By Jessica Nguyen and Brian Pham
Every year, students from Japan visit Fountain Valley High School (FVHS) through an exchange program to meet and connect with American students. This year, however, FVHS students cannot meet with Japanese students due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Luckily, FVHS students taking Japanese 3 and 4 still had the opportunity to interact online through Zoom calls with Japanese students from Urasoe High School in Okinawa, Japan. This opportunity was set up by Japanese teacher Saori Tanaka.
“I have a close friend, [Ms. Ikema], who is an English teacher in Okinawa, Japan. She and I talked about this plan before, but we decided that THIS IS the time to do it, and it’s working great!” Tanaka said. “It’s been nothing but fun for all of us!”
During calls throughout October and mid-November, students practiced singing and dancing to “パプリカ（Paprika),” an official song made by Kenshi Yonezu for Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, in both Japanese and English.
“My favorite part of the call has been meeting and getting to know the students,” junior Ashley Mundo said. “It has been so much fun working on this project together with them.”
This opportunity not only gave students the ability to talk to Japanese students but also to make new friends from Urasoe High School.
“Some students have already become friends and have been communicating via SNS. The only way to get better at a foreign language is to practice. It’s even better if they get to practice it with native speakers around their age,” Tanaka said. “I am so happy that I get to provide that opportunity for my students!”
Learning a new language can expand your horizons, especially with a language as different from English as Japanese.
“Even if you don’t plan on visiting or living in Japan in the future, learning a different language and culture makes you become more open-minded, realizing your way is not the only way,” Tanaka said. “Being multilingual and multicultural also opens up doors to more opportunities and helps you connect with more people in the world, which makes your life more exciting.”
Distance learning has its challenges and advantages. Although there were several difficulties and equipment and technology malfunctions, FVHS students were still able to learn the song and interact with their Japanese peers.
While there might’ve been slight language barriers between the students, it did not stop them from being able to talk and learn from each other.
“There was some language barrier in ways that I wish I could more intricately explain what I was feeling or what I wanted to ask them, but for the most part their level of English was the same level as my Japanese so it worked out pretty well!” junior Laura Sabate said.
While the current pandemic has gotten in the way of many aspects of her curriculum, Tanaka is still working to help her students improve their language skills.
“Because we are in this pandemic, there are more students who are staying home after school and are able to join this project,” Tanaka said. “I hope to bring more opportunities like this to my students.”
