Yangon University of Foreign Languages
SATO Naoki and KUNITOU Asahi

Beginning the Teacher Training Program

A new “Training Program for Japanese-Language Teachers” started in Myanmar in response to an increase in Japanese-language learners and a growing enthusiasm for learning Japanese, and it is expected that this program will intensively train Japanese-language teachers in Myanmar. This year, which is the first term, the training program was offered to 4th year students at the Yangon University of Foreign Languages, to currently active Japanese-language teachers at private Japanese-language schools, and to individuals aspiring to be Japanese-language teachers.

Pair work in the training program
for Japanese-language teachers

In this course, we are conscious of lateral cooperation between students. In order to break away from the memorization-style of Japanese-language education that gives knowledge, we incorporate a lot of group work and pair work so that participants can actually experience Japanese-language education that emphasizes communication. At first, the students gradually made friends with each other, even the students who were very nervous, and they created a counselor-like relationship in each other's educational field. Through this program, we are cooperating with the Japanese-language teachers at Yangon University of Foreign Languages for supporting teachers in Myanmar to collaborate to discuss and solve problems that occur in Myanmar classrooms.

Holding the 10th Myanmar Japanese-Language Teachers Training Seminar

This seminar is held twice a year (spring and fall), and features presentations not only by the Japan Foundation's Japanese-Language Specialists (hereinafter "Specialists"), but also by Japanese-language teachers from Myanmar. At the seminar held in the spring of 2019, we asked Myanmar teachers, who had come to Japan for Japanese-Language Programs for Overseas Students by the Japan Foundation, to make presentations. At The Japan Foundation Japanese-Language Institute, Urawa, these teachers learned the new "Vocabulary Matching Game" method for teaching vocabulary, and, by having all of the seminar participants experience this activity, it was not just a seminar in which the participants listened and watched, but a seminar in which they could think and experience together. In the future, we would like to continue creating seminars with Japanese-language teachers from Myanmar.

Participants at the Japanese-Language Teachers Training Seminar (Yangon)

NIHONGO Partners Activities

The "NIHONGO Partners" program began in 2014, and NIHONGO Partners have been dispatched to Myanmar since 2015. From May 2018 to March 2019, for the fourth term of NIHONGO Partners, three individuals were dispatched to Yangon University of Foreign Languages, and 2 individuals were dispatched to Mandalay University of Foreign Languages.

The big thing that has changed via the NIHONGO Partners project is that now students can come into direct contact with Japanese people. Students used to say that they learned "what was written in the textbook," but now say that they learned "what Japanese people taught me."

Because the dispatched NIHONGO Partners, who are in their 20s to 60s, are different from students in both age and experience, it seems that the students are able to learn quite a bit from them. The same is also true for the Japanese-language teachers from Myanmar who teach together with the NIHONGO Partners. The Japanese-language teachers also say that they can teach with greater confidence than ever before because they can consult on how to teach business Japanese with NIHONGO Partners who have significant experience in society, and can consult on youth culture and youth language with young NIHONGO Partners.

Additionally, the NIHONGO Partners also frequently introduce Japanese culture at the Universities, such as annual events that are held in Japan and Japanese foods. The activities by　NIHONGO Partners introduce Japan in a variety of ways, not just through Japanese-language classes, and this significantly increases the motivation of Japanese-language learners.