ブックタイトルa-history-of-international-exchanges00

概要

a-history-of-international-exchanges00

- 44 -For the Japanese exchangestudents in Dunedin, the firstthree months of their stay wereoften difficult. They lacked theconfidence and fluency to beable to explain to their Kiwifriends, in English, what theywere thinking and feeling, andoften the New Zealand studentshad little cross-culturalexperience and no knowledge of Japanese. A Japanese exchange student inthe early 1990s, flatting with a group of Kiwi girls and, later, recalling herproblems of adjustment, found that she often simply wanted to shut herselfin her bedroom and cry. She was deeply grateful that her New Zealandflatmates insisted that she join in their weekly flat meetings, and wereequally insistent that she went with them on all their social outings. Of course,Dunedin students in Miyazaki faced similar problems. Shopping for foodcould be difficult. Unable to read Japanese script, students had to guess whatthey were buying from pictures on the packaging, and inevitably sometimesthey got it wrong!Things seemed to improve rapidly for the Japanese exchangees after threemonths, as their aural and oral skills in English clicked into place and thebarriers to communication disappeared. Japanese students, who joined theCollege’s drama programme, found this to be very demanding but alsoparticularly beneficial. Having to act out roles in a stage play, the studentsfound themselves not only speaking but also thinking in English. Exchangeeswho went for three or four weeks on “posting” as teacher assistants in NewZealand elementary school classrooms also spoke highly of this experience.Working in English with young children, there were no barriers of shyness,and soon two-way conversation began to flow.In social studies classes, Japanese students often played priceless roles inassisting cross-cultural understanding. Many a time, Japanese and Kiwistudents, working in their own ethnic groups, would prepare and share livelyand colourful wall posters, showing what they considered to be essential ortypical features of Japanese and New Zealand culture. It was an eye-openingand salutary experience for students to compare how they saw themselves,