Summer in JAPAN 2021 Summary

Seven-Day English Online Seminar

ーLanguage Arts(Reading and Writing)
ーTwo Workshops
・Computer Science
・Public Speaking
ーWorkout Session(PE)
ーCultural Exchange Daily Presentations

Special Events

ーThe 9th SIJ Classical Concert “Sumire Hirotsuru and her friends”
ーThe 7th Outreach Educational Program “Kunisaki x Harvard”
ーThe 3rd Outreach Educational Program “SWIM” (Summer Workshop for Immersive Multiculturalism)

Instructors

6 Students from Harvard University

 

Seven-Day English Seminar

Language Arts(Reading and Writing)

LA1 Class

Learning the fundamentals of language arts is so fun! Our focus is on storytelling. Everyday, we practice telling a story expressively with our own voice, as well as using our imagination to write up the most fantastic story we can. We revisited children’s stories classics like Goldilocks and Red Riding Hood. Reading these stories again reminded me of a function of literature, which is to delay and to suspend the reader in an enchanted “forest” where they can forget about time, like little Red. (Ton-Nu)

LA2 Class

LA2 has been amazing so far. The students are learning so much and they are learning so fast. We are going a step beyond the fundamen- tals and we are trying to get a better grasp of the English language. We have learned about idioms and different expressions to help some of the students understand some more of the native English phrases. I am really proud of the SIJ students and how open they are to learning new material. This has been a really fun experience so far! (Mario)

LA3&4 Class

Our language arts course focuses on reading and writing in many different styles, and so far we’ve learned about self-introductions, journalism, and persuasive writing. Our students have been able to express themselves in all these different ways flawlessly. Watching them get more and more comfortable with constructing stories and playing word games is such a joy. Looking forward to what they’ll show us next when we talk about short stories, college essays, and letter writing! (Allen)

Computer Science (CS)

Computer Science (CS) course overview

Kids in our Computer Science (CS) workshop have been making incredible progress! The vast majority of students in our workshop had never coded before, but after only four days of lessons, they are now working on their Scratch project. Even more impressive is their ability to code in Python! We are super excited to see what the students have shown us on the final presentation day!

Public Speaking (PS)

Public Speaking (PS) course overview

Ellen Degeneres’ Oscar Speech helped learning a lot about public speaking today – we all are aiming to be like her, with joyful tone and complete control of the show. We now have many presentation tools such as signposting and the use of voice. We instructors are so happy to see how enthusiastic our students are, and so excited for their final speeches!

SIJ Workout Session

At Summer in JAPAN, we always make time to work out!
Our PE instructors show the students a wide variety of exercises.

 

Special Events

The 6th Outreach Educational Program “Kunisaki x Harvard”

We held the last session of the SIJ camp in Kunisaki for about two hours. As a continuation from the previous seminar held in July, we mainly focused on learning how to make a good speech. Videos made by Harvard students namely Allen, Jason, and Mario, and Sumire’s live presentation also helped in making the students understand the important compo- nents of a good speech.
Thank you to everyone who participated, and to the authori- ties who made the event possible.

The 2nd Outreach Educational Program “SWIM” (Summer Workshop for Immersive Multiculturalism)
Free English lesson with Harvard College students in Oita City, Japan

SIJ2021 co-hosted an event called SWIM with Oita City to improve the writing & presentation skills of elemen- tary and middle school students in Oita City!
Today we learned “5 factors of a good speech” from SIJ2021 Harvard instructor Allen Lai – Hook, Outline, Content, Voice, and Conclusion. Later, students got a chance to use them to make their own speech as well. We were impressed that many students did such a great job and strongly hope that today’s lesson will help their learning in the future!

Summer in JAPAN 2021 Classical Concert

SIJ Concert is back this year! As we mark the 9th year of Summer in JAPAN, Sumire is welcoming two tango musicians who she met in Vermont, US in 2018. Yukie Kawanami, the winner of the 1st Che Bandoneon International Competition, and Moeri Kobayashi, who learned tango piano from Pablo Ziegler, one of the leading tango pianists from Argentina will be joined by SIJ Co-Founder, Sumire Hirotsuru on violin. Enjoy the evening of tango in this Piazzolla’s 100th anniversary year!

Sumire Hirotsuru, Harvard College ’16 (Violin)
Moeri Kobayashi (Piano)
Yukie Kawanami (Bandoneon)

1. Michelangelo ’70 …………………………. Astor Piazzolla
2. Verano Porteño………………………….Astor Piazzolla
3. Adiós Nonino ………………………….Astor Piazzolla
4. Redención ………………………….Alfredo Gobbi
5. Solfeando ………………………….Alfredo Gobbi
6. El Julián Aguirre………………………….. Pablo Agri
7. Fetiche ………………………….Julián Peralta
8. Libertango …………………………. Astor Piazzolla
9. Evaritso Carriego ………………………….Eduardo Rovira
10. Escualo ………………………….Astor Piazzolla