SCOTT DEPOT — Kenichi Watanbe stood at the front of the cafeteria in Scott Teays Elementary school Tuesday morning, teaching a group of students how to properly use chopsticks.
About 60 students watched attentively while mimicking Watanbe’s motions with chopsticks of their own. Helpers walked around the room and corrected students who weren’t using proper form.
On a normal day, this would have been a simple, possibly mundane lesson, but today, instructors were speaking to students only in Japanese as part of the week-long Japanese Immersion Camp.
To give students the full effect of being immersed in another culture, instructors spoke absolutely no English.
Sometimes native Japanese students were used as a communication bridge between the instructor and the class, but the instructors mainly used facial expressions, body movements and hand gestures to help communicate what they were saying.
While many adults would become frustrated at not being able to communicate, the students handled it well and caught on quickly, something that surprised site coordinator Helen Durgin.
Durgin said the camp allows the students to better relate to their peers who may not speak English as a first language. The students experience firsthand what it feels like to be in an environment where they can’t use the English language to communicate with their teachers.
“I think it would help them understand and open the door to accepting others in different ways,” Durgin said.
The camp has been a success for five years in Cabell County, but this was the first time the camp has been held for students in Putnam County.
After a $20,000 donation from Toyota, Putnam County Schools was able to host the camp for the first time.
Each day, students rotate classrooms, learning about Japanese culture, language and technology.
Volunteers from Marshall University, Virginia, and the West Virginia Department of Education helped teach the students in Japanese.
There were also Japanese children of Toyota employees both helping and participating in the camp.
The Cabell County camp was so popular that administrators had to add a second session, said Mami Itamochi, coordinator of international education for the West Virginia Department of Education.
Itamochi said Putnam County Schools students demonstrated great teamwork, which is something that’s important during the camp.
“Toyota has been a great support for us. They’ve wanted to see this camp in Putnam County,” Itamachi said.
Sarah Halstead Boland, who spent some time working in Japan, enrolled her 7 year-old son, Chace, in the camp to teach him about Japanese culture.
Boland watched as her son quickly picked up on the culture and language. He even made connections between stories Boland has told him about her time in Japan and what he’s learned at the camp.
Each morning, the children practice learning a Japanese dance, which they will perform at a ceremony for Toyota employees and parents on Friday.
“It’s amazing to see 60 kids do a pretty complex dance when the instruction is entirely in Japanese,” Boland said.
Chace, who is a student at Mountaineer Montessori School, has always had an interest in learning about different cultures and being in diverse settings, his mother said. Now that he’s been immersed in the Japanese environment, Chace has expressed a desire to visit Japan.
Boland said she believes giving children an opportunity to learn about other cultures allows them to be more open-minded about different culture’s habits, foods, games and ways of life — something she’s seen in her son.
“I think it helps him to be more culturally sensitive,” Boland said. “This [camp] is exactly what we need more of.”
Paisley Tabor, a 10-year-old Mountainview Elementary student, said the language barrier could be frustrating at times but she paid attention to other ways her instructors were trying to communicate.
“Sometimes, it’s hard. But, earlier my teacher opened the curtains and pointed to the sky to say clouds,” Tabor said. “It’s really hard to understand, but we still know what they’re trying to say.”
Tabor was busy practicing writing her name in Katakana, a type of writing used for foreign words not native to the Japanese language. Afterward, she would go to lunch to have a meal catered by Taste of Asia.
“It sounds funny, but my favorite part is lunch,” Tabor said. “It’s really good.”
Reach Laura Haight at laura.haight@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-4843 or follow @laurahaight_ on Twitter.