Easy Japanese Training for Nakano Ward Staff Held
Our association, commissioned by Nakano Ward, held the Easy Japanese training sessions for the ward staff for the fifth consecutive year this fiscal year.
The training took place over five sessions at venues including the Nakano Ward Office conference room: The five training sessions were on Monday 6th October, Monday 20th October, Monday 27th October, Wednesday 12th November, and Monday 17th November. A total of 123 participants attended. We invited Ms. Mariko Nakayama, Representative Director of the NPO Multicultural Children’s Independence Support Centre, as the instructor. Using textbooks such as the ‘Easy-to-Understand Japanese Course’, the sessions employed a ‘practical exercise’ format, where participants were divided into six groups (five groups on 7th and 27th October).
Trainees enthusiastically engaged throughout the day in group work covering both the ‘Oral Communication’ section, focusing on phrases used directly at service counters, and the “Translation” section, involving written tasks such as creating leaflets and guidebook information. To try out the practical effectiveness of the ‘Easy Japanese’, two foreign assistants residing in Nakano Ward supported the training.
Post-training questionnaires included comments such as:
“I believe this will be useful when I deal with foreigners at the counter. It will also be helpful when asked for directions or during disasters.”
“Through interactions with the foreign assistants, I gained insight into whether the language actually gets across and the difficulty of choosing the right words.”
