Community Center Clubs
Michelle Argueta
OBJECTIVES:
1. To get to know students and other Japanese people in a more informal setting
2. To find what you have in common with some students
3. To experience and learn to appreciate more Japanese culture
PROCEDURE:
It has been suggested that the best way to interact with students is to join club activities with them after school. Ideally, the ALT would explore the students’ interests and spend extra hours after work interacting with them.
Realistically however, many times joining clubs to interact with students is a stressful experience for the ALTs, given the impeccable discipline with which students participate in clubs. I suggest that rather than joining after school activities in the workplace, the ALTs find such clubs in their local community center. I have based the following observations on my own experience as a member of the Local Taiko Club and Judo Club and friend’s anecdotes.
There are several advantages to joining clubs in a community center. The most important is that the activities are usually “open” which means that the members meet once a week only and that occasional absences are accepted. This gives the ALT enough flexibility to attend the club activities without the pressure of commitment that the SHS clubs demand.
Another advantage is that these clubs’ members are from different age groups so the ALT may interact with her own students, students from other schools and grade levels and with people the age of her coworkers. This may provide the ALT with a different insight into Japanese culture and help the ALT understand and deal with coworkers and students more efficiently. These characteristics of community center clubs are also important since the ALT may want to have a break from the students after work. In addition, they expose the ALT to the community, which will in turn show respect for the ALT for getting involved.
Lastly, community center activities give as a diverse array of activities as the clubs in SHS. The ALT should find what she is interested in, as opposed to what her students are interested in. This will help the ALT have fun while interacting with students, relax from the pressures of the work place and slowly but surely begin to belong to “the group”. This may translate into the ALT’s greater appreciation of Japanese culture and in turn, the Japanese people’s greater appreciation of foreigners.
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