One of the best experiences that I have had during my entire study abroad trip to Aoyama was having the opportunity to work as a Chat Leader in their “Chat Room.” The Chat Room is similar to a tutoring center, such as our Academic Center here at HPU, however the services provided here solely focus on helping AGU students to practice a language that they were learning on campus. Most Japanese students come in to practice their English abilities, and a very small percentage come in to practice other languages such as French, Spanish, Korean, and Chinese.
Because of the fact that English Chat Leaders are so high in demand, the Chat Room has broken up their sessions into sections of difficulty: Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced. These sectioned services are made available to Aoyama’s High School students, University students, as well as local Shibuya residents who don’t necessarily attend Aoyama Schools, but register for these sessions just to help them practice and enhance their English speaking skills. These Chat Sessions are also made available to the Elementary School as well as the Junior High School, although working with these students are a bit different compared to working with the high schoolers and up.
In the Chat Room, the Upper Division students (High School and up), each group can range from 2-6 students per Chat Leader, and for every day there is a predetermined theme, which helps Chat Leaders to start up a conversation. The Chat Leader can choose whether or not to continue on with the theme for the entire duration of their chat session, but they are also welcome to change the subject if the students in their group feel comfortable or are passionate about another topic. For the Elementary School sessions, Chat Leaders are asked to host a game with the students as best as they can using only English. As for the Junior High School sessions, Chat Leaders can choose whether to host a game with their group, or have a casual conversation with the students. It’s more of a free-for-all type of situation when it comes to the Junior High Schoolers because of the fact that they are more advanced than the Elementary Schoolers but not as advanced as the University and High School students.
I was fortunate enough to be able to work with all grade levels from Elementary Schoolers all the way to the Shibuya Residents sessions, and I am SO grateful that I did. I got to meet so many different people and made many friends from all ages. I enjoyed playing fun English games with the kids, and bonded quite a lot with the older students as well as we talked about topics ranging from fashion to politics. I found it really funny whenever the topic of relationships were brought up, especially with the girls in the Junior High School, because they were so interested and passionate about the topic!
Overall, my experience in the Chat Room is the most memorable memory that I have from this study abroad trip, and I wouldn’t want to trade it for anything else in the world! If you plan to study abroad in Japan, I highly recommend applying to be a chat leader! It’s an experience that you most definitely won’t regret!
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