WHS students teach at Academy Charter for Japan Day

WASILLA — Academy Charter Elementary school invited Wasilla High School’s Japanese 3 and 4 classes to participate in its annual Japan Day April 18. Nearly a week and a half before this day, students picked out a subject they enjoyed discussing in order to teach it. Students chose topics ranging from origami, traditional tea ceremony, Taiko drumming, anime and Japanese game shows.

Although they were given multiple class periods to work on their lessons, April 18 snuck up quickly and stealthily. On the day of their presentations, before many students even arrived at school, the Japanese students were busy gathering drums, rice, teapots and frantically putting the final preparations on their lessons.

At 8:30 a.m., Japanese 3 and 4 students arrived at Academy Charter. Swiftly, the students broke into groups and worked at setting up their classrooms. Fifteen minutes after arriving, students were thrown head-first into the icy waters of teaching. They were greeted by a classroom of three to five fifth-grade students and given about 30 minutes to deliver a lesson without an adult to help them if they ran into a predicament.

However, many students found teaching easier then they assumed, especially thanks to their pupils, who were eager to hear from their new teachers and paid close attention to everything that was being taught. This included the more complex subjects like tea ceremony, which is an extremely difficult subject to learn and follow even if for an adult.

The best part of being a teacher was that every one of the kids at Academy Charter was prepared to learn new things and stoked to experience Japanese culture. They were even open to trying the Japanese sweets and green tea, even though they had mixed reactions and often didn’t finish them.

By the end of the day, WHS’s Japanese students had worked out the kinks in their lesson plans and perfected the art of being a “sensei” (Japanese teacher).

However, the most eye-opening part of the experience was learning exactly what it means to have the patience and passion that teaching requires. Students found out how monotonous teaching can be, how much preparation goes into just one lesson, and at the end of the day how rewarding it is to see it all pay off.

This being said, the Japanese 3 and 4 classes walked away with different standpoints. Some realized they have a passion for teaching, while others realized just how difficult it is to be on the other side of the teacher/student perspective.

Gwen Swingle and Kaho Takamura are both juniors and journalism students at Wasilla High School.