03 December 2008

A Day Experiencing Japanese Culture

Students from Otaki College at IPC

By Shirley Ghozalli. Edited by Moira Blake and Zebunisso Alimova.

Japanese taiko drum workshop: 2 members of the drum team showing Gillian Gordon and a student how to beat the drum

On Wednesday, 26th November, a group of 28 students from Otaki College came to IPC. The students were in Year 10 and had been studying Japanese language. This visit is part of the language program at Otaki College. Mr Karl Gill, Assistant to the IPC Chairman, welcomed the group. Mr Gill spoke about the importance of being able to speak more than one language in today's competitive employment fields.

The students were divided into 3 groups according to their proficiency level. Then they took part in games and activities all around IPC campus from 10.00 am until 13.50 pm. Scavenger hunt, Hiragana bingo, and character guessing were some of the games where they were made to interact with each other and with IPC lecturers in Japanese.

Aside from the games, the activities included a Japanese conversation class for each group, for which the lecturers tailored the lessons to meet the level of each group, and a Japanese taiko drum workshop with the Taiko Drum Team members. Five taiko drums were used and on each drum, a team member showed small groups of students how to beat the taiko drum rhythmically. All groups learned to following the same rhythm.

As part of the activities, a session of Japanese culture, such as shodo (Japanese artistic writing), origami (paper folding art) and yukata (Japanese traditional costume), was included in the day's program.

"We had a wonderful time and I am very grateful to everyone involved," said the Japanese language teacher from Otaki College, Gillian Gordon. "It was different but fun and interesting" commented one of the students.

Students playing a Japanese character guessing game	One of the Japanese conversation classes	A group discussing their favourite foods in Japanese
Shodo activity	A student engaged in the origami activity	Having fun wearing yukata

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