Felicity Williams, Mount Lilydale Mercy College


One of the important events for me as a teacher of Japanese was to be involved in the Asian Languages Professional Learning Project (ALPLP), a government-funded project which enabled teachers of Asian languages to explore new and interesting ideas through professional workshops and apply these ideas to school-based projects. The ALPLP focussed on Intercultural Language Learning (ILL - see article by Sherryl Saunders). According to this approach, culture and language are inextricably linked, and this needs to be reflected in how we teach and learn languages. As a teacher of Japanese I was aware of this, and of the need to make language learning relevant and interesting to my students.

Social interaction is one of the general principles of ILL, and I thought that giving my students opportunities to meet and exchange views with Japanese students on a one-to-one basis as well as in groups would promote language and culture learning in both groups. I approached Juliette Coloca, course coordinator of Trajal Tourism and Hospitality College at Hawthorn English Language Centre, Melbourne University, and together we planned and implemented reciprocal visits.

1. Getting to Know You Day - 28th April 2004

The participants included our school’s 260 students of Japanese from Years 7 -12 and 51 students from Trajal College. To help them overcome their initial shyness in meeting new people, I prepared questionnaires in Japanese and English for the visiting students, and we organised activities such as origami and ‘show and tell’ to enable participants to break the ice. The Trajal students were even invited to play Australian Rules football! The topics covered by Year 11-12 students for interviewing the Trajal students ranged from personal to general. Most students worked closely together with their partners and seemed happy with their interaction, continuing to socialise during morning tea.

Junior students prepared the following things to help them interact with the Japanese students:

• a welcome card
• an uchiwa (fan) which was partially decorated and later completed by a Japanese visitor
• a short self-introduction speech
• a ‘show and tell’ item about Australian culture
• The day was significant to us all not only because generated greater interest in studying Japanese, but it also added another dimension, the development of friendship between the students.

2. Sharing our Language and Culture Day - 5th August 2004

As this was the second time for the two groups to meet we decided to arrange the day on similar lines to the previous occasion, so that the activities would get underway quickly. For both groups the main purpose of the encounter was to provide as many opportunities as possible to gain language and cultural experience whilst having fun. It was also hoped that both groups could rekindle friendships forged during their previous encounter at Mount Lilydale Mercy College.

The participants included our school’s 36 Year 10, 11 and 12 students of Japanese and 36 Trajal students. To start with students exchanged information about their lifestyles, interest in technology and mobile phones.
Students were also involved in a range of cultural activities where they were rotated in small groups and pairs. There was lots of interaction as each student had to negotiate a new activity with a new group of Australian and Japanese partners. The morning sessions ended with group photos, exchange of email addresses and phone numbers. It was wonderful to watch the ease with which all of them mixed and enjoyed each other’s company.

The afternoon session was an innovative computer-related activity for all students. Computer training, which was the focus of this reciprocal visit, was something that the Trajal students were very comfortable with and it really met the needs of our students. It involved the introduction of computer games, online questionnaires, use of mobile phones, emoji (electronic pictographs) and email greeting cards. This activity was in alignment with our overall purpose of facilitating collaboration between the two groups as well as incorporating ICT skills in language learning.

In contrast to the hectic activities at Mount Lilydale Mercy College, individual classrooms were used, which improved concentration and permitted focussing on new skills. Our students were made to feel very welcome throughout the day and by the time we were on the bus at the end of the day, there was a feeling that we were in Japan saying goodbye to our newly formed Japanese friends.

We found both events very successful and our enquiry into student reactions demonstrated that they all considered it a meaningful experience. They formed friendships which endured beyond these meetings, exchanging gifts and cards. Some of the Australian students stated that this experience opened mental doors for them in the way they viewed the culture and lifestyle of others. At the same time, they reported a greater sense of personal identity as Australians and a greater appreciation of their own lifestyle. I hope that our experience can be a stimulus for other schools to find new pathways in teaching Asian languages through Intercultural Language Learning.