Learning Learning 学習の学習 20 (2): Review

NGO Outreach
NGO アウトリーチ
One year after the NGO Outreach team waspeople from other countries”. Cathy (FTCJ) isformed, with the 20th Anniversary Conference

interested in pursuing a career with an NGO; “thelurking just around the corner, now is the perfecttime to update you on our activities andgoal that I wanted to achieve was to have a job experiencein an NGO.”

experiences so far, as well as the experiences of"some of our student volunteers who volunteered

student volunteers, the work students havefor our newly launched Student Ambassador

completed varies widely. Miu (Japan Tent)

programme, which sought to recruit students
willing to work with an NGO during the summer

explained that she “supported foreign students toknow Japanese culture, for example sado, wagashi

vacation.

making, kimono wearing and so on”. After Minako"

joined the programme, her work was invaluable

Through this programme eight university

With three very different NGOs accepting

students successfully found volunteering

helping to recruit and coordinate two more

opportunities and will be representing thefollowing NGOs at the conference:

students to work with her at SVA. Minako, Natsumi
and Misaki were responsible for creating a display-Japan Tent, <http://www.japantent.com/index.html>-

Free the Children Japan,(FTCJ), <http://www.ftcj.com/>to introduce SVA at the conference, deciding on thecontent of the exhibition and translating whenrequired, including producing an original
catchphrase. At FTCJ, Fuka, Yuko and Cathy havebeen doing a whole range of work, including“collecting information for FTCJ’s website, making-Shanti Volunteer Association, (SVA),presentations, reports, and translating.” Depending on<http://sva.or.jp/>

the kind of tasks students were required to do, theRecently I sent an email to these student volunteers,
asking some open-ended questions to gain a better
understanding of their motivation for joining theStudent Ambassador programme and theirvolunteering experiences over summer.
"Students decided to join the NGO Outreachprogramme for diverse reasons. While somestudents’ priority was to use and improve theirEnglish skills, others were more interested in thevaluable work experience that volunteering orcompleting an internship provides. Manami (JapanTent) is interested in medical training abroad, andstated “I think it’s important to communicate withtime that they spent with their NGO also differedsignificantly, from two or three days of intensive
work, to regular weekly volunteering spanning a
few weeks to a month or more. One encouraging
outcome is that some students have alreadyexpressed an interest in continuing an internshipposition after the conference.
One of our original goals was to engage students inreal world situations which necessitate the use of aforeign language. A number of students describedencountering language difficulties during theirvolunteering activities, which suggests that thisgoal is indeed being met. Of course, the conference

Newsletter of the JALT Learner Development SIG <ld-sig.org/>

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Learning Learning 学習の学習 20 (2): Ngo Outreachin November will provide further opportunities tomissions and activities by speaking with ouruse English and Japanese. Students have expressed

student volunteers or NGO representatives infeeling nervous, worried and uneasy about theapproaching conference. However, these same

Japanese or English. We hope that this relaxed
forum will lead to further and wider collaboration

students also said they feel excited and are looking

between learners, teachers, NGOs, and anyone else

forward to taking part!

interested in facilitating the creation of sustainable"links beyond our classrooms. We also hope that

With the NGO Outreach team still in its

infancy, we have also encountered our own set ofchallenges. One significant issue is simply finding

members of the LD SIG and other conference
participants will come to join us in what promises

students willing to volunteer. Membership in ato be a unique and innovative forum. The Learneruniversity club entails an enormous commitment ofDevelopment SIG’s 20th Anniversary Conferencetime and energy and many students also have a

has always been a major focus point for thepart time job. With all of this on top of a full-timestudent’s study load, such demands leave little toevolving NGO Outreach team and we are very
excited to see how it pulls together, and what

no time for volunteering. We tried to be as open

comes out of it! We look forward to seeing you alland flexible as possible with students’ availabilities,

there!

but NGOs also have their own policies regarding aminimum time commitment for volunteers orinterns. In addition, students had to prepare a CVand cover letter; for many, this was a first. Thisrevealed that often, students had never been taught
about CV writing norms and expectations, while
potentially increasing the workload involved infinding students a placement.
"

As previously mentioned in last issue’s

column, a wide variety of NGOs will be involved in
the Learner Development SIG’s 20th Anniversary
Conference on Saturday November 23 and SundayNovember 24 2013, and along with the NGO’smentioned above, there will also be the following
NGOs participating in the conference:-Shine On <http://www.sokids.org/>-Social Enterprise English Language School,(SEELS), <http://seels.jp/>

While the NGO Outreach Forum itself will betaking place on Saturday afternoon from 16:00 –Colin Rundle and Caroline Ross
ldngooutreach@gmail.com
DEFINITION OF NGOs
A non-governmental organization (NGO) is any
non-profit, voluntary citizens' group which isorganized on a local, national or international
level. Task-oriented and driven by people with acommon interest, NGOs perform a variety ofservice and humanitarian functions, bring citizen
concerns to Governments, advocate and monitor
policies and encourage political participation
through provision of information. Some areorganized around specific issues, such as humanrights, environment or health. They provide
analysis and expertise, serve as early warning
mechanisms and help monitor and implement
international agreements. Their relationship withoffices and agencies of the United Nations systemdiffers depending on their goals, their venue andthe mandate of a particular institution.
Source: http://www.ngo.org/ngoinfo/
define.html

17:25, in room 206. Here, you will be able to learn
more about these NGOs, and their histories,

学習者ディベロプメント研究部会 <ld-sig.org/>

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