On 12 Apr, staff from CLAIR Sydney visited the Nihongo Tanken Centre in Kirrawee, NSW. This centre is an educational institution established by the NSW Government in 1999 for students from kindergarten to Year 12 (4 to 18 years old) in public and private schools who are learning Japanese in NSW. 2,511 students from 118 schools visited the centre last year.
Programs at the centre are conducted for four hours a day from 10AM to 2PM, and are customised to the visiting student groups’ ages and abilities. There are many efforts in place to make learning Japanese at the Centre a fun experience, for example, student groups compete through quizzes and games.
The Centre is designed to simulate a Japanese house, and there is a tokonoma alcove and shoji screens in the room covered with tatami mats, and also a Japanese garden in the Centre, so students can also learn about Japanese culture and lifestyle.
We hope, as a result of learning Japanese at this Centre, that as many students as possible can increase their interests in Japan, and that they will consider going to Japan as JETs to play a role as a cultural bridge between Australia and Japan in the future.
