Goals and Initiatives

See Them

Bruce Johnson’s Music Class and study participants

Date and Duration: April 2019, 12 weeks

Goal: Conduct Classroom Research – Literacy Case Study of Beginning Japanese Students and their first encounter with learning the language. Harrison Central H.S. is located in a rural community, north of Gulfport, MS. The students that participated in the study were randomly selected, having no prior knowledge of the Japanese language and culture.

By permission from the Harrison Central High School, the music class was “donated” by instructor Bruce Johnson.  Study participants were randomly selected from the entire classroom of students. They were given the option of declining the invitation to participate in learning Japanese language.  Although the total classroom received an initial introduction, only twelve participants were introduced to Japanese writing system (Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji), many progressed through the entire learning process and assisted other classmates in learning the lyrics to a song in Japanese (requiring the participants to read basic sentences and lyrics written in Japanese script. They did fantastic!

Peer-to-Peer – Working Together – Learning Together

Harrison Central H.S. Participants’ Case Study – “on the board work”

During my observations, data was collected on the daily learning activities. The results were submitted and integrated with an assignment by instruction of professors at Michigan State University (Master of Arts in Foreign Language Teaching).  The study was conducted over a 12-week period. We had fun!!  I completed the study with success, but the greatest achievement was made by the learners whose interest in language and culture will continue to grow from their experience. Many thanks to Bill Stillman for his contributions to this effort.
I applaud each participant and the progress that we made  this year (April 2019).  I look forward to working with Mr. Johnson’s class again in the future and invite each student to continue the learning process by signing up to Aki Moritani’s website, take the course!   Through generous donations, Seedtime Multilingual will pay for your access. With the support of the community (parents, teachers, educators, civic leaders), this initiative can be extended to include longitudinal classroom research and additional area schools.  All funding support would be used to give the students access to onsite- and external digital resources that will enhance their language studies. 

Completed the Course!

Seedtime Multilingual encourages foreign language learning, improving cultural competence.

With funding support, Seedtime can include additional languages (through the hiring of native (and skilled non-native) teachers and tutors, collaborate and partner with local community organizations, colleges, and other institutions that support foreign language and culture education in the underserved communities of the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

First Missionary Baptist Church Handsboro ?FMBC?
Language and Culture Sunday School Onsite-Lab
Date and Duration: February – April 2019

As an enhancement to the youth program, Pastor S.V. Adolph permitted an introductory Japanese course, during Youth Sunday School hour, as an educational enhancement to their Christian Education platform, which provided a skills enrichment opportunity for the FMBC youth. Approximately 30 learners participated in learning a new language.

FMBC will allow The Beginning Japanese Course to resume in January 2020. For more information or to request on-site language class(es), please email us at: sakurahana@seedtimemultilingual.org

Orange County Public Library free Beginning Japanese Study

Beginning Japanese Flyer