I am currently an 8th grader who had been anxiously waiting for the opportunity to learn Japanese since 3rd grade.  To my great sadness, Japanese class was cancelled when I entered middle school. I had no other choice but to pick a language I didn’t particularly enjoy learning. I believe that our district should reinstate Japanese as a world language; I have at least 15 classmates who would like to take Japanese when we go to high school in the Fall.

I was first introduced to Japanese animations called “anime” in second grade from my sister’s friend. Before I knew it, I was hooked. Since then, I have watched many varieties of Japanese anime and learned to speak Japanese along the way. I am able to converse with my sister, an 11th grader, in Japanese. My sister also attempts to help me learn ‘hiragana’, the Japanese alphabet. I frequently ask her how to construct a sentence in Japanese. Even though I study French, I think taking Japanese is more beneficial, as it will help me communicate and connect with my grandfather in Taiwan who was brought up speaking Japanese. My friends and I have already discussed and gathered names of the students who want to take Japanese as well. The group is not of a big size, but one thing for sure, we are all very enthusiastic about learning the language. With this high motivation, we will be able to learn the language well. I plead to be given the opportunity to learn and I believe this is a good investment from our district in the education of world language.

 We plead for you to reinstate Japanese. We will forever treasure this opportunity that was once lost and now hopefully regained.

Sincerely Yours,

Lauren Sheng

Some awesome Cultural Activities done in Japanese Class:

http://www.oncoursesystems.com/school/webpage/11552377/1163592