Laos-Japan Human Resource Development Institute
AIBAMORI Kana

Students surprised by the trash separation customs in Japan.

The JF Language Center (hereinafter “JFLC”), part of the Laos-Japan Human Resource Development Institute (hereinafter “LJI”) operates Japanese-language courses run by the LJI and carries out activities to spread the Japanese language and culture in cooperation with the mutual understanding department of the LJI. The number of Japanese restaurants and shops selling Japanese goods in Laos has been on the rise in recent years, and the increasing availability of the Internet has allowed easier access to information. However, opportunities to learn about Japan are still limited. Accordingly, I have been carrying out activities several times per year to give lower and upper secondary school students an opportunity to learn about Japan, including visiting neighboring schools, inviting upper secondary school students to the LJI to learn about and experience Japanese culture, and giving basic Japanese introductory classes.

This year I carried out a package of two activities for each school, including one visit to the upper secondary school and one invitation of the students to the LJI. The main person in charge of this course is Dr. Ladsamy PHONGSAVAT from the mutual understanding department. He has some basic Japanese ability because he previously studied in the Japanese-language course offered by the LJI. He also visited Japan last year to lead an MBA training course. As a result of these experiences, he has a great deal of information about Japan that he wants to talk about to the upper secondary school students. Before giving lectures to the upper secondary school students, we hold meetings with the adjustment members for JF courses and the Japanese-Language Specialists. For that purpose, we have prepared a PowerPoint presentation that includes what is appealing about Japan, something we ourselves might typically overlook, and the presentation is often the subject of surprise.

Incidentally, Dr. Ladsamy PHONGSAVAT is also a master at Origami. At each session, he teaches how to create various seasonal Origami works, which he has the students try for themselves at the end of the lecture.

The cherry blossom is complete.

As spring is the season of cherry blossoms, the students tried their hands at creating cherry blossom Origami during the upper secondary school visit in April. Upper secondary school students in Laos who normally have no opportunity to try Origami. I was worried whether the students would show any interest in Origami, but that concern was dispelled by their intense concentration as they struggled to recreate Dr. Ladsamy PHONGSAVAT’s example. The students clearly had a great time, and by the end of the day they were showing each other their finished cherry blossoms, taking pictures, and trying to create more with their own paper.

Though Japan remains a distant country for the upper secondary students of Laos, when asked about Japan, their answers demonstrate their positive impression of the country, including a desire to visit as an exchange student, that Japanese technology is advanced, and that Japan is a beautiful country. Thus, one of the important responsibilities of the JFLC and LJI is to communicate about the appeals of Japan to those students, get them interested in Japan, and to motivate them to learn Japanese and study in Japan in the future.