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| Ms Hisako
Nishiura, who was the Japan Foundation
Advisor for Western Australia from April 2000, recently finished
her three year appointment to return to Japan. Here is her report: Working in Western Australia was a fantastic experience for me. I learned a great deal from teachers and my colleagues and I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for the support and friendship you have given me during my time here. I am exceptionally grateful to the Japan Foundation for having given me such an invaluable opportunity to work and live in Australia. I was able to learn a great deal about Australian education and Japanese language education. 
The study of Japanese language is very popular in Western Australia.
Japanese is the most widely studied language in years 9, 11and 12
and the third in popularity in years 3-10, after Italian and Indonesian.
Student numbers have increased rapidly in primary schools since 1996
due to the introduction of compulsory LOTE. In total 40,147 students
in 224 schools across all systems in WA enrolled in Japanese in 2002.‘The LOTE 2000: New Horizons Strategy’ launched in 1995 was very successful in implementing LOTE in primary schools. The first target, LOTE for all students in years 3 - 7 by 2000, was achieved two years ago. By the year 2003, all students in years 8 - 10 will be studying a LOTE. ‘LOTE Beyond 2000’, released by the Department of Education and Training, consolidates the direction for Languages Other Than English within the Curriculum Improvement Program. I would like to commend the teachers of Japanese in WA. They continue to be enthusiastic about teaching students and learning from each other. They are extremely creative in making wonderful resources and in praising and encouraging their students. Their classes are alive and interesting. Sometimes they meet challenges with difficult students or they may not get sufficient support from their schools. There are struggles with students who have no interest in studying Japanese and with multileveled classrooms. There are also many teachers in country areas who are very isolated from other schools hundreds of kilometres away. I am grateful to have worked with teachers through school visits, conversation classes, cultural activities, workshops, seminars and meetings. During my last holiday, I drove from Perth to Sydney with my family via the Nullabor Plain and witnessed beautiful oceans, majestic mountains, big cities like Adelaide, Melbourne and Canberra and small towns like Streaky Bay and Gundagai, and met friendly people everywhere. Before arriving in Australia I did not know anyone, but now I feel very fortunate to have met so many wonderful people. They all have different backgrounds reflecting a multicultural society. This broadened my interests in cultures that were not familiar to me before. I met many people not only through my work in relation to Japanese studies, but also during the trips that I made. I hope to see you somewhere else in the world. We never know what the future will bring us. Perhaps one day we will be working together or be neighbours. I wish you all the best. |
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