Today started with language classes.Later, we were given the opportunity to make a Japanese street food: okonomiyaki for dinner. It was an interesting learning experience. Afterwards, we finished our final product for calligraphy. Many of our artistic abilities were able to flourish in this activity. The results came out very nicely.
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Before the afternoon had started, the students got to meet Dr. Janet, a drama teacher at Randolph-Macon, who taught them how to warm-up for an upcoming show and assisted in the tips of making a play. Today, students also got to experience calligraphy writing! Everyone did an amazing job choosing a kanji (Chinese characters) such as: love, dragon, and happiness. Using a set of materials like a brush, ink, and special paper. Teachers helped the students write out the kanjis' they had chosen. After dinner, we'll be painting uchiwa, Japanese fans...pictures to come later.
Day 5: Today was jam packed with adventure! We went to a Japanese Garden in Maymont Park in Richmond, The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA), and Carytown. We split off into groups and started our hike through Maymont park. It was very very humid and tiring, but it was worth it in the end. In the afternoon, we headed to VMFA for a tour of Japanese artwork. There we compared and contrasted the western arts to aspects of traditional Japanese art. The highlight of the day for most was Carytown! We went to Tokyo Market where students had the opportunity to buy popular Japanese snacks, drinks, and souvenirs. After a long day we came back to campus to work on our plays. Here's to another exciting day at the Japanese Academy!
What a day of fun! Things have been starting to heat up as our schedule was filled with guest lectures, meeting the Randolph-Macon President, and speeding up the pace in class! The beginners took a big step today, by doing introductions in front of the class! After lunch, the whole Academy listened to a presentation on the fundamentals of Japanese Music, followed by a speech by the President, in which all the students got a handshake, short conversation with the President, and a Randolph-Macon t-shirt! How cool! All of the students here are very excited for the upcoming field trip to Richmond to visit a Japanese garden, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, and Carytown!
Today had a great start! We did our Japanese morning exercises. The beginners class made great progress. We had our first lecture on Japanese Temple Geometry (san gaku). In the afternoon we were briefly introduced to our upcoming project involving 3D printing for creating our own personalized hanko. This can be compared to notary stamps. Afterwards, we had our second lecture of the day; this lecture was about the Japanese Government. We started off with our daily rajio (ラジオ) exercise taught by the RAs'. We got breakfast and then switched to getting our placements into the academy, followed by getting into small groups and reciting our classroom commands. This was very interesting for the beginner's class! Then we went to our first class of the academy. Later on in the day, we had a joint activity with the Latin kids and learned a few words in Latin, but after a long night yesterday, some of us were a bit... tired. We chose our specific han (班) (group). Then, after a safety meeting held by campus security, we headed back to the dorms and gym for some exercise time.
We got moved in today and endured meetings, orientations, and placement tests. Now we're ready to learn some Japanese starting immediately after breakfast tomorrow. Thank you to all the parents and family that attended today's opening ceremony.
On the last full day of the Academy, students had a day jam-packed with activities. First, research groups got to present their posters to parents, allowing each student and family member to vote for their favorite presentation. After a short awards ceremony, students got the chance to showcase their special talents in a variety show. Acts included karate, card tricks, taiko drums, musical skills, and charades.
Thanks for all the parents that came today to look at the students' presentations! If you couldn't make it, there will be videos of each presentation in the online memory book that will be shared with everyone after the Academy ends. |