Daily Japanese Immersion through Academics and Lifestyle: Classroom and Homestay

As part of the high school summer study abroad experience, the students of the HSSA Language and Culture program go to Japanese Language School from Monday to Friday. They are fully immersed in the language and the Japanese instructors speak to the students in their target language during the class. The students are placed accordingly based on their language level, from complete beginners learning hiragana and katakana to more advanced students learning grammar points and having a conversation with one another. At the school, the instructors switch out every day so that students will learn from a variety of dialects and learn how to speak and listen in Japanese from different teaching styles. They also are assigned homework assignments that range from listening comprehension to writing essays based on a prompt.  

In addition to learning Japanese from language instructors, the students stay with a local Japanese host family to learn more about the culture and lifestyle in Japan. Students are either paired with another roommate, so they experience Japanese life with another student or live with the host family alone and learn how to live as part of a Japanese family. They also learn how to navigate the Japanese metro system using the IC cards (SUICA, PASMO) they received so they will learn how to commute from home to school like a true Tokyoite.