related to lan-guage and culture through its publishing activities and bookdonation program, and now through the use of the Internet as well.

TOKYO OfficeShinjuku Dai-ichi Seimei Bldg. 26F

2-7-1 Nishishinjuku, Shinjuku-ku,

Tokyo 163-0726, JAPAN

Phone: 81-3-5322-5211

Fax: 81-3-5322-5215

E-mail: [email protected]

http://www.tjf.or.jp/

U.S. RepresentativeItoh Yukio

12990 W. Blue Mound Rd. #202

Elm Grove, WI 53122, USA

Phone/Fax: 1-414-827-9079

AUSTRALIA LiaisonIshikawa Masaru

51/15-17 Herbert Street,

St. Leonards, NSW 2065, AUSTRALIA

Phone/Fax: 61-2-9439-6920

What Is the Japan Forum?

Shinjuku Dai-ichi Seimei Bldg. 26F2-7-1 Nishishinjuku, Shinjuku-ku,Tokyo 163-0726, JAPAN

Our next issue will include a new column, “Reader Forum.”Please write to the TJF newsletter with your comments on TJFprograms and publications at the address given on this page.

Documents

Feature: Teaching Culture in the Language Classroom · 2010-12-14 · Feature: Teaching Culture in the Language Classroom Pathways to Understanding A Day in the Life ——p.10 包むTsutsumu: