Dealing with students is difficult, but dealing with high school students is very difficult. My first encounter with Japanese high school students was on the day of the Open Campus. Open Campus is an event where prospective students tour the University to decide where they would like to attend. I was very anxious at first because the high school students were not responding to our (the exchange students') questions. We later realized that the students needed our undivided attention and that we needed to split up in order to talk to them one on one. When we did that, the high school students started to warm up towards us.
The second time we had to deal with high school students was when we had to do the Tokiwa High School visit. It was nerve-wrecking to stand in front of 30 students not knowing what to expect. Some of the students were very quiet, some are very loud, and others were attentively listening. After the first 10 mintues, I felt less nervous and I started to relax. I introduced myself and talked about myself in English, but I also introduced myself in Japanese. It was interesting to see the shocked looked on their faces when they found out that I could speak Japanese. We played the pictionary game and later on, the telephone game. The students looked like they had fun and the experience was definitely worth it for me.
Knowing that I am capable of dealing with high school students felt great. We were also able to practice our Japanese with the younger people, so I believe that I learned a lot from them.
-Kristine Marcelo-
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