Free Japanese language classes have been organized for almost a month now and for both teacher and students, it had been quite an awesome experience.
Held every Thursday at the National Museum's Youth Centre, the language class caters for almost 20 students. Tutored by a volunteer, Ms. Yoko Kobayashi, from the Solomon Kitano Mendana Hotel, Ms. Kobayashi stated that this has been a unique experience.The classes are organized for the fun of it and mainly to help with the communication between the Japanese people and the Solomon Islanders to better understand each others culture.
Although a tutor, Ms. Kobayashi is also learning a lot from the students about the Solomon Islands and the various cultures.
"I am fascinated by the students and by their ability to learn another language apart from their own. Solomon Islanders are shy and sometimes, this could be hard to learn more. Other than that, this has been the second lesson and already, they have achieved a lot.They are all fast leaners," she states.
"It is often hard to explain how to pronounce some words in Japanese. On the completion of this course, the students should be able to understand the basic Japanese language," she adds.
"Solomon Islands culture is very diverse and being here has been quite an experience. I want to learn more about the Solomon Islands. I hope this class and interacting with the students will give me that," she continues.
Ms. Yoko Kobayashi has another 10 months in the Solomon Islands and the Japanese class will go on for another three months. Japanese classes had also been held before but were disrupted during the ethnic crisis, only to continue this month.