Perez: MLO4
MLO 4: Secondary Cultural Knowledge
In the spring of 2011 I had the opportunity to take Japanese 305, Introduction to Japanese Culture and Civilization. When I was in high school I greatly enjoyed learning anything and everything about the Japanese culture. That interest did not change when I came to college. I truly looked forward to being required to obtain a general knowledge of a socio-cultural group other than a Hispanic or American one.
Through this class I was able to develop a basic understanding of the ways of thinking, behavioral practices, and cultural products of the Japanese culture. Many of the students in the class were Japanese majors who had already taken a few Japanese courses. Although I did not know as much as they did at the beginning of the course I felt as though through different class activities I was able to gain a better understanding of the material of the class and more. One of my favorite activities in the class was the Samurai Class Letter I helped write with a group of students. We were asked to write a letter to the prime minister as though we were samurai. This letter had us all thinking in the mindset of a samurai and the customs of simply writing a letter to the Prime Minister.
My second favorite assignment was my final paper. In my final paper I wrote about the folklore of Japan. In my own cultures, Mexican and American, I had heard of many tales as a child from my older family members. Many of these tales were meant to scare me into being a good child for the rest of the night. I was curious to see if there were similar tales in Japan to the ones I heard as a child. In the end I found there were many folklore tales that I had never heard of. For example, when I gave a presentation on what I was writing about in my essay some of my classmates mentioned a tale called Peach Boy. There were many Japanese majors in the class so it made sense they knew of the tale but it was a piece of insight I appreciated that they shared with me. My classmates truly helped me develop my paper as well as my understanding of the culture. A lot of the students had traveled to and studied Japan before so the many conversations had in that class made the Japanese culture come to life.
Attached are files that relate to my work:
Feedback Sheet Homework 1, Japn 305
Feedback Sheet Homework 2, Japn 305
Class Letter, Japn 305
The Meiji Period Midterm Paper, Japn 305
Japanese Folklore Final Paper, Japn 305
In the spring of 2011 I had the opportunity to take Japanese 305, Introduction to Japanese Culture and Civilization. When I was in high school I greatly enjoyed learning anything and everything about the Japanese culture. That interest did not change when I came to college. I truly looked forward to being required to obtain a general knowledge of a socio-cultural group other than a Hispanic or American one.
Through this class I was able to develop a basic understanding of the ways of thinking, behavioral practices, and cultural products of the Japanese culture. Many of the students in the class were Japanese majors who had already taken a few Japanese courses. Although I did not know as much as they did at the beginning of the course I felt as though through different class activities I was able to gain a better understanding of the material of the class and more. One of my favorite activities in the class was the Samurai Class Letter I helped write with a group of students. We were asked to write a letter to the prime minister as though we were samurai. This letter had us all thinking in the mindset of a samurai and the customs of simply writing a letter to the Prime Minister.
My second favorite assignment was my final paper. In my final paper I wrote about the folklore of Japan. In my own cultures, Mexican and American, I had heard of many tales as a child from my older family members. Many of these tales were meant to scare me into being a good child for the rest of the night. I was curious to see if there were similar tales in Japan to the ones I heard as a child. In the end I found there were many folklore tales that I had never heard of. For example, when I gave a presentation on what I was writing about in my essay some of my classmates mentioned a tale called Peach Boy. There were many Japanese majors in the class so it made sense they knew of the tale but it was a piece of insight I appreciated that they shared with me. My classmates truly helped me develop my paper as well as my understanding of the culture. A lot of the students had traveled to and studied Japan before so the many conversations had in that class made the Japanese culture come to life.
Attached are files that relate to my work:
Feedback Sheet Homework 1, Japn 305
Feedback Sheet Homework 2, Japn 305
Class Letter, Japn 305
The Meiji Period Midterm Paper, Japn 305
Japanese Folklore Final Paper, Japn 305
