Integrative Narrative
I decided to change my major from engineering to Japanese because of a love of teaching that grew out of the time I spent as a teacher's assistant at San Joaquin Delta College for the Japanese language classes there. My initial interest and reason for learning Japanese in community college was a love of anime that had started in high school. There was about a 4 year gap between when I left community college and when I transferred to CSUMB during which time I had used my Japanese skills almost never. In fact, a couple weeks before my first semester here started I had to relearn my katakana because I couldn't remember them well. It felt like a huge leap coming into JAPN 302: History of Japan for me, the teaching style here was different, I didn't know anyone and I had no confidence in my Japanese language skills at this point. Thanks to the encouragement of Dr. Shigeko Sekine, and the help of professor An Pham I was able to push my way though that first semester and really get myself on track to improving my language skills as per MLO 1. The following semester I took various Japanese culture courses that caught my eye. I wanted to dive back into my original reason for wanting to learn Japanese and took JAPN 213: Manga, Anime & Modern Japan and learned a lot about the history of manga and anime in Japan as well as how it helped artists have a platform to express their thoughts and feelings. The Japanese culture classes her at CSUMB helped me to reach MLO 2. I was pretty focused here on Japanese language and culture at CSUMB and regretfully didn't take any of the wonderful culture classes they offer outside of Japanese culture to meet the MLO 3 requirements, but during my time studying abroad I got the chance to learn about the economy in South East Asia and took a very interesting class about Asian-American literature. Some of the authors that we read the work of took to writing because they had no other platform available to have their voices heard in an America that was ignorant towards the rights of non-whites.
All I can really say about MLO 4 is that all throughout my time at CSUMB we've had to use technology to help us with most aspects of our studies. We need to use ilearn to keep up with our classes and submit assignments, thanks to the library resources we're able to have access to an absolute mountain of information, including information in foreign languages and in this last semester at CSUMB we've all had to get accustomed to using ZOOM because of the Covid-19 pandemic forcing us into a shelter in place status in most of the country.
Thanks to the amazing international exchange program we have here at CSUMB and the work done by Julio Castro and everyone else in the international programs office, I got the chance to study abroad in Japan for a year at Toyo University to meet MLO 5. The staff at Toyo's international programs office as well were great during the application process. Being immersed in the culture of Japan and getting a real chance to use my Japanese skills in a real world setting helped give me the confidence boost I needed to bring my Japanese to the next level. I got to have conversations with so many random people during my time in Japan, at the arcade talking about games, in the bars talking about random things and in class as well we would have days when we just have a conversation sort of related to the topic of the chapter we were on that week. The time I spent travelling around Japan, in both city and rural areas gave me a good look at the small cultural difference between different prefectures as well. Near Fukuoka city for example, I was waiting for the bus to go back to the train station that was a good distance away and this nice man and his father had stopped to take a break and get something at the vending machine offered to give me a ride to the station. I don't actually recommend taking rides from strangers, especially when alone in another country, but they also had a baby with them so I thought it would be okay and I've honestly never felt afraid of other people while walking around Japan, even in Tokyo at night.
After getting back from Japan during our Japanese service learning in JAPN 320s I got the chance to get a small taste of becoming the teacher and introducing a group of elementary school students to Japanese language and culture. It was definitely a very different experience from helping out college aged students compared to teaching 3rd and 4th graders. We got to really learn about proper classroom management techniques and how to create a purposeful learning plan with a specific goal. I also got to see first hand how influential teachers are in the lives of students and how much responsibility rests in their hands to help guide young minds into the future.
Throughout my time at CSUMB and Toyo University I've been thinking of what do I want to research for my capstone project. I've had a lot of different ideas come through my mind, but my experience in JAPN 311: Social Issues in Japan and the invitation from my capstone partner Alicia Romano to join her group helped me decide what I wanted to present on. There was a realization I had that a lot of the men I've met throughout my time in high school all the way up to now, have really irked me because of their attitudes towards women. So I wanted to know what impacts recent women's movements have been having on young men's opinions and attitudes towards women as a whole.
I want to thank everyone that I've met during my time at CSUMB, all of my professors, advisors, fellow classmates and behind the scenes staff for everything they've done for me.
All I can really say about MLO 4 is that all throughout my time at CSUMB we've had to use technology to help us with most aspects of our studies. We need to use ilearn to keep up with our classes and submit assignments, thanks to the library resources we're able to have access to an absolute mountain of information, including information in foreign languages and in this last semester at CSUMB we've all had to get accustomed to using ZOOM because of the Covid-19 pandemic forcing us into a shelter in place status in most of the country.
Thanks to the amazing international exchange program we have here at CSUMB and the work done by Julio Castro and everyone else in the international programs office, I got the chance to study abroad in Japan for a year at Toyo University to meet MLO 5. The staff at Toyo's international programs office as well were great during the application process. Being immersed in the culture of Japan and getting a real chance to use my Japanese skills in a real world setting helped give me the confidence boost I needed to bring my Japanese to the next level. I got to have conversations with so many random people during my time in Japan, at the arcade talking about games, in the bars talking about random things and in class as well we would have days when we just have a conversation sort of related to the topic of the chapter we were on that week. The time I spent travelling around Japan, in both city and rural areas gave me a good look at the small cultural difference between different prefectures as well. Near Fukuoka city for example, I was waiting for the bus to go back to the train station that was a good distance away and this nice man and his father had stopped to take a break and get something at the vending machine offered to give me a ride to the station. I don't actually recommend taking rides from strangers, especially when alone in another country, but they also had a baby with them so I thought it would be okay and I've honestly never felt afraid of other people while walking around Japan, even in Tokyo at night.
After getting back from Japan during our Japanese service learning in JAPN 320s I got the chance to get a small taste of becoming the teacher and introducing a group of elementary school students to Japanese language and culture. It was definitely a very different experience from helping out college aged students compared to teaching 3rd and 4th graders. We got to really learn about proper classroom management techniques and how to create a purposeful learning plan with a specific goal. I also got to see first hand how influential teachers are in the lives of students and how much responsibility rests in their hands to help guide young minds into the future.
Throughout my time at CSUMB and Toyo University I've been thinking of what do I want to research for my capstone project. I've had a lot of different ideas come through my mind, but my experience in JAPN 311: Social Issues in Japan and the invitation from my capstone partner Alicia Romano to join her group helped me decide what I wanted to present on. There was a realization I had that a lot of the men I've met throughout my time in high school all the way up to now, have really irked me because of their attitudes towards women. So I wanted to know what impacts recent women's movements have been having on young men's opinions and attitudes towards women as a whole.
I want to thank everyone that I've met during my time at CSUMB, all of my professors, advisors, fellow classmates and behind the scenes staff for everything they've done for me.