October 23, 2008

Directions: Read the following entry and answer the questions.

Hello students! So much has happened since last Wednesday. Last Thursday and Friday, the group spent the day learning about the Japanese educational system. Here are a few interesting facts:

1. Students prepare their lunches at school, and students serve and eat the lunches
   in their classrooms. This activity is done to strengthen the community ties.
   
2. Three objectives of schools are to promote intellectual, physical, and moral
   development.
3. Elementary and Middle school are required for all students. Even though high school is not mandated, 98% of students continue with their studies and go on to high school.
4. Teachers are required to move schools (on average) every 5 years.
5. In addition to regular school hours, many students attend “cram” schools so that they can receive high scores on their entrance exams and report cards.

On Friday, I listened to a Hiroshima survivor, Keijiro Matushima, give his account of the bombing. When the bombing happened, Matushima, who was 14 years old, was at school getting ready for his classes. He said he felt “a heat wave… flash, shock, heat wave” when the bomb dropped. The horrifying experience left him scarred for life, but he continues to tell his story to help prevent similar things from ever happening again.

On Saturday a few of us visited Kamakura. Some of my group members didn’t want to visit the famous Buddha statue, so to appease them we made sure to cover other sites.


The following day we packed our belongings and headed out to Miyazaki. We spent Monday visiting Miyazaki University. We talked to the Dean of faculty, professors, and students. At one point, each group member was randomly paired with a student. My student was studying to become an English teacher. I spent an hour asking questions about her courses and topics relating to educational policies. Based on her answers, I can tell she is very passionate about teaching. She was able to articulate her ideas very well.

Something about Japan:
In Japan it is customary to leave your shoes outside before entering a building. For example, when you enter someone’s home, you leave your shoes outside and slip into house slippers. You do this so that the home (inside) can remain clean. If you wear your tennis shoes inside the house, you are bringing dirt inside. The door is essentially the line between the outside (dirt) and the inside (clean). However, if you want to use the bathroom you must also change into bathroom slippers. This is because the bathroom is considered to be dirty. Once you leave the bathroom, you must wear your house slippers again.

Questions:

1. Search the web and find two facts about Japanese “cram” schools.
2. Find the dates when Hiroshima and Nagasaki were bombed.
3. Search the web to find the story of Buddha and summarize it in one paragraph.
4. What are some of Kamakura’s famous sites?
5. What SAT word of the day did Ms. Lucero use?
6. Search the web to find other Japanese customs.