Date: July 21, 2018 14:00 – 16:00 Location: Large meeting room of Ikoria.
Participants: French university students, Host families, IAC Japanese Sunday class Group, IAC homestay Group
French college student’s stay in Chigasaki for three weeks passed quickly and a farewell party was held. Students, who are still half a year since they started studying Japanese, had precious experiences in Japan and presented their speech in Japanese. After that, students ate light meal and drunk soft drinks together with host families and IAC members. They missed the stay.
Speech contents:
- I was surprised that the Japanese were very kind.
- I cooked Gyoza (dumplings) with my host family and it was very delicious.
- I ate very hot ramen and it was delicious, but it hurt my stomach.
- I was happy to have a real kimono and a tea ceremony.
- Yokohama’s Yamashita Park was very nice.
- I went to Odawara Castle and Hakone etc. with my host family. That was very fun.
- It was fun to go to Akihabara even many times.
Summary of questionnaire results from the French students
- Surprised
Hot springs and toilets are amazing. Host families and staff are kind. The Japanese take a lot of pictures. Often use of bicycles. Greetings and everyday customs, etc.
- Happy things
The experiences of Zazen, Kimono and Tea ceremony (especially Kimono). Having met students of the same age. We were happy that all the things we experienced were surprising.
- Be in trouble
The Japanese class was difficult and some of the teachers taught the class without checking our understanding. The kite flying was boring a little bit because I only had the string. Girls were doing Ikebana, boys were doing Kendo, but girls wanted to do Kendo too. That I had to take off my clothes at a hot spring.
- Suggestions for making better programs
I hope that young people participate more in events. At school visit, less time to interact with students. I thought that we would like to reduce Japanese classes and to add discuss activities with Japanese students in Japanese.
I thought it would be nice to have traditional activities, Aikido, calligraphy, making Norimaki, etc. However, I thought that various events were interesting.
July 22 (Monday) 9:00, the students left Chigasaki Station with many memories.
（S I）
