Charles University
KAWASHIMA Makiko

A State of Emergency was declared in Czechia on March 2nd, 2021, the fourth such declaration since the first was issued almost one year before, on March 12, 2020. It is clear from rereading the report from last year that while there was some confusion at that time, the expectations for the end of the pandemic were overly optimistic. The impact the pandemic has had on the world since then needs no explanation, and it is still ongoing. At Charles University, where I am dispatched, we are already in the third semester since the transition to online classes. In this report, I will focus on the happenings related to Japanese-language education over the past year and my plans for the future.

Finding and Taking a Different Approach

Empty streets during the Covid-19 Pandemic

I wonder how many teachers in classrooms around the world have been able to keep a sigh from their lips over the past year. They were forced to accept the digitalization of the classroom given the global situation, despite any resistance they may have had, to stumble forward, run their classes, and create teaching materials using unfamiliar technology. After continuing that hard work for a year, the knowledge, skills, variety of digital tools available, and ideas to use them, have increased significantly since the beginning of that transition. In addition to live streaming, we struggled to prepare teaching materials to assist in autonomous learning and to come up with the methods to manage it. Charles University began preparing online teaching materials using the university’s own platform aiming for completion within three years. We often talked among ourselves, wondering if it is worthwhile considering that we will be able to return to face-to-face classes after the pandemic, but to be sure, things will never be completely the same again like before the pandemic. The main reason is that before, we were ignorant of what was possible using the Internet. Now I believe that it is possible for this useful technology to coexist with traditional face-to-face classes, without putting it away again.

Organic Connections through Inorganic Tools

The kobanashi initiative

Anything that lasts a long time eventually becomes habitual and loses its original freshness, but I fell this process is accelerated with the transition to online classes. While the Internet is excellent for finding information, it also seems to accelerate the speed at which one gets bored. This super-fast and convenient technology was incorporated into our classrooms all at once, but the inability for people to meet face to face has brought stagnation to real life as the pandemic continues. After more than a year of this situation, a certain mental exhaustion caused by that gap is beginning to show among the students. This online fatigue seems greater among the younger students.

By the way, online classes have the advantage of letting people from remote areas to gather together in an instant. To risk contradicting what I said previously above, I believe the key moving forward is to proactively reconsider the advantage of online classes and find ways to leverage it. To do so, I started with changing the normal classes to the classes that would be more fun to take and something more akin to a social activity. Furthermore, I incorporated peer learning across grade levels and the Kobanashi Club once every week after school. Kobanashi is a traditional style of short humorous storytelling used to introduce Rakugo performances, a longer form of humorous storytelling. For the peer learning sessions, I have 3rd-year students teach 1st-year students about grammar they are not yet familiar how to use. Meanwhile, while the Kobanashi Club at Charles University certainly does not have many members yet, the use of Kobanashi itself as a tool for Japanese-language education, specifically for conversational practice, is beginning to spread throughout Western Europe and elsewhere. The ability of those inorganic online tools to cultivate organic connections with Japanese-language teachers in other countries through the study of Kobanashi filled me with happiness. To be sure, it has been very difficult to set goals for my activities when there is no way to tell when the pandemic will come to an end. However, it is not impossible. Nevertheless, there is still a limit to what one can do alone. Teachers must continue to learn alongside their students. As I reaffirm the importance of coming together with friends and colleagues to pool your knowledge and wisdom, I will continue to work hard each day to remain as optimistic as I can during these challenging times.