Desining the place for Japanese education

Sharing the practice as the role of a teacher

Abstract

This action research analyzes the Open Campus carried out for Korean high school students at a university located in a rural area of Japan. While the faculty members, international students on campus, and people at the local community were collaboratively networking with high school students from Korea, all the participants were mutually learning their languages. New communication and community were also created through this collaborative practice. Furthermore, this experience brought some new learning to all the participants. International students at the campus experientially learned Japanese language that is needed in the local community they belong to and the community they would like to belong to in the future. Reflecting on this practice, I conclude that designing the place where people collaboratively and mutually learn their languages in a practice can be an aim for Japanese language education. Lastly, in order to make this happen, I argue that sharing our own practices is one of the significant roles for Japanese language teachers.