The Japanese Language Club helps students learn how to speak, write, and read Japanese.With limited language options at our school, the Japanese Language Club provides an opportunity for students to broaden their foreign language skillset. The club was founded in the fall of 2024, bringing a completely new type of club into the roster as it is the only world language club in BISV. Feeling frustrated over language education in general, Brian Y. started the Japanese Language Club in hopes of bettering it for the students at our school. Through the club he wishes to provide a chance for students to learn a new language
Leaders
Brian Y. is the founder of the club. He manages the majority of the club’s activities and meetings, spending a lot of time and effort on the material that is needed for each club meeting in hopes of being able to provide accurate and digestible knowledge for the members of the club. Brian’s motivation for the club started when Ms. Myers (the GOAT) mentioned that she took a Japanese Language course in college. Inspired to bring the same opportunity to others, Brian proposed a Japanese Language Club to Ms. Myers and has developed it into what it is today.
Two other core members of the club are Mei I. and Jack Z.. Mei is a native Japanese speaker who helps with providing resources and answers to questions regarding things that may be difficult for non-native speakers grasp. She allows the members to attend the club with certainty that what they are learning is accurate. Jack Z. is also a core member in terms of publicity for the club, keeping members updated about activities through schoology announcements.
Goals
The club aims to teach beginner-level Japanese, allowing anyone who is interested to join. The club leaders are also constantly finding new ways to help members retain their knowledge. This is needed to prepare members to take the JLPT N5 exam, a test administered to evaluate a foreign speaker’s competence. This is a new addition from the previous school year that is a significant change. The addition of the test motivates students to take the club more seriously. However, this doesn’t mean that all students have to take the exam. Students can attend club to simply learn without the pressure of a test.
The main goal of the Japanese Language Club is to teach members the Japanese language. Outside of learning, members also participate in fun events to show off what they’ve learned through games. The club leaders hope to garner more interest in learning world languages as well as making the process fun. With many returning members, students can rely on old friends and teach new ones.
What Happens
Unsurprisingly, members spend most of their time during club learning Japanese. However, club leaders set up the club to help members learn effectively. Some of these methods include carefully crafted lessons, games related to the words that they’re learning, and watching videos.
As someone fluent in the language, Brian Y. can use his knowledge to teach members. This is seen through the way he structures lessons. The lessons are carefully made by himself with multiple pages of both new words and practice to help members learn. Despite how throughout these lessons may be, just learning new words and writing practice sentences isn’t the most fun or efficient way to learn. As a result, club leaders also structure club meetings around fun activities such as games. This includes gimkit, karuta, and custom-designed games. Custom-designed games are generally adaptions of existing games. A fan favorite is one where everyone has a whiteboard and when a word is put on the board, members need to guess the meaning of the word. Another twist that’s added to lessons are hints and curses. When students answer a question about the topic the club is learning, they get points to buy curses or hints. When a student gets a hint, they get clues for future questions. However, if students but a curse, they can make a question harder for one of their peers. These fun activities keep members engaged, which makes them very effective with learning.