Development of “Plurilingual and Pluricultural Escape Game” as an entrance to a multiculturally convivial society

Toward university students’ proactive learning

Abstract

The number of foreign residents in Japan is increasing year by year. However, it is difficult to say that Japan today is a multiculturally convivial society. The author, who is in charge of Japanese language teacher training at a university, focuses on multicultural conviviality and Japanese language education in her seminar, aiming to help students learn to see the connection between themselves and others in a broader multicultural community. Therefore, we attempted to create a “Plurilingual and Pluricultural Escape Game,” introducing Chinese language and culture, that would serve as a gateway to multicultural conviviality, and to put it into practice in an elementary school and a junior high school. In interviews with seminar students, the development of the escape game appeared to include elements of active learning and service learning, which encouraged students’ proactive learning. However, the author considers that the students did not learn enough about the theory element of multiculturality, and the connection between theory and practice was not clear. The results of a questionnaire survey of the participating elementary and junior high school students showed that they enjoyed learning Chinese language and culture in cooperation with others. Based on this activity, plurilingual and pluricultural escape games can be a tool to promote understanding and interest in other languages and cultures, and a gateway to intercultural understanding.