2019-2020 Microgrant Review
The 2019-2020 Microgrant Initiative for American JETs, funded by the U.S. Embassy Tokyo, provides small grants to U.S. assistant language teachers and coordinators of international relations working in Japan on the JET Programme to introduce American culture and English language to students and the local community.
USJETAA is happy to announce that we have awarded 22 grants to current American JETs!
This year there was a record high number of applicants to the Microgrant Initiative. All of the high quality of applications for this program made the decision very difficult this year and we wished we could fund all of the projects. Projects were selected based on the uniqueness of the idea, the area of focus, the impact of the project, the budget, and the feasibility of the project.
The approved grant recipients are:
Monica Aguilar-Scion, Okinawa, “Bridging Cultures through an American English Library section and Read-Aloud Sessions”
Taylor Allen, Kochi, “Board Game Night”
Annabel Baker-Sullivan, Hokkaido, “To and from Hokkaido and New York”
Isabel Bush, Tokyo, “2020 Tokyo Olympic English Day Camp”
Domenic Cella, Shimane, “One World Shimane”
Andrew Crispin, Wakayama, “In Season: Celebrating America’s Diverse Culture with Seasonal Cuisine and English Cooking Lessons”
Alex Crockett, Kyoto, “Mystery Hangouts to Improve our communication ability, geographical awareness… and to have fun”
Anne Echols, Hyogo, “An International Exchange in Kobe”
Teresa Fong, Tokyo, “Join U.S., Mate!”
Michael Frazier, Ishikawa, “2020 Kanazawa Black History Month Festival”
Rachel Gregory, Iwate, “Portable Magic: Founding an English Library”
Nia Hamilton, Shiga, “Adventuring through American Cultural Diversity!”
Marissa Hanabusa, Kyoto, “A Taste of America: Exploring English language and US culture through food”
Kira-Ann Hayashi, Kumamoto, “Bridging the Big World to Asagiri Town: A Diverse Resource Center”
Elizabeth Kalt, Wakayama, “Eat Your Way to a Fairy Tale Ending”
Gerlin Leu, Shizuoka, “Let’s Meet, Eat, and Taco ‘Bout It: Cuisines Across Cultures”
Katherine Jordan Michels, Mie, “Wai Wai Haru Matsuri: An All-American Culture Experience with Suzuka English Teachers”
Lena Pham, Shizuoka, “Cross-cultural Exchange through Desserts”
Birdie Trotter, Chiba, “The World at your Fingertips! Connecting the international community of Kamagaya with the local community”
Yoshika Wilson, Aomori, “Multicultural & Multilingual Manga Library Collection”
Michiko Yoshino, Yamagata, “English Through Play: Immersive Language Learning Through Board Games”
Lydia Zumbrun, Kagoshima, “Connected by more than Rockets: Kimotsuki and Cape Canaveral Pen Pal Project”
USJETAA launched the fourth year of the Microgrant Initiative for American JETs last October. USJETAA partnered with the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo to award 22 microgrants (grants of small amounts of funding) to current American JET Program(me) teachers to support projects in Japanese schools and local communities. This year was the largest number of applications with a total of 39 project proposals. Awarded projects were larger in scope, engaged the community in direct experiences or exchanges, and took place in areas of Japan that had not seen previous projects.
Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic affected grantees as they worked to finish their projects. To help grantees complete their projects, the grant period was extended into the summer of 2021 so not all projects are complete at this stage. Many grantees affected by COVID-19 made modifications and found virtual ways to finish their projects. This year’s projects incorporated cultural exchange, community resources, penpal exchanges and English language study in virtual and in person spaces.
Here are some of the projects that have been completed so far:
Virtual and Letter Exchanges
Virtual and letter exchanges were conducted between Japanese and American schools. The students were happily engaged in the projects, as they were able to communicate in English with each other and share interesting things about their culture. These projects work to improve students’ literacy and motivation, demonstrate the relevance of English language, and impart the importance of students becoming informed global citizens.
ALT Annabel Baker-Sullivan’s project, To and from Hokkaido and New York, paired an American school where many students’ first language is Spanish and a Japanese Junior high school. The students exchanged letters and bonded over using English as a second language. Annabel shared that Japanese students thought “American students were very friendly and warm, and even wrote that they hope to visit the Bronx one day.”
Another penpal project, Space Coast Pen Pal, was conducted between junior high schools in Kimotsuki, Kagoshima and Melbourne, Florida, both coastal areas defined by the space industry. CIR, Lydia Zumbrun, helped students write letters and gave presentations on American culture. Despite difficulties due to covid-19, the project was able to continue by switching from written to digital letters.
Mystery Hangouts to Improve our communication, a project by ALT Alex Crockett in Kyoto, matched his students with random classrooms around the world for a cultural exchange. At the “Mystery Place” events, students took turns asking Yes/No questions to guess where the other classroom was located. Over four weeks, students talked in English with classrooms in India, Vietnam, Turkey, and Israel. After guessing each others countries, the students spent time talking about their cultures and interacted with each other.
Community Resources
ALT Rachel Gregory’ s project Portable Magic: Founding an English Library, and ALT Yoshika Watson’s project, Multicultural and Multilingual Manga Library Collection, both created resources for their schools. They used surveys to ask students about their reading preferences to better purchase books that would suit them. In Iwate prefecture, Rachel and the school librarian, Mrs. Segawa, worked together to set up spaces for the incoming collection and familiarize the student body with the new resources through library tours. They started a schoolwide English Reading Raffle where three students were chosen as winners to receive a book of their choice. In Aomori prefecture, Yoshika wrote short summaries inside the books and comics in Japanese and made students write their own fill in the blank comics. These comics were put into a binder and added to the library collection for students to read. Yoshika reflects on the importance of native English materials, “students were momentarily confused about whether they should read from right to left or left to right. Even though this is a very small thing, I think it was a good experience for students to discover differences between English and Japanese books.” Read more about her use of comics in the classroom in her blog, good morning aomori.
Cultural Events
ALT AnneMarie Echols’s project, An International Exchange in Kobe, took high school students from the English Speaking Society (ESS) at her school to visit the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). The director of the JICA Kansai branch talked with them about the importance of the activities that JICA performs. They also heard from a speaker who spent time working in Ghana through JICA’s volunteer programs. She described what it was like to live in a foreign country that was so vastly different from her own, and inspired many students to go abroad. Students ate international foods at the cafeteria and explored an exhibition on different types of aid.
Marissa Hanabusa, an ALT in Kyoto, created the project, A Taste of America: Exploring English language and US culture through food, to improve high school student’s cultural understanding and English skills through learning about American food culture. Through eight class periods, students compared Japanese and American food customs, analyzed snacks, wrote food recommendations, translated recipes, and cooked popular Americanized dishes. Marissa worked with the life sciences teacher to utilize youtube videos, activities, and the movie “Super-Size Me” to learn more. During the final class students cooked American dishes.
