Muslim foreign student gave a lesson about her culture in elementary school

Class of Cross-cultural understanding

Written by Nabilah Shabrina

I went to elementary school in Ota-ku to teach students Indonesia.First my question was what image do you have about Indonesia.Students said “Elephant”, “Curry”, “Island” and many opinions.Then my class started.Indonesia is a multiracial country. There are many kind of religion. But we live together happily and we help each other.I showed a picture. There are Masjid of Islam and church of Christianity in the picture. This tells how friendly we are regardless of another religion. Muslims account for 80% in Indonesia. Indonesia is a country with the most Muslim. So I talked why Muslim wear hijab and what ramadan is.Unexpectedly some student knew the answer. I was surprised.Moreover I told about geographical features, nature, national costume, food and so on. In that, I said that in Indonesia the time is different in three places. The easternmost time is same with Japanese time. The westernmost time is different an 2 hour from Japan. Therefore when we trip from easternmost place to westernmost place there are 2 hour difference. After that a student said the situation is like using a time machine. I agreed with him.

Next we played Angklung. When I introduce about Indonesia I absolutely play it because it is very fun! Last of class I talked why I came to Japan. And I spoke how important we don’t give up making our dreams come true with telling my failures. Reaction by students was good. They answered my questions and they said hello in Indonesian. That was so great! I enjoyed the time with them. Otherwise I talked about my university and major. After my class, a women teacher said to me you are a women in the science field and I’m same with you. We got really lively.

Program that an foreign student is a teacher is for understanding other culture. I think this program is so important because we can talk about a same and difference and essential point to children who support Japan in the future as representatives. Understanding each other over the world leads peace in the world.
To foreign student, why aren’t you a representative to send a message to children in Japan?