VI.When the word shows it's power｜Creative Lesson Planning

Making Personal connections with Global Issues

VI.When the word shows it's power

Yoko Nishimura-Parke

(National Asian Languages Studies in Schools Program - Languages Support Officer,Secondary Education, Learning and Leadership Directorate, NSW Department of Education and Communities)

2014.03.17

What I wanted to achieve in this unit was not for students to think that global issues had nothing to do with them, but for them to think of global issues as their own personal problem as an individual. It was because of "Dear Fukushima" that we were able to do an activity where the unit could be pulled together, not only limited to just research and reporting information, but also connecting with emotion by writing poetry. I believe words truly gain power when they connect with emotion.

	Yoko Nishimura-Parke
	(National Asian Languages Studies in Schools Program - Languages Support Officer,Secondary Education, Learning and Leadership Directorate, NSW Department of Education and Communities)
	Immigrated to Australia in 1990 as a high school Japanese teacher. Employed in the NSW Department of Education and Training since 1998. Currently promoting projects involving Asian languages as an expert in developing educational materials for Japanese as a foreign language. Co-authored Japanese textbook series Mirai and iiTomo (Pearson Education). Became involved in education for Japanese as a Heritage Language in recent years and is deeply engaged in developing educational materials in this field.