Yangon University of Foreign Languages
OYA Mayumi

Hello, everyone. My name is OYA Mayumi, and I was dispatched to the Yangon University of Foreign Languages in Myanmar in November 2019. What comes to mind when you hear about Myanmar? Myanmar, which has abundant nature and a long history, such as being a country of devout Buddhists and of flying hot air balloons over the archeological sites of Bagan, is one of the countries that has a good relationship with Japan. In recent years, Myanmar has been attracting attention as a country with a rapidly increasing number of Japanese-language learners. I have a connection with Myanmar and am dispatched there as a Japanese-Language Specialist.

JFT-Basic seminar participants (Yangon)

The focus of my work is, in line with the Specified Skilled Worker that began in 2019, to support Myanmar's Japanese-language educational institutions and related parties. I hold seminars to promote understanding of the Japan Foundation Test for Basic Japanese (hereinafter "JFT-Basic") and publicize "Irodori: Japanese for Life in Japan" (hereinafter "Irodori"), new Japanese-language teaching materials. I am working on these activities with two Japanese for Life in Japan coordinators for who were dispatched to Myanmar with me at the same time (one in Yangon and one in Mandalay).

A significant amount of time was required to introduce JFT-Basic in Myanmar, but, on January 24, 2020, we got the good news that said, "It's starting from March!" Hurriedly, we planned information seminars and, with the cooperation of the Embassy of Japan in Myanmar, decided to hold seminars in Yangon and Mandalay. The seminars were divided in two parts, an explanation of the system by the Japanese Embassy and an explanation of the exam by The Japan Foundation, Yangon (hereinafter "JF Yangon"), and in Yangon we welcomed nearly 300 participants, which confirmed the high level of interest in the Specified Skilled Worker System. Fortunately, we were able to conclude this exam period in March without any confusion. Even so, when I talked about the students with the teachers of private Japanese-language educational institutions (hereinafter "private educational institutions") who taught the examinees, they said that many of the examinees were unfamiliar with CBT ("Computer-Based-Testing," or using a computer to take an exam).

During this exam period, the Specified Skilled Worker proficiency exam was also held. Five industries were assigned to Myanmar, but the system was flooded with applications, some industries reached their capacity in minutes, and it seems like there was a stark difference between "People who can take the exam" and "People who can't take the exam." In order to cover for this, it would be desirable to continuously conduct the JFT-Basic and the Specified Skilled Worker proficiency exam in a well-balanced manner, but, unfortunately, the JFT-Basic in May was cancelled due to the impacts of COVID-19.

In Myanmar there are many young people who want to go to Japan to work or to enthusiastically study, so in the future I think that we will have to consider ways of supporting the exams so that it will be as convenient as possible and as many applicants as possible can take the exams.

Additionally, in line with JFT-Basic, at the end of March 2020 the Japan Foundation released the "Irodori" teaching materials so that foreign nationals can acquire the basic Japanese-language communication skills that are necessary for living and working in Japan. Similar to the previously published "Marugoto: Japanese Language and Culture" textbooks (hereinafter "Marugoto"), the "Irodori" present learning objectives in a "Can-Do" format, but the major difference from "Marugoto" is that the "Irodori" are free downloads. In Myanmar, where it is difficult to obtain Japanese-language teaching materials, the greatest benefit of the "Irodori" is that they can be accessed from anywhere as long as there is internet access, and, once someone downloads "Irodori," they can use them any time they want. At seminars, we are introducing the "Irodori" and teaching people how to use them so that even more people will know about and use "Irodori." We have also begun creating supplementary teaching materials and Burmese-language translations of the educational teaching materials. I am looking forward to the day when even one extra person will say "I came to Japan after studying with 'Irodori!'"

In addition to this, we are also visiting private educational institutions and institutions that send out students. This gives rise to valuable opportunities to build a network by discovering on-location needs and sharing issues. There are monasteries in Myanmar that provide Japanese-language education, and in FY2020 we also plan to visit local educational institutions that were difficult to support and institutions other than Japanese-language schools. While expanding our base of support, we want to steadily work step-by-step with the cooperation of teachers in Myanmar.

JFT-Basic seminar participants (Mandalay)