Becoming Immersed: Being Taught in Japanese

Join KCP student, Hannah as she shares her overall journey  throughout her academic life in an immersive Japanese learning environment. Thank you for sharing, Hannah!

My First Day: Overcoming my Fear 

When I landed at NRT airport I was terrified. It was like being dropped into the deep end of the ocean without the ability to swim, just doggy paddling through the Japanese instructions in the airport, subway and following the directions from Tanaka-Senesi to the school.

When I arrived at the school, I still felt like a fish out of water. Most of the students were speaking different languages! German, Mandarin, Korean and very few English speakers were speaking. I had understood that the classes were going to be in Japanese, but I did not realize how in-depth the instructions, homework, and explanations were going to be in a language that I did not know. Over the first week, I was able to become more comfortable listening to just Japanese in the classroom.

The class offered an online service that would teach you the next lesson and the vocabulary to prepare you for the following class day. I began to focus not just on what the teacher was saying and trying to translate it in my head, but on the meaning from the context such as facial expression, tone and visual aids. This approach helped me to become more comfortable with the Japanese language and more competent when speaking to native Japanese speakers around the city and on my excursions.

Using Visual and Contextual Aids at KCP 

Every teacher at KCP was a master at using different tones, gestures, drawings and examples to explain different grammar and concepts. Examples of this were when we went around the class and tried to guess vocabulary words based on the image on the TV, as well as daily pronunciation exercises to learn the proper way to speak. Textbooks were not relied on; they were only used for speaking exercises in the class and for homework. Instead, we focused on how to pronounce Japanese correctly, and to understand the grammar that we studied before we came to class.

Becoming more Confident 

I continued to survive class by learning with repetition. KCP teachers offered daily drills and discussions to practice what we have learned so far in our classes. I was also able to eventually use these drills to have conversations outside of the classroom. Mistakes happened, but these were welcomed by other students and teachers as an opportunity to grow.

Slowly but surely, I was able to recognize different patterns in speech. A word that I’ve heard before is seen on an advertisement in the train station, I hear a local say a sentence that I have recently learned, or I test my knowledge by using my education in my day-to-day life. It all began to click! I didn’t see “not understanding” as a fear, but as an opportunity to learn something new.

I will never forget the feeling of satisfaction when I was able to have a full conversation with a shopkeeper in Osaka on my travels and order my own food in Tokyo! These were small wins but were monumental for someone learning a new language for the first time.

Reflection 

While as a prospective student you may be scared at first to hear about learning Japanese through immersion, but I am a great example of what can be achieved by learning by living with the language. Immersion forces students to embrace the language and think creatively to work through the discomfort and learn to understand the language effectively. By the time that I le KCP, I was speaking confidently in Japanese and continuing to learn as much as I could to communicate effectively with those around me.