SDHS School of Science and Technology Japanese Program Goes on the Road
On the campus of San Diego High School, the School of Science & Technology’s Japanese program is growing. It now has four semester-long levels of Japanese classes. Japanese teacher Emily Richardson is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s teacher certification program and lived in Chiba, Japan for a year as an assistant English teacher. Last summer she received a grant from the Japan Foundation to study for a month at their Japanese Language Institute in Urawa, Japan.
In the Classroom
Richardson’s students do more than just write Japanese characters and study the vocabulary and grammar of the language. Many of them are already bilingual in English and Spanish, and have taken on Japanese as their third language. In January, SciTech Japanese students tried out traditional brush-and-ink writing when a guest teacher, Tatsuko Sandin, visited our school. On the last day of the fall semester, students made and ate their own sushi (California rolls) in class. They have also been corresponding with high school students in Japan for several semesters now by writing letters in Japanese and receiving reply letters, sometimes in English and sometimes in Japanese.
J-CAP Competition
This February, SciTech students competed for the third time in the Japanese Cultural and Academic Proficiency (J-CAP) competition, held by the Japan Society of San Diego and Tijuana on the campus of San Diego State University. SciTech fielded teams at the Japanese 2 and Japanese 3 levels. Also participating this year were Scripps Ranch High School, San Dieguito Academy, Canyon Crest Academy, and Torrey Pines High School.
Field Trips
Last semester, Richardson and her students went on a field trip to Balboa Park’s Japanese Friendship Garden and the Mingei Museum’s exhibit, “Shibui.” This semester for the first time, Richardson plans to take her students to Japanese businesses in the Kearny Mesa area, such as Mitsuwa Marketplace and Marukai Daiso. Not only can the students experience authentic Japanese products such as food, books, DVDs, and home décor items, but they also hope to speak to at least one store employee or fellow customer in Japanese, using the skills they have learned in class. This field trip is generously supported by Target Field Trip Grants.
For more information, please contact Ms. Richardson at ebenwitz@sandi.net