JAPN 320S:
Advanced Japanese Service Learning
Advanced Japanese Service Learning
- 1. Self and Social Awareness
- Students deepen their understanding and analysis of the social, cultural and civic aspects of their personal and professional identities.
- Define, describe, analyze and integrate the concepts of individual social and cultural group identities and the concepts of social privilege and marginalization.
- Demonstrate critical analysis of their own assumptions, values, and stereotypes, and evaluate the relative privilege and marginalization of their identities.
- By working with the kids in our class, I have realized that I come from a place of privilege, not economically, but in amount of experience. I have come to have had many experiences and chances to learn other cultures and languages, and I had to learn to change how I approach topics and the children to better help them understand what we were trying to share. This has made me reflect on my own place in the community and how I perceived myself and others with preconceived notions and expectations of what they are thinking. I realized I had grown to expect a certain unfair amount of knowledge of culture, and it made me evaluate my current mindset. Through the activities we have tried to express to them the importance of accepting differences in other cultures, as well as try to alleviate stereotypes they may have had. At the beginning they had many preconceptions of Japan, often mixing it with China. They seem to have at the very least lessened some of those misunderstandings. Through our classes we stressed the importance of understanding your own culture, as well as the importance of learning about others, and that everyone is different, but equal.
- Students deepen their understanding and analysis of the social, cultural and civic aspects of their personal and professional identities.
- 2. Service and Social Responsibility
- Students deepen their understanding of the social responsibility of professionals in their field or discipline, and analyze how their professional activities and knowledge can contribute to greater long-term societal well-being.
- Articulate the relationship between individual, group, community and societal well-being.
- Analyze how individual and professional actions contribute to short-term well-being and/or greater long-term societal well-being.
- Develop a critical understanding of ethical behavior in the context of their profession or discipline with regard to issues of societal well-being.
- By having a good sense of who oneself is, and where you fit into the overall group, this can learn to making connection to the overall community and society. It’s somewhat of a chain reaction. By taking care of personal well-being, mentally and physically, you are better equipped to help the group. When groups have good well-being, it allows for the community as a whole to be healthy, and the society as a whole follows. My personal and professional actions, in terms of teaching these students, affect the society short term by helping them remove stereotypes and misconceptions of the individual children, and help them develop an understanding and acceptance of different cultures. In the long term, these children will grow and hopefully expand on these ideals, teaching them to others and future generations. This will allow in the long run for society to grow more accepting and culturally aware. Personally, from teaching these children in a professional setting I have developed an understanding that I have the social responsibility to help these students learn that differences in cultures is not a bad thing, and to help them learn to be more aware, understanding, and accepting of others different than themselves.
- Students deepen their understanding of the social responsibility of professionals in their field or discipline, and analyze how their professional activities and knowledge can contribute to greater long-term societal well-being.
- 3. Community & Social Justice
- Students evaluate how the actions of professionals and institutions in their field or discipline foster both equity and inequity in communities and society.
- Examine the demographics, socio-cultural dynamics and assets of a specific community through a social justice framework.
- Analyze a community issue(s) in the context of systemic inequity, discrimination and social injustice.
- Within the community we are working with in our Service Learning, the overall demographic is very heavily based in the Mexican culture, and many of the students speak or at least understand Spanish. This creates an interesting dynamic for us as their teachers of a foreign language, as we are not only introducing them to a new language and culture, but also bringing forward the fact they they are born of two separate cultures themselves. This can be very helpful in increasing global competency and awareness. However, there is definitely a disparity in the resources allowed to these students, many of which come from lower income families. For many of them, this is the only foreign language and culture education they have received in a formal setting. This does unfortunately perpetuate an inequality in the resources available to these students, especially as we only have a select group of children every week. Overall CPY is there to help children stay off the streets and gain the skills to help them improve their situation and improve their place in society. Our job is to bring a global aspect to these students and help them grow in cultural awareness and acceptance, allowing them to further break away from the limitations they are placed under.
- Students evaluate how the actions of professionals and institutions in their field or discipline foster both equity and inequity in communities and society.
- 4. Multicultural Community Building/Civic Engagement
- Students learn from and work responsively and inclusively with diverse individuals, groups and organizations to build more just, equitable, and sustainable communities
- Demonstrate intercultural communication skills, reciprocity and responsiveness in service work with community.
- Enter, participate in, and exit a community in ways that are sensitive to systemic injustice.
- Develop and implement personal, professional and institutional strategies, policies and/or practices that work towards creating greater equity and social justice in communities.
- For me it has proven to be very interesting learning to work with these children in not two, but three separate cultures. We share an American culture, but just as I have been attempting to help them learn about Japanese culture, they in turn have been helping me learn their secondary Mexican culture, something I cannot say I’ve had much experience with prior. By working through our knowledge of these separate cultures, it helps us bring the cultures together and reach an greater understanding of them all.
- Students learn from and work responsively and inclusively with diverse individuals, groups and organizations to build more just, equitable, and sustainable communities