The International Center hosted one student from OKU’s German exchange partner University of Erlangen-Nuremberg for the Japan-Germany Education Comparison Program from September 3 to September 18.
The program was developed for Japanese language learners at German universities to enable them to learn more about Japanese education and culture through elementary school observation, teaching practice and visits to cultural facilities such as museums and a Noh theater. The program has been adopted by the Japan Student Services Organization’s (JASSO) exchange student support system for accepting short-term training/study under partnership agreements, with trainees receiving a scholarship.
The German student took classes on “Cherry Blossoms and the Japanese,” “History of Osaka,” “History of Japan-German Cultural Exchange in the Movie ‘Baruto no Gakuen.’” Excursions included visits to the Osaka Museum of Housing and Living, Yamamoto Noh Theater and Osaka Castle Park.
A visit was also made to Tondabayashi Tojo Elementary School to observe the school’s foreign language activities on September 15. The student gave a presentation on Germany all in Japanese in teaching practice classes for second, third and sixth graders. In the second- and third-grade classes, German seasons, buildings, city scenery, famous people, products and foods were introduced, and the Japanese translation of “Town Musicians of Bremen” was read to the children, much to their delight.
At the end of the roughly two-week program, the German student stated, “My Japanese improved, and it was very interesting learning more about Japanese schools and traditional culture. I definitely hope to learn more Japanese, and in the future I’d like to become a ballet teacher in Japan and teach children.”
The entire program was run in Japanese, and OKU students provided support as tutors. One OKU student reflected that “it was a great opportunity to learn a lot about Germany and rethink Japanese education.”