Hello everyone! I’m Claudio from Group 19 日本語教育２ and I’m here to overview the experience of Virtual Exchange I’ve just finished.

When I started as 責任者 I was worried about myself more than the people I was going to work with. I didn’t know if I could fit the role perfectly as granted. I felt inferior with my Japanese, either oral or written. And so on. But as soon as I entered into the whole project, I found myself able to do the work, or, at least to understand and ask if I didn’t catch anything.

The group “日本語教育２” is amazing, and we’ve bounded like friends, and, besides the work we had to do, we’ve talked about everything: our hobbies, what we watch, what we read, what we do in spare time, etc. Analyzing the topics we’ve suggested every week, I can tell we are aware of the world around us and the problems there are. Studying apps, school and studying methods for children or people affected by different diseases, literature, self-studying, all centered on the learning of Japanese.

It has really been an honor to be part of a team with such a great passion.

The most difficult part was during the 自由会話 when you are supposed to be a facilitator to the others in the group. I was afraid to make mistakes and to be seen as a fraud. I’m not great with Japanese, well, not great yet, and more than once I’ve thought to leave the project, but there’s one moment when I was the only facilitator and the only representative in the 会話 where I helped students getting their concepts clearer using words more related to the topic and a grammar more advanced… And I was like “wow, I did it by myself!”. This experience has enriched me as a person and, maybe, in the future, as a teacher.

This “バーチャル留学” has been a real challenge and has taught me to be more loose when I use japanese language and to keep talking even if I make mistakes because it’s natural. I want to say “thank you” to all the Italian and Japanese students who have participated and have helped me even without knowing it. I want to say “thank you” to all the coordinators which have always answer us to all the questions we had and always asked us how the project was going. I want to say “thank you” to Professor Mariotti and JF for the opportunity they have brought us.

Thank you!

皆さん、お疲れ様でした！

よろしくお願いします！