Report on International Youth Conference Discussion Program July 9 – 11, 2009

Excited and colorfully dressed in national costumes the participants from the Kingdom of Cambodia, Dominican Republic, Lao People’s Democratic Republic and Republic of Latvia were entering the classroom of 6^th grade students at Totsuka Daiichi Elementary School in Tokyo. The aim of the first day activity of International Youth Conference for Education course members was to see how elementary school students study English.

Primary school in Tokyo.

 “Go straight, turn left,” the students were trying their best to learn the directions by playing an interactive game. Compared to my English lessons in 6^th grade I got an impression that it’s more complicated for Japanese students to learn English and therefore the issue of foreign language education should be regarded seriously here.

Apart from participating in English lesson and enjoying students’ openness and friendliness, we had an opportunity to learn about the education system in school as well as see its facilities leaving an impression of a good equipment of sport and music subjects. That was proved also by the concert presented to us where all students showed their skills for singing and playing flutes.

On the 9^th of July, the official opening ceremony was held when all of the participants had a chance to hear a lecture “Let’s Engage in Food Education – Shokuiku” by Dr. Yukio Hattori. The most interesting I learned from the lecture was the concept of nuclear families. Although I was aware of such trends as individualization, women’s increasing role in society and thus busyness of both parents in family, I hadn’t realized the concrete examples of nuclear families in our society, especially in Asia. Y. Hattori was saying that because of changed eating habits to more individual than family meals young people in Japan cannot use chopsticks very well. In regard to this issue I could agree with the professor that parents should raise the awareness of this problem and such a simple tradition as keeping fairytales alive and telling them to children could be the possible ways how to cope with this trend in order to pass the food education to the next generations.

On the following day we were split into groups to discuss course related issues. At first, the Education course visited Sophia University to hear Kensaku Yoshida’s lecture about English education in Japan when we faced the problem for Japanese people to learn English, to use it and to like it. It made me realize that I live in a comparatively good location where finding a motivation to learn English is much easier. But for Japanese the situation is slightly different – because of the lack of the possibilities to practice English, to find the context for using English there’s less motivation to study it. However, my opinion is that we all should have equal rights in using English no matter where we live. Therefore, after this lecture it became crucial to discuss foreign language teaching practices in our course.

During discussions we firstly remembered our own experiences with a foreign language. After that, the motivation aspect was discussed when we realized that the teaching methods, especially the textbook, is of a great importance when learning English. Also a teacher plays a crucial role when creating a proper setting for studying: providing interactive games, keeping students’ interest and facilitating their motivation. However, studying English doesn’t finish when the bell of the lesson rings. Apart from classes, the very essential part of studying English is using it into practice.  English language clubs with an opportunity to debate about various local and global issues, interaction with foreign people and engagement in international organizations were considered as the possibilities for practicing English.

This discussion program was very fruitful for me with an opportunity to learn about different education systems in different countries and especially to compare different English teaching practices. Additionally to that this conference gave a unique opportunity to work in globalized settings introducing to different backgrounds, experiences and cultures. The program brought me a lot of fresh ideas, eagerness and inspiration for the future youth work in fostering the cooperation within the one world we are living, and raising the awareness of foreign languages.