Classroom Collaboration with Katsuta Secondary School (2)-Level 4 (General) Class, Japanese Langauge Training Course (Wednesday,December 13)

9 international students enrolled in Level 4 (General) of the Japanese Language Training Course and 37 third-year students enrolled in the Future Exploration Global Seminar at Katsuta Secondary School in Hitachinaka City have been working on a project to discuss an ideal junior high school for children from diverse backgrounds.

On Wednesday, November 29, students visited Joso City, where one out of every 10 students is a foreigner. This visit included international students from Ibaraki University, middle school students from Katsuta Secondary School, as well as three students from the Japanese Language Education Program, a program to train Japanese language teachers.

During the visit, they first visited "Kamesen-nin gai," where stores from Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Thailand, and other countries line the streets, visited Sri Lankan and Filipino grocery stores, and had lunch at a Sri Lankan restaurant. They then visited a nearby Sri Lankan temple. After filling their stomachs, they visited the night class of Mitsukaido Junior High School, the only night junior high school in Ibaraki Prefecture, and listened to a story about the school. Finally, they went shopping at a multinational grocery store in front of Mitsukaido Station before heading home.

The students were impressed to learn about the current situation in the region, which is becoming increasingly multinational, and to see how everyone is living in harmony and accepting of each other.

They will reflect on their visit and discuss in groups about the ideal junior high school where children with diverse backgrounds can study together.