Experiential Learning

Professional Experience Opportunities: In Spring 2012, senior Japanese majors in the Senior Seminar course participated in the Living Language Experience (LLE) kigyô hômon company visit program. This program, sponsored by Association of Teachers of Japanese in Oregon (ATJO) and the Shokokai (Japanese Business Alliance) of Portland, gave our students the chance to visit several Japanese companies in Portland. This year’s students visited two Japanese companies. Prior to the visits the students prepared business cards and resumes. While visiting the companies, they experienced interviews and were given tours of the companies. Afterwards, they wrote thank you letters to the companies. All stages of the process were conducted entirely in Japanese. The kigyô hômon program is just one example of valuable experiential learning opportunities that we attempt to provide for our students.

• Collaborative Project: Japanese language education at Linfield stresses the connections between language learning in the classroom and real life applications of Japanese language skills. An experience at the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum translated into solid skills for Linfield College language students.

In the Spring 2009 semester, six students and a Linfield faculty member translated the descriptions of planes and helicopters from English into Japanese for Evergreen. The translations were compiled into a book that is available for guests to borrow as they tour the museum.

 "This is a rare opportunity for students," Chris Keaveney, Linfield professor of Japanese, said. "I wanted the students to see that translation requires tremendous skills and concentration."

A Japanese minor is completing a paid internship as a counselor at a two-week Japanese language immersion camp called Aozora Gakko at the Sheridan Japanese School in Sheridan, Oregon, and both majors and minors have participated in internships with the International Programs Office at Linfield.

 Watch Professor Keaveney and seniors Miko Hayashi and James Jensen describe their project. 

• Conversation partners: Every fall semester, students in second- and third-year Japanese classes participate in the Conversation Partners language exchange program with students from Japan studying English as a Second Language at Linfield. The student pairs meet each week and practice their language skills with their native speaker partner. Moreover, students in the Japanese classes work with the Japanese exchange students on collaborative projects, which allow them to apply the language skills acquired in their classes in fun and creative ways.