University of Kelaniya
KOMATSUBARA Naho

Sri Lanka is a small island country in the Indian Ocean with a population of approximately 21 million people. There are many people here who like Japan, and more than 10,000 people are studying Japanese.

The University of Kelaniya, where I work, is the center of Japanese-language education in Sri Lanka. In 2016, the Research Centre for Japanese Studies (hereinafter "RCJS") was established, and we are working daily to improve Japanese-language education not only at the University of Kelaniya, but throughout Sri Lanka.

1. Challenge for the RCJS at the University of Kelaniya: Improving Japanese-Language Education in Sri Lanka

The RCJS has been conducting a variety of activities for Japanese-language teachers in Sri Lanka, but FY2018 was our most active year to date.

First, we signed a cooperation agreement with the National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics ⁽¹⁾, and, as a first step, in October 2018 we held a Japanese-language training session at the University of Kelaniya. The following week, an OJAD training session ⁽²⁾ was held by Professor MINEMATSU Nobuaki of the University of Tokyo. Through these sessions, we were able to provide Japanese-language teachers and students with the opportunity to receive advanced linguistics and phonetics instruction while in Sri Lanka.

In addition to this, RCJS also produces textbooks for secondary educational institutions in Sri Lanka. In 2018, the Ministry of Education published a national textbook of "Japanese Characters" for senior secondary school students. Additionally, we also published "Intercultural Communication Part 2" with the support of the Japan Foundation.

RCJS is expanding its activities year by year, and it will continue to take on new challenges in the future without a fear of failure.

2. Challenge for Students at the University of Kelaniya: Giving Their Learning and Studies Back to Society

At the University of Kelaniya, outstanding students from all over Sri Lanka are studying Japanese. In Sri Lanka, cramming-style education is still the mainstream, but, when entering university, students are required to shift to learning to think for themselves and to act on their own. Furthermore, they don't just study on campus, but are also required to give their learning and studies back to society. For students, everyday university life is a series of challenges.

Japanese-Language Club members play a central role in planning and managing events in the Japanese Language Department, including annual O-level seminars and a variety of exchanges with junior secondary school students.

Students who helped with the translation/recording work

Additionally, this year we were introduced to Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers from JICA, and helped with translations for the Multilingual Translation of Arithmetic Content Project ⁽³⁾. The participating students were also able to use the Japanese they learned to help children living in Japan and abroad.

In addition, as part of a business class at the university, for the first time this year we visited a Japanese company in Sri Lanka. There are also plans to conduct internships from FY2019 for students in the second half of their fourth year, and we are gradually training them to go out to work in society and use the Japanese language while they are still in university.

Through these daily challenges, we hope that the students have acquired skills not just in the Japanese language, but also to work in cooperation with Japanese people, and in the future, they will play an active role as human resources that connect Japan and Sri Lanka.

3. Challenge for the Japanese Language Teacher’s Association of Sri Lanka: Meeting the Expectations of Their Students

Seminar full of senior secondary school students, even using seats in the gallery

The University of Kelaniya is not the only university that supports Japanese-language education in Sri Lanka. The Japanese Language Teacher’s Association of Sri Lanka (hereinafter the "Teachers Association"), which is primarily composed of senior secondary school teachers in Sri Lanka, also conducts a variety of activities for junior secondary school and senior secondary school students who are learning the Japanese language. In addition to their regular monthly meetings in FY2018, they also held a Japanese-language education seminar for teachers and an A-level seminar for senior secondary school students.

In particular, at the A-level seminar, more than 1,000 senior secondary school students participated, as a result of Teachers Association committee members using social media and email to reach out to senior secondary school students throughout Sri Lanka. This was the highest number of participating students ever, and we hadn't prepared enough chairs at the venue, so we hurriedly brought in additional chairs. Going forward, the Teachers Association will also continue to take on the challenge of meeting students' high expectations.

4. Challenge for Anuradhapura District: The New Introduction of Japanese-Language Education

FY2018 was a particularly exciting year for Japanese-language education in Anuradhapura District. Anuradhapura is famous as a town with old archeological ruins, but it is also a place where many people are learning the Japanese language.

The Embassy of Japan in Sri Lanka decided to donate a language lab classroom to the Rajarata University of Sri Lanka. The syllabus will be renewed accordingly, and the Japanese language will be taught with the "Marugoto: Japanese Language and Culture" (hereinafter “Marugoto”) textbooks as the primary teaching materials. Additionally, Bhiksu University of Sri Lanka is a Buddhist university where the monks study the Japanese language as an extracurricular lesson, and here, too, the syllabus has been revised and classes using the "Marugoto" textbook are being held.

This new challenge of using the "Marugoto" textbook, the first time it is being used in Sri Lanka, is unfolding in this town with a long history.

Every year in Sri Lanka there is an increase in the number of international students, the number of people taking the Japanese Language Proficiency Test, and the number of people taking the national A-Level and O-level exams for the Japanese language. New challenges continue to today as well, so that learners who choose the Japanese language from among the many foreign language courses will come to like Japan and the Japanese language, and they themselves will be able to realize that passion by using the Japanese language.

(1) National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics: https://www.ninjal.ac.jp/
(2) OJAD (Online Japanese Accent Dictionary): http://www.gavo.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/ojad/
(3) Multilingual Translation of Arithmetic Content: http://tagengohonyaku.jp/