Get Ready to Host! - A Practical Guide to be a Good Host by Hiroko Schierman

created on Dec 20, 2018 modified on Jan 31, 2019 06:26

description:

In this project, my Japanese III and IV students create a guide to prepare American students and their families to host a student visiting from Japan. In the process of the project, the students examine some positive and negative examples of homestay experience, find the expectations of the students visiting from Japan (the guests), and define the potential challenges and difficulties the hosts and the guests might encounter. With that knowledge, they make a practical guide to help the American students and their families becomimg confident as hosts. The community partners for this project are the students and their family of Koishikawa Secondary Education School in Tokyo, the local Japanese speaking community, and a group of students and their families who are interesed in hosting a student from Japan. This project gives my students an opportunity to communicate with our local Japanese speaking community and the students in Tokyo in the target language in the authentic situation. Moreover, the participating American students and their families can deepen their understanding of cultural similarities and differences between Japan and the U.S. Finally, it also encourages all the participants to be open to a new experience.

 

publisher:
National Foreign Language Resource Center
publish_date:
Jan. 31, 2019
contributors:
copyright:
None
uri:
None

Language: All Languages, Japanese

Subject Area(s): lifestyles, traditions, travel, creativity, education, family, food, friendship, geography

Instructional Context

Product Description:
The product is a written or a visual guide for the American students and their families who will be hosting a Japanese student. The product should address the challenges and difficulties that might occur in the homestay experience. The students are grouped into smaller groups by what they want to address. Each group can choose a medium they want to use to create a guide.

Heritage Learners:
no

Audience Role:
Audience participate in a presentation where the product is shared.

Target Audience Description:
The target audience for this project are American students and their families, who are interested in hosting a high school student from Japan.

Language Proficiency

ACTFL Scale:
4 3

World Readiness Standards

Comparisons
Cultural comparisons

Cultures
Relating Cultural Practices to Perspectives

Connections
Acquiring Information and Diverse Perspectives

Communities
School and Global
Lifelong Learning

Connections
Making Connections

Cultures
Relating Cultural Products to Perspectives

21st Century Skills

Information, Media, and Technology Skills
Technology Literacy

Life and Career Skills
Initiative and Self-Direction

Interdisciplinary Themes
Financial, Economic, Business and Entrepreneurial Literacy

Life and Career Skills
Social and Cross Cultural Skills
Productivity and Accountability

Interdisciplinary Themes
Global Awareness

Information, Media, and Technology Skills
Communication
Collaboration
Creativity and Innovation
Information Literacy
Media Literacy

Project Sequence Overview

Preparing for the Project

1. How was your trip? - Have students describe their travel experience in a few short paragraphs. more detail

2. What is a homestay program? - Have students learn what is unique about the homestay program. more detail

Launching the Project

1. Participating a Japanese cultural festival - Have students participate in a local Japanese festival as a volunteer. more detail

Managing the Project

1. Japan vs. the U.S. - Have students research the various aspects of the Japanese student’s lifestyle as well as their way of thinking. more detail

2. How does that make you feel? - Have students exercise reasoning in Japanese. more detail

3. How would they feel? - Have students conduct a survey on how a Japanese student would feel in challenging scenarios that can happen during the homestay. more detail

4. Guide to be a Good Host - Have students create a written, a visual, or a multimedia presentation. more detail

Assessment

1. Participation - A sentence that summarizes this task. more detail

2. Proficiency Assessment - Use the rubrics to assess student's proficiency in writing and speaking. more detail

3. Feedback - Ask for a feedback from the American students and their families who receive the product. more detail