School News and recent activity - NILS

Speech Contest 2010 was held on July 16. Students made wonderful speeches about their lives in Japan, differences from the lives in their home countries, and serious issues such as suicide in Japan.

We are very proud of them because they can make speeches in Japanese even about serious issues. Moreover, their pronunciation is excellent. Some of them speak really like native Japanese people.
This year’s winner is Jacqueline-san from Austria. She talked about the cultural and societal differences between Austria and Japan.

Today, 28 universities and vocational schools in Tokyo, Osaka, Aichi, Hyogo, Fukuoka, etc. came to Ogori to open “Education Fair 2010″ only for NILS students. After the end of summer holidays, our students will start to take entrance exams and interviews to go to universities/vocational schools. They were all serious today and asked many questions about universities, programs, exams, etc. This was a very good chance for our students to get to know more about Japanese universities and vocational schools.

NILS offers students more opprotunites to get information about colleges/universities every year. It will be the best for a student to visit a school where they want to study, but not all students can do so. This fair will be definitely helpful for our students to have chances to talk with teachers from universities and vocational schools.

We had Tanabata event on July 7. Our students enjoyed tea ceremony and calligraphy. Every student also writes his/her wish on a piece of paper and put it on a bamboo tree. Hope everyone’s wish will come true.

Today, we would like to introduce the most popular version of a Tanabata story in Japan.
Orihime, a daughter of the Tentei, wove beautiful clothes by the bank of the Amanogawa (Milky Way). Her father loved the cloth that she wove and so she worked very hard every day to weave it. However, Orihime was sad that because of her hard work she could never meet and fall in love with anyone. Concerned about his daughter, Tentei arranged for her to meet Hikoboshi who lived and worked on the other side of the Amanogawa. When the two met, they fell instantly in love with each other and married shortly thereafter. However, once married, Orihime no longer would weave cloth for Tentei and Hikoboshi allowed his cows to stray all over Heaven. In anger, Tentei separated the two lovers across the Amanogawa and forbade them to meet. Orihime became despondent at the loss of her husband and asked her father to let them meet again. Tentei was moved by his daughter’s tears and allowed the two to meet on the 7th day of the 7th month if Orihime worked hard and finished her weaving. The first time they tried to meet, however, they found that they could not cross the river because there was no bridge. Orihime cried so much that a flock of magpies came and promised to make a bridge with their wings so that she could cross the river. It is said that if it rains on Tanabata, the magpies cannot come and the two lovers must wait until another year to meet.

Our students took JLPT last Sunday. JLPT was revised and it was a brand new test for all examinees. They had been trying their best to pass the test. We hope all of our students will pass the test!

Now, let us introduce major revisions of the test.
1) New JLPT is a 5-level format: N1, N2, N3, N4 and N5. “N” stands for “Nihongo (Japanese)” and “New”. Examinees who passed the Level 3 test often had trouble with passing the Level 2 test because of a large gap between those two levels. So this revision was made to adjust the gap.
N1=Level 1 or above / N2=Level 2 / N3=New scale / N4=Level 3 / N5=Level4

2) New N1 test can measure abilities slightly more advanced than those targeted by Level 1 test in old scales.

3) N1, N2 and N3 tests are held twice a year in July and December. N4 and N5 tests are held only once a year in December, though. Examinees have more opportunities to challenge JLPT than before.

 
Advances in Japanese language education and societal changes produced a more diverse range of needs among examinees than existed when the test was introduced.

Next JLPT will be held on December 5. NILS is offering JLPT preparation course aiming for December test, and it will start on September 13 and end on December 3. You can take JLPT in Japan right after completing our JLPT Prep.

We had an excursion to Kumamoto! We worried about the weather because it had been raining when the day was coming. But we were quite lucky to have a very nice day! We visited one of the most active volcanoes in Japan, Mt. Aso, which is well-known for caldera. You can go up very close to the top crater which has a lake steaming up by the heat below. We went to some view points to look at this great nature here in Kyushu island. Then we visited a Japanese traditional castle in the middle of Kumamoto city, Kumamoto Casle. This was planned by a castle specialist and also one of the lords in battle age in Japan. You can see this beautiful castle in both outside and inside. Even many Japanese people visit this place and take photos! When you go up to the top, you can see 360° entire city because nobody can have higher building than this castle by the local regulation. We have plenty of sightseeing places in Kyushu, such as Kumamoto and you can enjoy not only nature but historical area in just one day from Fukuoka! Of course, every single student enjoyed this excursion!

87 students graduated from NILS on March 8. When they first arrived in Japan, most of them were total beginners of Japanese language. However, their language skills have now improved surprisingly so that they can communicate with us only in Japanese. They studied Japanese for 1.5 to 2 years at NILS, and they completed their study. They also learned Japanese culture and traditions during their study through lots of activities held by school and local community. Now, many of them understand Japanese way of thinking, and some of them are really like Japanese people in many ways.  They even use and understand Japanese joke.

They all gave us a lot of “thanks” with big smiles. We remember that they were so nervous when they first came to Japan because it was the first time for most of them to stay in a foreign country alone. But people in the community were very warm-hearted to our students, and it was definitely helpful for them to enjoy their life in Japan. Now they are full of confidence.

Mayor of Ogori City, Mr. Hirayasu, and many other people from the community attended the graduation ceremony. They gave encouraging words to our students at the new threshold of their life.
This is the end of their study at NILS, but at the same time, it is a new beginning for their brilliant future. They will study at colleges/universities/vocational schools from April. We hope they will study hard to achieve their ultimate goals and dreams.

Congratulations!　卒業おめでとう！

In addition to April and October enrollments for intensive programs, we have added 2 more enrollments, in July and in January.
For July enrollment, your choice is either 1 year & 9 months course or 1 year courses. For January, either 1 year and 3 months or 1 year courses.
The next enrollment we are accepting now is July enrollment and its application due date is February 28, 2010. We are happy to provide you more options for enrollments.

Please feel free to send us inquiries if you are interested in our intensive programs!

Our students really have lots of chances to join various events held in the community. Today, some of our students enjoyed “yaki-imo (roasted sweeted potato)” with kindergarten kids. “Yaki-imo” is a delicacy in winter in Japan, sold by hawkers.

Our students also introduced their countries and customs to the kids. They also enjoyed playing some traditional games with the kids. The kids learned easy greetings in English and Chinese. They tried to communicate with our students not only in Japanese but in our students’ mother tongues.

Through these kinds of events, both people in the community and our students understand each other’s culture and customs more and more deeply. We are invited “Friendship Party” next month where many foreigners and Japanese living in the area get together eating, talking, making speeches, watching traditional performing arts, …etc.

Many of our students took “Examination for Japanese University Admission for International Students (EJU)” on November 8th. This exam is necessary to take entrance exams for universities/colleges/vocational schools in Japan. This exam consists of 4 sections: Japanese Language, Social Studies, Mathematics, and Science. They must get at least 200 points (out of 400) in the section of Japanese Language to go to universities, and more than 300 points for higher level universities such as Kyushu University. Many students came to school to study for this exam after school from September. Many of our students showed us good smiles today, so we thought they did well in the exam. Hope all of our students can go to universities/colleges/vocational schools of their first choice!

The entrance ceremony for the Autumn 2009 Session was held on October 16th at NILS. New students from overseas joined us - from the U.S., Austria, China and Bangladesh. New students looked a little nervous at first, however, they seemed to feel comfortable gradually during the ceremony after both our current students and trainers had given them cordial greetings including welcome song.
They now have started a new life here with us - We are going to offer the best classes and sure to follow up their achievement！

Here, one of new students, Mr. Gustavo from the U.S. tells you how wonderful the ceremony was -

Interviewer:Hi, Gusutavo. How was the ceremony last week?
Gustavo:The entrance ceremony really made me feel the Japanese school experience. It may have been short, but we all understand that we had to work hard to achieve our goals, and that we all work as a team to help each other out.

Interviewer: Why did you choose NILS among many Japanese language schools in Japan?
Gustavo:NILS Japanese Language School is one of the easiest ones to find on the Internet. That made me find them. And because of their instantaneous assistance, I knew they were the most effective ones in teaching Japanese as well.

Interviewer: How do you want to use your Japanese language skills in your future?
Gustavo:I would like to use the Japanese language in order to get a scholarship for college. I already speak 3 languages, and know that the 4th one, like Japanese, will increase my chances of entering a good university.

Interviewer: About two weeks have passed since your arrival in Fukuoka. How is your daily life here in Japan?
Gusutavo:I cannot complain. I have a great life here. After the Japanese classes, I have enough time to concentrate on homework, hobbies, and career-wise things. The people I have met are all very nice and welcoming, and it is a good place to live for students on budgets.

Interviewer:You are enjoying your life in Japan! At last, please tell us about your final goal at NILS.
Gustavo: My final goal is to speak fluent Japanese, just like everyone else!
Interviewer: Sure you will! Let us help you increase your language skills. Thank you for taking your time for the interview.