Unfortunately, I could not attend the Gakuensai last year, but from what I heard from my group mates, there were a lot more people this year than last. I think this is because a lot of people could not attend last year due to self-isolating. Last year, many of the groups focussed on food stalls, whereas this year there were a lot more activities, like quizzes, omikuji, and games.

In the interviews, we had already decided to focus on Japanese traditional card games and so we tailored our questions to that. All of the students we asked could remember playing card games and gave us pointers on what was popular like daifugo and speed. Mostly, the Japanese students said that gakuensai had lots of demonstrations and performances from the clubs, so teaching Japanese games was close to that and a good idea.

The first years prepared decorations for our stall, particularly origami and bunting. The role of the second years was to oversee the preparation, and we also participated by making posters- origami instructions in Japanese and English. After some discussions and issues on agreements, a sub-group decided to focus on traditional card games, so some first years learnt and practiced games such as hanafuda to make sure they could teach the rest of our classmates. They also made sure there were enough resources such as playing cards, instructions and examples of traditional games. Following information we received at the interviews, the groups also made sure that there was a variety of activities at our stall to maintain interest.

The group project was a good way of getting to know other people on our course but also gave us a chance to speak with native speakers of the language. The interviews were enjoyable and made speaking Japanese as a learner less daunting, as the mentors of our group were very kind and approachable. Although the preparation took a lot of additional time, it was a good way of utilising spare time and practice working in a group with people who share the same interests. We all learnt new things about Japan and Japanese culture, and seeing the result was highly rewarding. The most enjoyable part of the whole project was seeing the other stalls and participating in a big variety of activities which challenged me to stay organised and use my imagination. 　

　去年の学園祭に行けませんでしたが、グループメートたちによると、今年にもっと人が来ました。去年、たくさん人は自主隔離をしなければいけなかったと思います。前の学園祭に、食べ物を売る屋台がたくさんありました。しかし、今年に色々なやる事がありました。例えば、ゲームやクイズの屋台でした。

　インタビュの時、もう屋台のテームを選びました。それはトランプでした。そのため、日本人学生に有名なトランプゲームについて聞きました。学生は「大富豪とスピードは楽しい」と言っていました。全体的に、いいアイディアでした。

最初の年は屋台の飾り、特に折り紙とホオジロを用意しました。 2年次の役割は準備の監督で、私たちはポスターの作成に参加しました。 いくつかの議論と合意の問題の後、サブグループは従来のカード ゲームに焦点を当てることにしました。 インタビューで得た情報をもとに、グループは花札などのカードゲームやさまざまなカードゲームの練習も行いました。


グループプロジェクトは、私たちのコースで他の人々と知り合う良い方法でしたが、言語のネイティブスピーカーと話す機会も与えてくれました. 準備にはかなりの時間を要しましたが、空いた時間を有効に活用し、同じような興味を持つ人たちとグループで取り組む練習をするのに良い方法でした。 私たちは皆、日本と日本の文化について新しいことを学び、その結果を見るのはとてもやりがいがありました。 プロジェクト全体で最も楽しかったのは、他の屋台を見たり、さまざまな活動に参加したしたりしたことです。

～ジェナ・マクインとエミリア・マズル

グループ五の二年生書いたブログ / Japanese Studies Gakuen-sai by blogadmin is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution CC BY 3.0