Baku State University
SAKASHITA Taichi

A Diversity of Responsibilities

A Japanese language course was launched at the Baku State University in 2000, and the following year, the Japan Foundation (hereinafter “JF”) dispatched a Japanese-Language Specialist (hereinafter “Specialist”) to the university. Azerbaijan might be described as having a more abundant living environment compared to surrounding countries due to its rich reserves of natural resources such as oil. However, few Japanese companies have entered Azerbaijan as yet, and I am currently the only native Japanese language teacher in the country. For this reason, my responsibilities as a Specialist are diverse. In addition to teaching Japanese to students, creating supplementary teaching materials, and other duties at the host institution, I must also carry out activities that take into account Japanese-language education throughout Azerbaijan, such as preparing and running the Japanese-Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) and Japanese speech contests, and taking regular trips to other educational institutions. Furthermore, I must work to build an environment that will enable the local educators to carry out these activities on their own in the future.

Japanese Language Learners Spread Around the Country

Japanese is currently taught in Azerbaijan at two universities, including the Baku State University where I am dispatched, and one secondary educational institution. However, in addition to those, there are people spread throughout the country who are interested in Japanese language and culture, but who are studying on their own. It is of course extremely difficult for one lone Specialist to cover all of these learners spread across such a large area. So, what role can I play as a Specialist in such an environment? One of the solutions I am focusing on is to help connect these learners, strengthen collaboration, and build an environment to assist them in solving their own problems.

The Japanese Conversation Club - Connecting Japanese Language Learners

I host a “Japanese Conversation Club,” in which resident Japanese nationals and Japanese language learners can converse in Japanese together, once per month in Baku. This Club has actually been going on for many years, but to date, it mainly served as a place for learning Japanese, with university students studying Japanese coming to test their abilities, or to learn about Japan and the Japanese language from resident Japanese nationals. But recently, the number of participants who come to enjoy the Conversation Club itself, to enjoy spending time with Japanese people and get a rare chance to actually put their studies to use, is rising. Seeing this new trend, it occurred to me that it would be possible to connect the participants not only with the resident Japanese nationals, but with each other, by making the time spent there more fun. If these students, who normally study Japanese alone or in small groups at university, were able to meet friends to help each other and teach each other, then they would likely become able to solve their own problems as well.

When preparing for the conversation club, I carefully divide the participants into groups while keeping in mind how I can get them to have fun or how to meet their expectations. I cannot prioritize my own goals and try to force things under the excuse of deepening the exchange between learners. For example, if I were to throw a shy and sensitive learner into a group of strangers, that learner who took the step of participating on their day off might end up losing all interest in continuing. Accordingly, to prevent the conversation themes from being overly stiff, I basically have the students pick the topics and rehearse with them beforehand to check what they can talk about.

Emerging “Connections”

After repeating the Conversation Club through several iterations, I have begun to see “connections” developing between the learners. For example, in one group, an upper level student who had been assisting a lower level student has begun teaching that student after the Conversation Club as well. Many students in Azerbaijan wish to leverage their abilities to help others, so one might say that this sort of thing is a natural outcome. I have also been hearing that some participants in the Club have started playing sports together or going on trips together, even though they may not be studying Japanese together, which gives another sense of growing connections.

After each Conversation Club, I often get messages from the participants telling me that “I had a great time” or “I will work hard so I can speak more next time!” These words give me a sense of the effectiveness of the Conversation Club and give me the impetus to keep going in the future. Moving forward, I intend to continue working through trial and error to make the club even more meaningful for the learners.