English, Practiced!
A project that the Rotary Club of Hilo Bay has been involved in for several years is the Intensive English Program at the Hawai’i Community College. Students from foreign countries are given the opportunity to practice their English by having conversations with Rotarians from our club. It is a lot of fun because we always learn so much about the countries the students are from.
On this last project coordinated by Miyuki Lee, we chatted with students from Japan, China, Chile, and Tahiti. Miyuki Lee received the reins from Steve Jacunski to coordinate this project by gathering the enthusiasm of Richard Cunningham, Patrick Bodell, Mary Begier, Kumiko Usuda, Steven Sylvester, Prez Jan Abundo, Art Taniguchi and moi!
Miyuki gave all of us clear instructions to meet at the flagpole of the Hawai’i Community College, and we all did promptly. Being Rotarians, we were smart enough to gather under the eaves of the administration building because of the unexpected Hilo rain.
My conversations focused on what they thought about Hilo. This meant talking about food, people they met, places they visited, what they wanted to do more of, and what made them miss home.
To surmise about food, it looks like they all enjoy our local foods like loco moco and Hawaiian foods, but it was a kind thumbs down when it came to dishes from their country. Chinese dishes were not that great, and Japanese dishes could be better. One student came from the city of Niigata, Japan, very well known for their excellent and ono rice. She beamed with pride explaining why the rice from Niigata was the best and I salivated uncontrollably. It is the water!
Did they miss home? Reflections ranged from “I miss my family” to “No, I don’t miss anything!” I had to probe further about the latter response from a Chinese student from a small village in China on the border across from Kazakhstan. Sounded like a difficult place to live, and I immediately understood.
I was pleased to learn that several students were interested in learning more about the Hawaiian culture. Students from Japan especially, noticed the similarity of cultural values and priorities between their culture and that of Hawai’i. One student from Chile had studied the Hawaiian culture and she explained how this made her want to know more. I felt happy and proud to hear this.
The logistics of moving students around the classroom so they could speak to different Rotarians was fun to experience. College instructor, Fred, welcomed us and gave us clear instructions to sit on chairs without armrest and explained that students would be sitting on the wheeled chairs and they would roll and rotate clockwise through the room visiting different Rotarians to practice their English speaking and listening skills.
“The best-laid plans of mice and men oft go awry….” a passage from a Scots poem by Robert Burns came to mind, as I observed students meandering from Rotarian to Rotarian, in every way except clockwise. But amazingly everything worked out as Fred directed the traffic for each move. It was fun.
The din of excited voices in the room clearly indicated that students and Rotarians were engaged in helping students improve their English. This was a nice sound to hear, and this is probably the sound we need to hear more of in this world, presently in various stages of turmoil and frustration. Voices creating a din to help each other.
Mahalo Rotarians of the Rotary Club of Hilo Bay. This may be a small foundational brick added to one of Rotary’s Seven Area of Focus, but that’s how strong foundations are created, brick by brick.