Japanese Language Students Learn How to Separate Garbage

Date & Time: Tuesday, March 8, 2016 10:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

Venue: Abiko Civic Plaza Hall

Participants: 47 in total (24 students and 23 teachers)

In the AIRA Japanese Language Class, students usually learn in groups according to their levels. On the second last day of the school year 2015 all the Tuesday Class students and teachers learned together about waste disposal, which is an essential issue for those who live in the community. They learned how to sort garbage as well as vocabulary regarding waste disposal.

 

At the beginning of the class, Mr. Yuasa, a Tuesday Class teacher, showed actual garbage items and explained how to dispose of them. It was a very effective way, since you won’t clearly understand how to separate garbage without seeing it with your own eyes. Many kinds of garbage were brought in and the students watched and listened to the guidance with great interest.

The next session was practical sorting, which was led by another teacher Ms. Watanabe. All the students made nine groups and on the table of each group were set cards with pictures of several kinds of garbage, a booklet “Sorting Garbage” published by Abiko City, and a poster “How to Separate Garbage” compiled and translated in 4 languages by AIRA. Looking at the cards of garbage, the students discussed what kind of garbage it was, whether it was burnable or non-burnable, and then put the cards into card boxes according to the sorting. They learned some Japanese words which meant “recyclable”, “metals”, “textiles”, etc. They were sometimes confused but tried hard to get right answers.

Following that was a quiz session. Ten questions were asked and the students moved to either of the signboards, “YES” or “NO”. Some questions were very difficult ones. For example, “Do plastic hangers belong to the other plastic items?” “How about wire-hangers coated with plastic?” “Are fallen leaves burnable garbage?” “Are computers burnable?” Those questions were hard even for Japanese to answer, but surprisingly, one student answered all the questions correctly! Students also asked high-level questions like “What should we do with the labels pasted on egg packs? Can we dispose of them as burnable or plastic?”

Prior to this meeting, the teachers had made necessary preparations such as asking the students about what kind of problems they had regarding garbage disposal, actually visiting the Clean Center in the city, and so on. Garbage disposal is an inevitable issue for all of us and understanding the “Abiko Garbage-Sorting System” has a significant meaning in creating a harmonious multi-cultural society. All the students were actively participating in every session. (No.15-23 Translated by Ch. Yamaguchi)