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JLEU38JANUARY, 2017: BREEZE ISSUE #111
A FREE MONTHLY E-NEWSLETTER FOR FRIENDS OF JAPAN & TEACHERS OFJAPANESE

JAPANESE LANGUAGE EDUCATION UPDATE 38:
SOCIAL JUSTICE IN THE JAPANESE
CLASSROOM
by Amanda Rollins, Japanese Language Program Coordinator
Last month at the 2016 ACTFL Annual Convention and World Languages Expo in Boston, 2012
Teacher of the Year Mr. Yo Azama (North Salinas High School) and AATJ President Dr. Yoshiko
Saito-Abbott (California State University Monterey Bay), presented a session titled “SocialJustice in the Language Classroom: Impact on Global Citizenship.” The room was absolutelypacked with language teachers of all kinds.
According to both presenters, social issues arenormally reserved for advanced language
classes. It has been assumed that lower level
students simply do not have the necessary
vocabulary and fluency to debate and shareopinions on such topics. However, since theAdvanced Placement (AP) Japanese Language
and Culture exam was implemented, teachers
have been asked to include themes like“global challenges” and “current affairs” intheir high school classrooms. Discussing social
justice inspires students to think critically and to develop their own voice, important 21stcentury skills.
“I was scared of taking that leap,” Azama said during the session, “but why not bring your inner
activist into a lesson? Teachers always want to have the right answers, we want to have control.
But we have to give away the control a little bit to take a risk.” He went on to say that
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discussing Japan’s social justice issues gives students freedom and space to talk about theuncomfortable issues within a neutral country. During the session, Azama showed a video inwhich his third-year students interacted during a typical classroom activity. They slowly madesimple but powerful statements like, “Japan’s poverty rate is not good. I think that is sad.”
Pedagogically speaking, the presenters spoke about “content-driven language instruction.”
Instead of giving students a list of vocabulary to memorize, Azama gave the students thechance to absorb words from videos and infographics. Because the topics are so important, thestudents remember the terms more easily and “I don’t have to repeat words so many times!”
In addition to the thematic unit on poverty, Dr. Saito-Abbott spoke about her University
collaboration with Community Partnership for Youth (CPY), an organization which provides
alternatives to gangs, drugs, and violence. For 20 years, her university students majoring inJapanese have been teaching language and culture to at-risk youths after school through her
Advanced Japanese Service Learning class. In the class students discuss the importance ofsocial justice awareness and responsibility. In order to teach units on social justice issues,“building trust in class is so important,” Dr. Saito-Abbott stated. “Encourage students to act
locally, think globally.”
The session ended with enthusiastic applause and thoughtful discussion.

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Japanese Langauge Education Update 38

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