Four years of co-coordinating the TOMODACHI US-Japan Youth Exchange Program taught us that we needed to do more to support DC students’ interest in Japan.
After spending time in Japan and forming close friendships with Japanese peers, many of our TOMODACHI participants are inspired to study Japanese, yet no DC public school offered Japanese. So, thanks to a generous grant from the U.S.-Japan Foundation, Globalize DC launched its new program, Japanese Plus.
VISIT OUR JAPANESE PLUS WEBSITE AT www.japaneseplus.org.
Japanese Plus is a single site afterschool Japanese language, culture, and career exposure program for DC public high school students. This first-year program will run from the October 2016 through May 2017, and is offered at no cost to students. We expect that students will be able to earn world language credit for level I Japanese that can be applied towards high school graduation. The program meets twice a week (Wednesdays 4:30 – 6:30 pm) and Saturday mornings 9:00 am – noon) at Columbia Heights Education Campus, with many additional Japan-related activities scheduled. The plan is to expand the program in SY2017-18 to provide a Japanese level II program, as well as a new Japanese I program.
Japanese Plus is open to students in both DCPS and DC charter schools citywide. After a competitive application process, 23 students from across the city were selected for the program’s first class. Preference was given to 10th and 11th graders, but freshmen and seniors were also invited to apply.