[Kaiho Yoshu Program 2022] 4th Learning Program~Day2~
12:43 PM
【2nd Day of Kaiho Yoshu】
On Monday, August 15, the second day of the Kaiho Yoshu Program Main Training Course was held at the Okinawa Karate Kaikan.
First, each team prepared for the online exchange with Hawaiian youths. They prepared their self-introduction sheets and questions for the Hawaiian youths and practiced them in English.
After that, we started the online exchange with six young people from Hawaii and John.
At the beginning of the exchange, participants from Hawaii and Kaiho Yoshu side introduced themselves in 4 squares. We shared not only our names and hometowns, but also our hobbies and favorite parts of Okinawa.
After that, we had an icebreake part to make a confortable atmorphere. Asking like: What Okinawan food do you know? What Okinawan folk songs/singers do you know? The game was a competition in which participants competed against each other in a limited amount of time. In this game, it was impressive to see the participants selflessly coming up with words for each other.
The participants from Kaiho Yoshu and the young people from Hawaii were divided into breakout rooms to interact with each other in English according to each theme.
The participants from Kaiho Yoshu asked the Hawaiian youth questions they had thought of, and the Hawaiian youth talked about things they were curious about in English (mandatory), on topics such as cultural differences between Okinawa and Hawaii, daily life, and what is popular in Hawaii. Both participants enjoyed talking with each other, and it seemed that the exchange was always full of smiles.
Some participants on one team got to know each other well enough to exchange contact information, and some teams were excited about the similarities between participants from Hawaii and Kaiho Yoshu.
At the end of the program, the whole group shared what they had talked about and shared more of the fun of the exchange.
In the afternoon program, the participants experienced hula dance under the guidance of Ms. Nakamoto and Ms. Asami Thayer of Kailua Hula Dance Studio, as a way to experience Hawaiian culture. The students went barefoot, put on a pau skirt and a necklace, and danced the hula as if they were actually hula dancers.
At first, we learned the basic steps of hula dance. The participants were puzzled by the unfamiliar hip and hand movements, but it was impressive to see how much they enjoyed hula dancing.
After going through the basic steps, the participants actually danced to the music, and were able to experience the beauty of hula dance, where each choreography has a meaning and is danced while imagining the scenery of Hawaii.
At the end, the group discussed an action plan utilizing what they had learned at Kaiho Yoshu and prepared for their presentation. It was a time for each group to think about what they had learned and what they could do on the first and second days of the program.
After the second day of the training, which was a very productive one!
