EXCHANGES Say it with a smile
Even when you can’t speak the language be involved, and smile. That is the advice of Year 12 student Vinnie Wee, who spent a week in Tottori, Japan, attending Yonago-East High School on a school exchange between College, Middleton Grange and Tottori Prefecture during the Christmas holidays.
With all lessons carried out in Japanese, Vinnie was floundering at times, and found communicating in Japanese very difficult. “All the classes I attended – except English – were all in Japanese, which means I wasn’t able to understand much. Also, the teachers would ask me questions in Japanese and I would usually reply by saying ‘I don’t understand, sorry.’ “However, I loved how everyone encouraged me to speak Japanese. They did this by asking me questions in Japanese, which meant I was learning new words every day. I think my Japanese vocabulary doubled while I was in Tottori.
“Since most students could speak English, it was difficult not to speak in English, but I managed to speak mainly in Japanese by substituting some Japanese words I didn’t know with English words. “There were a few students who couldn’t speak English and their Japanese was advanced for me, so
we couldn’t have a conversation. However, I got along well with them and we eventually found a way to ‘talk’ to each other. The most important thing in my opinion is to be involved, and smile.” While in Tottori, Vinnie had the chance to study Japanese calligraphy and Japanese classics.
“ I loved how everyone encouraged me to speak Japanese. They did this by asking me questions in Japanese, which meant I was learning newwords every day. ” Vinnie Wee
Christ’s College Canterbury
52
Made with FlippingBook Annual report