On Sunday 9th October I joined a group of Japanese teachers in Queenstown; the first day of a week-long Japanese immersion experience that would provide many amazing experiences and learning opportunities.
We started our immersion experience with a group welcome dinner at the Japanese restaurant, Kobe. Not only was the food delicious, but it was my first time being surrounded by fluent Japanese speakers.
On Monday our group took part in icebreaker activities before I went to another room for a 1:1 language session with Belinda Sydenham and the others had their first language session with Paula Kasper and Kaori Fukazawa. As I had only started my journey in learning and teaching Japanese this year, I would have 1:1 sessions with Belinda that focused on building my own vocabulary and understanding of Japanese language and culture, and how to effectively teach it to my own students. That afternoon we hiked the loop track on Mt Crichton, learning about the forest from our local guides who also spoke fluent Japanese.
On Tuesday we started the day with our language workshops, where Belinda and I worked on building my confidence in speaking Japanese by asking and answering questions. I was encouraged to practise these questions and responses with the others in the group and I was always met with encouragement and support. After our workshop we visited the Skyline Gondola and luge, before ending our day with a blissful spa at Onsen Hot Pools.
Wednesday started with ice skating/bumper cars and disc golf at the Queenstown Gardens, followed by a picnic lunch. In the afternoon, the main group took part in a zoom workshop, while I continued my 1:1 session with Belinda. We discussed ways in which games could be used to teach and revise vocabulary effectively in the classroom and explored a range of resources that are available online for teachers of Japanese. After our workshops we took a tour of Zenkuro brewery and had a tasting of their New Zealand brewed Sake.
On Thursday we had a guided tour of Arrowtown and the Arrowtown Museum, followed by a delicious lunch at The Dishery before heading back to the hotel for our afternoon workshops. Belinda and I spent the time revisiting everything that I had learned over the week and going through the shared padlet that she had been creating for me throughout the week. This padlet included notes from our sessions, as well as links to resources and materials that I would be able to use in my classroom.
That evening we took a cruise on the TSS Earnslaw across Lake Wakatipu to Walter Peak High Country Farm where we enjoyed a sumptuous buffet dinner.
Friday was our last day and we spent the morning creating Japanese scrolls and writing in calligraphy with ink and brushes to share our learning from the week. This was a lovely way to end our immersion experience and to see how much everyone got out of it.
Belinda Sydenham, Paula Kasper and Kaori Fukazawa made this immersion experience extremely worthwhile and one I will never forget. They enabled me to see myself as a language teacher and I would highly recommend these immersion experiences to all language teachers.
Article by Natasha Luck, Pukeoware School
Photos above, Photo 1(Left): Tui Tuia | Learning Circle Programme Manager Belinda Sydenham and Natasha Luck. Photo 2(Right): Teachers of Japanese in a calligraphy workshop.
Photo at top of page: (Left) Japanese National Language Adviser Kaori Fukazawa, (second from left to third from right) Teachers of Japanese taking part in the Immersion (second from right) Tui Tuia | Learning Circle Facilitator Paula Kasper and (right) Tui Tuia | Learning Circle Programme Manager Belinda Sydenham
Passing Fuji - Chrissy Kouwenhoven Irvine, 2022 New Zealand Japan Exchange Programme (NZJEP) Grant Recipient
In 2019, Chrissy Irvine travelled to Japan to unravel her studies in Japanese Art History and Documentary Photography. Weaving in and out of urban Japan as well as its meticulously curated gardens, Irvine documents her understanding of the Japanese term 'Mono No Aware'- translated as: precarious beauty, fleeting moments in time. These ideas embed themselves into the work, often in a deeply personal way.
Irvine’s only view of Mt Fuji on this trip was a snapshot through the train window. After studying hundreds of Edo period images of this magnificent mountain, she saw it once from a train travelling at 285 kilometres an hour. Other moments contrast the greatness of the mountain but have their own sense of importance and beauty.
Photo 1 (above): Passing Fuji
The exhibition also features a temporal component. Irvine’s family recently rediscovered her Great Grandfather’s slides of his trip to Japan in the 1970s, and his photographs will be on display alongside Irvine’s work. Two lenses focussed on one country, 50 years apart.
Chrissy grew up in the Tasman District and is a documentary photographer living in Ōtautahi, Christchurch. She studied at Ilam School of Fine Arts and graduated with first class honours in Photography. Coming from a background of telling local women’s stories through oral history and photo essays, her work shares untold stories of people and places using visual narrative.
Irvine’s published portfolio includes Herstory, UC Ceismic’s ‘Disappearing Suburbs’, and The National Council of Women of New Zealand's 'Women's Voices'.
In 2022, she received funding from Tui Tuia Learning Circle - The New Zealand Japan Exchange Programme to have an exhibition of her photographs from Japan at Hot Clay Gallery in Whakatū, Nelson.
If you would like to see Chrissy's exhibition of photographs, see details below:
Hot Clay Galley, 123 Hardy St, Nelson
Opening Night 5:30pm 28 December 2022
Artist Talk 5:30pm 6 January 2023
Exhibition runs from: 28 December 2022 to 28 January 2023
Photo 1 (above): screenshot of the KAGURA live stream. Photo 2 (below): 2022 NZJEP Grant Recipient, Yoshimi Fujikawa
I am Yoshimi Fujikawa, a postgraduate student at the University of Canterbury. I’m doing my thesis on a comparative study of Māori and Japanese perspectives of philosophy and language. I was pleased to be part of the 2022 New Zealand Japan Exchange Programme for my project KAGURA Japanese Performing Art by Children on September 19 with Hiroe Sakai who is an English teacher and Bitchū Kagura whānau in Okayama, Japan. A lecturer at Aotahi School of Māori, Phil Borell told me about the NZJEP grant and the aim of the programme was exactly what I was thinking for a cultural exchange programme, where participants can gain language and more.
I was a private English teacher with a BEd in Japan and had extensive experience teaching English to people from 4 year old children to 65 year olds, both in Japan and Aotearoa. Also I speak Te Reo Māori, English and of course Japanese. From my experience of organising exchange programmes for over 30 years, NZJEP perfectly matched my ideals of motivation first, language next.
By producing an exchange format showing Kagura to Aotearoa people, we want to get them to understand. This desire to understand on both sides is the basic learning attitude of language. I always emphasise that language learning is not for the sole purpose of learning language but to know about people who want to understand you.
The reason why I like to focus on traditional cultural exchanges is because traditional culture is a clear window to a people’s world view and gives direct context to words and expressions at the same time. When you learn a language or about a language, you cannot ignore the culture, which means that you need to be aware of people having different perspectives. At first, learners should have fun and enjoy meeting people, then they become motivated to know more about them, which is where language becomes much more necessary in the exchange. Once this need is felt, language learning is much smoother and more natural.
I was so excited to share this exchange on zoom to a wider audience by YouTube live streaming on the day. If you want to watch the video of our exchange, here it goes:
Again, I am grateful for this wonderful opportunity to do this meaningful exchange with everyone, and thank you to the Tui Tuia | Learning Circle staff team, many thanks Kath and Kaori san, and the New Zealand Japan Exchange Programme grant from Tui Tuia | Learning Circle was very helpful in the facilitation of the exchange.
Article written by and photos supplied by Yoshimi Fujikawa
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2022 - Japanese - Term 4 Newsletter Articles
Japanese Immersion week in Queenstown
On Sunday 9th October I joined a group of Japanese teachers in Queenstown; the first day of a week-long Japanese immersion experience that would provide many amazing experiences and learning opportunities.
We started our immersion experience with a group welcome dinner at the Japanese restaurant, Kobe. Not only was the food delicious, but it was my first time being surrounded by fluent Japanese speakers.
On Monday our group took part in icebreaker activities before I went to another room for a 1:1 language session with Belinda Sydenham and the others had their first language session with Paula Kasper and Kaori Fukazawa. As I had only started my journey in learning and teaching Japanese this year, I would have 1:1 sessions with Belinda that focused on building my own vocabulary and understanding of Japanese language and culture, and how to effectively teach it to my own students. That afternoon we hiked the loop track on Mt Crichton, learning about the forest from our local guides who also spoke fluent Japanese.
On Tuesday we started the day with our language workshops, where Belinda and I worked on building my confidence in speaking Japanese by asking and answering questions. I was encouraged to practise these questions and responses with the others in the group and I was always met with encouragement and support. After our workshop we visited the Skyline Gondola and luge, before ending our day with a blissful spa at Onsen Hot Pools.
Wednesday started with ice skating/bumper cars and disc golf at the Queenstown Gardens, followed by a picnic lunch. In the afternoon, the main group took part in a zoom workshop, while I continued my 1:1 session with Belinda. We discussed ways in which games could be used to teach and revise vocabulary effectively in the classroom and explored a range of resources that are available online for teachers of Japanese. After our workshops we took a tour of Zenkuro brewery and had a tasting of their New Zealand brewed Sake.
On Thursday we had a guided tour of Arrowtown and the Arrowtown Museum, followed by a delicious lunch at The Dishery before heading back to the hotel for our afternoon workshops. Belinda and I spent the time revisiting everything that I had learned over the week and going through the shared padlet that she had been creating for me throughout the week. This padlet included notes from our sessions, as well as links to resources and materials that I would be able to use in my classroom.
That evening we took a cruise on the TSS Earnslaw across Lake Wakatipu to Walter Peak High Country Farm where we enjoyed a sumptuous buffet dinner.
Friday was our last day and we spent the morning creating Japanese scrolls and writing in calligraphy with ink and brushes to share our learning from the week. This was a lovely way to end our immersion experience and to see how much everyone got out of it.
Belinda Sydenham, Paula Kasper and Kaori Fukazawa made this immersion experience extremely worthwhile and one I will never forget. They enabled me to see myself as a language teacher and I would highly recommend these immersion experiences to all language teachers.
Article by Natasha Luck, Pukeoware School
Photos above, Photo 1(Left): Tui Tuia | Learning Circle Programme Manager Belinda Sydenham and Natasha Luck. Photo 2(Right): Teachers of Japanese in a calligraphy workshop.
Photo at top of page: (Left) Japanese National Language Adviser Kaori Fukazawa, (second from left to third from right) Teachers of Japanese taking part in the Immersion (second from right) Tui Tuia | Learning Circle Facilitator Paula Kasper and (right) Tui Tuia | Learning Circle Programme Manager Belinda Sydenham
Passing Fuji - Chrissy Kouwenhoven Irvine, 2022 New Zealand Japan Exchange Programme (NZJEP) Grant Recipient
In 2019, Chrissy Irvine travelled to Japan to unravel her studies in Japanese Art History and Documentary Photography. Weaving in and out of urban Japan as well as its meticulously curated gardens, Irvine documents her understanding of the Japanese term 'Mono No Aware'- translated as: precarious beauty, fleeting moments in time. These ideas embed themselves into the work, often in a deeply personal way.
Irvine’s only view of Mt Fuji on this trip was a snapshot through the train window. After studying hundreds of Edo period images of this magnificent mountain, she saw it once from a train travelling at 285 kilometres an hour. Other moments contrast the greatness of the mountain but have their own sense of importance and beauty.
Photo 1 (above): Passing Fuji
The exhibition also features a temporal component. Irvine’s family recently rediscovered her Great Grandfather’s slides of his trip to Japan in the 1970s, and his photographs will be on display alongside Irvine’s work. Two lenses focussed on one country, 50 years apart.
Chrissy grew up in the Tasman District and is a documentary photographer living in Ōtautahi, Christchurch. She studied at Ilam School of Fine Arts and graduated with first class honours in Photography. Coming from a background of telling local women’s stories through oral history and photo essays, her work shares untold stories of people and places using visual narrative.
Irvine’s published portfolio includes Herstory, UC Ceismic’s ‘Disappearing Suburbs’, and The National Council of Women of New Zealand's 'Women's Voices'.
In 2022, she received funding from Tui Tuia Learning Circle - The New Zealand Japan Exchange Programme to have an exhibition of her photographs from Japan at Hot Clay Gallery in Whakatū, Nelson.
If you would like to see Chrissy's exhibition of photographs, see details below:
Hot Clay Galley, 123 Hardy St, Nelson
Opening Night 5:30pm 28 December 2022
Artist Talk 5:30pm 6 January 2023
Exhibition runs from: 28 December 2022 to 28 January 2023
Photo 1 (above): screenshot of the KAGURA live stream. Photo 2 (below): 2022 NZJEP Grant Recipient, Yoshimi Fujikawa
I am Yoshimi Fujikawa, a postgraduate student at the University of Canterbury. I’m doing my thesis on a comparative study of Māori and Japanese perspectives of philosophy and language. I was pleased to be part of the 2022 New Zealand Japan Exchange Programme for my project KAGURA Japanese Performing Art by Children on September 19 with Hiroe Sakai who is an English teacher and Bitchū Kagura whānau in Okayama, Japan. A lecturer at Aotahi School of Māori, Phil Borell told me about the NZJEP grant and the aim of the programme was exactly what I was thinking for a cultural exchange programme, where participants can gain language and more.
I was a private English teacher with a BEd in Japan and had extensive experience teaching English to people from 4 year old children to 65 year olds, both in Japan and Aotearoa. Also I speak Te Reo Māori, English and of course Japanese. From my experience of organising exchange programmes for over 30 years, NZJEP perfectly matched my ideals of motivation first, language next.
By producing an exchange format showing Kagura to Aotearoa people, we want to get them to understand. This desire to understand on both sides is the basic learning attitude of language. I always emphasise that language learning is not for the sole purpose of learning language but to know about people who want to understand you.
The reason why I like to focus on traditional cultural exchanges is because traditional culture is a clear window to a people’s world view and gives direct context to words and expressions at the same time. When you learn a language or about a language, you cannot ignore the culture, which means that you need to be aware of people having different perspectives. At first, learners should have fun and enjoy meeting people, then they become motivated to know more about them, which is where language becomes much more necessary in the exchange. Once this need is felt, language learning is much smoother and more natural.
I was so excited to share this exchange on zoom to a wider audience by YouTube live streaming on the day. If you want to watch the video of our exchange, here it goes:
Again, I am grateful for this wonderful opportunity to do this meaningful exchange with everyone, and thank you to the Tui Tuia | Learning Circle staff team, many thanks Kath and Kaori san, and the New Zealand Japan Exchange Programme grant from Tui Tuia | Learning Circle was very helpful in the facilitation of the exchange.
Article written by and photos supplied by Yoshimi Fujikawa
