2013 IIME REPORTCountry [ Mexico ]School[ Universidad Veracruzana ] Teacher [ Mitsuru Kurosaki ]JP School [ Aoyama Gakuin University ] Teacher [ Toru Yokoyama ]grade ( 2 )student number ( 9 )# Subjects, Activities and Times of the lessons
Subject
Conception of the lesson
SocialTimes

Study about history and culture of our country and our partner’s country

5

Introduce all members in Japanese, English and Spanish. Record our presentation
and upload it on Youtube.

5

Use the online forum and try doing the video conferences

3

Fine art

Draw a mural

8

Fine art

Appreciation and reflection about the whole work

2

Self introduction
IT# Theme and Message of the mural
Theme

Amigo friend 友達

MessageOn the main theme, we tried to express our friendship. Also we painted the same culturalelements like the highest mountain, a person and the national tree. And it would be appreciable
to observe tone of sky both sunrise and sunset. We included the theme of traditional figures, thePyramid of Tajin, Veracruz# Effects and the Problems
Effects your students have gained
Points for further improvement
The students improve more to study Japanese. They It was the first time participating in this JAM project. For
were motivated more and more not only to study the the next time, previously we need more discussion about
Japanese culture but their own culture. The participantsof this project took more initiative in the class activities. the theme of the Mural painting.
Also they had better communication within them. Finallythey were more interested in learning Kanjis.

# Have you made your activity open in your school or in your local area? How was their reaction or reputation?

PR you did inside/out of your school
On February 21st, in Mexico City, we presented our JAM
project in the Symposium of teaching method of theJapanese language.
Also we are organizing the exhibition on August in the400 anniversary between the State of Veracruz andJapan.
# Flow of the Activity
ContentMonthIntroduction

ResearchReaction/reputation from aroundWe received a lot of questions about how to participate
in this project.

What you did

Your students attitude/reflection

In the previous season we

It was necessary to exchange our point of view

started introducing ourselves

to use the Facebook tool because manymaking a PDF and Power point

Mexican students have and use an account.

presentation. Fortunately, theOn the contrary, Japanese students had

Ago-Mexican students were on

another type of communication like “LINE”, so it

Sepvacation during August, so we

caused a kind of difficulty to start up by thiscould make an upload on youtube

way.

of a video letter in Japanese,

To resolve this problem, Mexican students took

English and Spanish (See the self

the initiative work in and offered a good advice.

introduction in our forum).

Then we were able to exchange our greetings.

In our class of Japanese, weThe Mexican students investigated andinvestigated the culture andpresented the cultures and histories about

history about “KANSAI” andKANSAI and KANTO. They enjoyed finding more

“KANTO” including the area

information about both areas. They did a very

where the Aoyama Gakuin

good presentation.

Sep

Subject

SocialIT

SocialIT

University is located.
Eleven Japanese students joined

They tried to speak in Japanese and English. Afterthe Mexican side 5 students.

that communication on Skype, they eagerly study

After the (English), we composeJapanese.

the picture and theme, toComposition

Sept

SocialITexchange viewpoints about themotif based on a draft of apainting self-introduction of theJapanese members.
The theme was the "Amigo".
On October 27th, we started

On December 8th, the canvas was concluded.

drawing the base lines for theAfterwards, we detailed elements of themural painting.
We readjusted the character’sPainting

OctDec“Jarocha”, who would shake hands with theJapanese character (Maiko) in the center ofposition to meet the same eye

picture. We tried drawing lots of beautiful

level of the Japanese one, andelements in the scenery. We took into accountbalance both parts of thethe balance of basic ornamentation.

painting. It was very important for
us to fit the drawing in the samelevel.

Fine ArtContentMonthWhat you did

Your students attitude/reflection

Subject

We established communication

The Japanese students explained again in
English and Japanese about their part so that
we could understand some of their motives. For
example, They explained that they tried to usesome Japanese traditional color “Fuji iro” and asymbol of crane to celebrate our friendship andwished us to have a long life. After that, theykindly presented the “Hina Matsuri” (the Girls’(Dolls’) Festival on March 3) and taught us how
to make a paper doll (Origami).The Mexican
students asked them about what kind of birds
they painted (Chidori). The Japanese students
wanted to know why did we paint the mermaid.
Then they asked why did the Mexican girls use
to put on that traditional clothes and what kindof clothes did the boys use. After thesequestions and answers about the painting, theMexican students explained about the traditionof Carnival. Finally we talked about the greeting
letters. Both groups of students sang a song ofHappy birthday in Spanish (Manyanitas) andJapanese (Tanjyoubi omedetou). We took a
picture on each side of the video conference bystanding next to the Skype image, so that wehave a memorial picture of all participants
together.

Fine Artwith the Japanese students on
Skype on February 26th. At first,
theJapanese

students

said

thanks to our greeting cards thatwere sent with the Mural painting.
Then,wetalked

about

thePainting. The Japanese students
asked us if we used to participate

Appreciation

Febin the Carnival or not and if it istrue that we are not allowed to
eat the meat during the Carnival.
How long do we dance during thefestival and what way?
We concluded this meeting saying
thatwewillcontinuecommunicating on Facebook andby writing letters.

# Aim of the Lessons and Result
Aim: Rank A to C in order you put emphasis on (A: very much/ B: much / C: not so much)
Result: Rank 5 to 1 (5: very effective / 4: effective / 3: so- so / 2: not so effective / 1: not effective at all)

Expected Effect
Understanding our owncultures

How your students have reached it
They organized well and did a good presentation of their traditionalculture.
They searched on the internet about the Japanese culture andhistory, but they needed to communicate with the Japanese students
to ask about it.
They tried to explain their thoughts, but they had a lot of limitation tocommunicate in Japanese and English.
They held video conferences but needed the technical support of theUniversity’s staff.
They always thought about their partner.

AimResultA

5

B4

A2C4A

4

A

5

Attitude in learningA

4

They were well motivated, but sometimes it was hard for them toorganize their time schedule.

Expression ability

B

3

They expressed well and adjusted the Mural based on the theme. I
hope both groups of students discuss more about the theme.

Appreciation ability

B4

We will display the Mural in the main project of University August
2014.

Understanding theother’s cultures
Communication ability
in the class/with partners

IT skills
Creating friendshipin the class/with partners

Collaborationin the class/with partners

They did group work during this project with enthusiasm.

Please submit to jam@artmile.jp . Thank you for your cooperation.