Teachers and students will organize Japanese immersion camp

HUNTINGTON, West Virginia – Faculty and students from Marshall University’s Department of Modern Languages ​​will lead Japanese immersion camps for students at Cabell County Schools Tuesday through Friday, June 14-17 and June 21-24, at Altizer Elementary School.

This is the tenth anniversary of the Cabell County Japanese Immersion Summer Camp. There will be a presentation at 1 pm on Fridays, June 17 and 24 in the Altizer Elementary School gym, featuring Toyota Motor Manufacturing West Virginia President David Rosier as well as Marshall University President Brad D. Smith; Dr. Robert Bookwalter, Dean of the College of Liberal Arts; and others.

This year’s theme is “peace/heiwa”, and some of the key activities are lucky cat pottery, Okinawan dance, origami crane, koto music, sado tea ceremony, rope jumping and the manufacture of RCBI 3D pen keyrings. Students learn and experience Japanese culture through four different classes every day: language, culture, art, and physical education.

Among those helping to organize the camp are Dr. Natsuki Fukunaga Anderson, Associate Professor of Japanese and Chair of the Department of Modern Languages, as well as Akiko Praylow, Coordinator of Japanese Outreach at Marshall; and Miyuki Cook, associate professor in the School of Art and Design. Several Marshall students majoring in Japanese volunteer as helpers.

“The Cabell County Japanese Camp offers a unique opportunity to work together with K-12 children and teachers, the Marshall University community, and the Japanese and local business community in the tri-state area,” said Anderson. “This is an immersion program where the instructors only speak Japanese. It is impressive that children quickly learn to adopt and pay attention to what is happening, even when they do not fully understand the language. We hope that this experience will stay with the participants for the long term and encourage them to continue learning different cultures and languages.”

Sponsors include Cabell County Schools, Toyota Motor Manufacturing West Virginia (TMMWV), Nippon Tungsten, Okuno International, Simplified Solutions, Marshall University, RCBI, Pottery Place, and Taste of Asia Teays Valley.

Photo: Participants in the Japanese immersion camp 2021.