Last October 5th, twenty-three high school students from nine public schools across the city began attending Japanese classes offered through Globalize DC’s new Japanese Plus program. Six weeks later, in the Columbia Heights Education Campus library, the students found themselves in the intimidating position of presenting what they had learned to family, friends, and community partners.
The challenge! Take everything they had learned so far – every phrase and even katakana characters – and create an original skit for presentation. The students worked in four groups and came up with four unique and crazy skits. The task took a lot of work and a lot of creativity.
The resulting skits:
- The Meeting
- The Telephone Hour
- Girl’s Night Out
- When You Try Your Best but You Don’t Succeed
The group also unveiled the new mascot for the Japanese Plus program. In Japan, mascots are widely adopted by towns, prefectures, organizations, and businesses for team-building and promotional purposes. In the spirit of Japan’s kawaii (cute) culture, students developed ideas for a mascot that would embody the values and purposes of the Japanese Plus program. “Puni Puni” (squishy) won out. Thanks to one of our many talented students, Ana Nguyen, of Capital City Public Charter School, for the original artwork. Be prepared to see more of “Puni Puni” around town.