Integrated Narrative
It was not a surprise that I chose Japanese to be my major.
My goal was started long ago but the implementation of that goal has
been a slow process. My fascination with Japanese culture, new and old,
only strengthened my determination to get a Bachelors Degree in
Japanese. Thus said, I have completed my undergraduate major requirements and now
have successfully reached my goal. Woohoo! But learning, dreams and
goals do not stop there. There are many other goals I have put in to
motion from this jumping off point and my thirst to learn is growing
exponentially. I will leave those other goals for another time to
discuss so lets get back to when I first started my path to a Japanese Language and Culture degree.
I actually started taking Japanese language classes during my first few years at a local community college. Monterey Peninsula College is an amazing community college that has a great reputation and an incredible faculty that helps prepare students for their undergraduate transfer. The three semesters that I took of Japanese there really gave me the confidence to continue following my goal. Little by little I would learn even more about Japanese language and especially the culture. The teachers were of Japanese descent and integrated many cultural perspectives throughout the courses which gives the class a much better understanding regarding different traditions and language. That process was even stronger once I transferred to CSUMB and the learning outcomes that were introduced were fun and informative as well as eye-opening.
I believe my abilities improved by being able to communicate and interpret higher level subjects of Japanese, such as history, literature, phonetics, and advanced grammar (MLO 1). In addition, many of the courses I took increased my knowledge on Japanese culture (MLO 2). I was also enrolled in a secondary culture that helped see more than just the perspectives of Americans and Japanese (MLO 3). Presentational, research, and technology skills were also of importance to the Japanese program which helped my Bachelors process (MLO 4). Another important outcome deals with immersion in the target language (MLO 5). My experience with immersion took the form of additional community service by spending double the amount of hours teaching Japanese culture to elementary students. These MLO's are an integral part of my education and I was able to learn much more thian I expected. To get a detailed view of the Major learning outcomes (MLO's) please refer to the MLO's button at the top of the page or click here.
Much credit and recognition needs to be given to CSUMB and Monterey Peninsula College because they were a large part of my motivation, confidence and reason to pursue my Bachelors Degree. Every class was as interesting as the others. I will admit though, some classes were much more challenging than others. With that said, my strongest attribute would have to be my enthusiasm because if the class is very difficult, I still have fun learning something new.
The concepts and tools that i have learned so far have helped me learn more about my own identity and culture. Furthermore I have a heightened awareness when it comes to international issues because I can now relate to some of the cultures that see things in a different perspective. I have learned to critically think about my environment and perceptions to help facilitate better communications. These life long tools and learned abilities will further help my success in the future as well. Although I have completed one big step on my time line of goals, I am looking forward to the goals I have put ahead. I believe it takes an understanding and communication between different cultures to ensure a better world, but we have to understand languages to effectively participate in this global society.
I actually started taking Japanese language classes during my first few years at a local community college. Monterey Peninsula College is an amazing community college that has a great reputation and an incredible faculty that helps prepare students for their undergraduate transfer. The three semesters that I took of Japanese there really gave me the confidence to continue following my goal. Little by little I would learn even more about Japanese language and especially the culture. The teachers were of Japanese descent and integrated many cultural perspectives throughout the courses which gives the class a much better understanding regarding different traditions and language. That process was even stronger once I transferred to CSUMB and the learning outcomes that were introduced were fun and informative as well as eye-opening.
I believe my abilities improved by being able to communicate and interpret higher level subjects of Japanese, such as history, literature, phonetics, and advanced grammar (MLO 1). In addition, many of the courses I took increased my knowledge on Japanese culture (MLO 2). I was also enrolled in a secondary culture that helped see more than just the perspectives of Americans and Japanese (MLO 3). Presentational, research, and technology skills were also of importance to the Japanese program which helped my Bachelors process (MLO 4). Another important outcome deals with immersion in the target language (MLO 5). My experience with immersion took the form of additional community service by spending double the amount of hours teaching Japanese culture to elementary students. These MLO's are an integral part of my education and I was able to learn much more thian I expected. To get a detailed view of the Major learning outcomes (MLO's) please refer to the MLO's button at the top of the page or click here.
Much credit and recognition needs to be given to CSUMB and Monterey Peninsula College because they were a large part of my motivation, confidence and reason to pursue my Bachelors Degree. Every class was as interesting as the others. I will admit though, some classes were much more challenging than others. With that said, my strongest attribute would have to be my enthusiasm because if the class is very difficult, I still have fun learning something new.
The concepts and tools that i have learned so far have helped me learn more about my own identity and culture. Furthermore I have a heightened awareness when it comes to international issues because I can now relate to some of the cultures that see things in a different perspective. I have learned to critically think about my environment and perceptions to help facilitate better communications. These life long tools and learned abilities will further help my success in the future as well. Although I have completed one big step on my time line of goals, I am looking forward to the goals I have put ahead. I believe it takes an understanding and communication between different cultures to ensure a better world, but we have to understand languages to effectively participate in this global society.