Kyushu regional office of JICA (the agency who let me go to Burkina for 2 years) organised monthly events at after school kids clubs in my city to let kids know about different culture and lifestyle in the world.
I participated as animator in the event at 5 kids clubs during the first 2 weeks of August.
It's summer vacation in Japan, too so kids spend whole day at their club because their parents both work.
It starts at 9:30 for about 2 hours.
We start with "how does the world look like ?"
They get a map with only Japan on and different continents card and try to put them in the right place.
Then we talk about "clothes, food, house and school" in different parts of the world with photos.
In which country the photo is ?
What do they do ?
How different is it from Japanese style ?
Basically we talked by questions and answers.
Kids were usually so excited to get the right answer.
They showed their surprised look each time.
Some kids know certain countries well,
Others are very intelligent to talk about wars and else.
I was quite impressed.
I was also very happy to have met these young kids (6-11 years old) that I don't usually have contact with them.
I had a great time and learned many things.
For the last one hour, we try a play from a foreign country.
Each club chose one of 2 games.
Some did "cat and dog" game form Vanuatu : 2 groups try to get a bar (bone for real) as many times as possible.
Other did "Shipa" from Philippines : Make a shuttlecock with a flat beer lid ad cellphane tape and play with it by hitting it with hands and feet.
They both have different type of fun so kids enjoyed them. (the photos are for shipa)
When I was 6-11 years old, I had only interests or knowledge about my family, school and club activities (piano, calligraphy and swimming).
I find very important to have such occasion to learn about the world at these ages.
Recently, there are more TV shows which introduce culture and lifestyle in different countries so that kids can easily get information from them.
Many critics say that today's young Japanese are often passive and don't look outside (of the country).
But at least about 150 kids or more that I met this summer are or won't be like that.
I strongly hope that they will become adults who have interests toward foreign countries and capacity to see inside (Japan) objectively as well.
