INSTRUCTOR
Scott Langton
COURSE FEE: $6284
ESTIMATED OUT-OF-POCKET COST: $800
INTERVIEW: Yes
MAX CLASS SIZE: 20
PREREQs: None
DESTINATION
Japan
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course provides students the opportunity to gain new cultural perspectives by personally experiencing Japan. Through study with faculty and professionals associated with IES/Tokyo, homestays with Japanese families, and excursions to historically and culturally significant sites within Japan, students will achieve a fuller and more personal understanding of Japanese culture and history, and a fuller awareness of the complexities of intercultural communication. After an intensive two-day introduction to Japanese culture held on the Austin College campus, we will fly to Tokyo. Our first week in Japan will be spent at the IES Tokyo Center near the campus of Kanda University, in Makuhari City, where students will receive instruction in the Japanese language, and in aspects of Japanese history and culture through excursions into Tokyo. Language instruction will target two levels of students: those with little or no knowledge of Japanese, and those will three semesters or more of Japanese study. While studying at the IES Center, students will stay with Japanese host families and will have ample opportunities to practice the communication skills they are acquiring. We will also engage in a service learning activity while in the Tokyo area. Our second week in Japan will be devoted to visiting a variety of sites throughout Japan. We will witness the vitality of that ultra-modern mega-city, Tokyo, and observe gracefully enduring traditions in the ancient capital of Kyoto. We will experience the serenity of temples and shrines in Nara and Miyajima Island, as well as the jarring emotions evoked by Hiroshima’s A-Bomb Dome and Peace Park Museum. And throughout our time in Japan, we will interact with Japanese in Japanese.
EMAIL FACULTY: Scott Langton