Volunteering in Japan! A guide to successful volunteer work abroad

Locate Volunteer Interests Your time abroad is a great opportunity to learn more about the social justice issues that are important to the communities of other countries and to participate in cultural exchange. Take a moment to think about what interests you.

Some Issues to Consider... Hunger and Homelessness Poverty Educational Equality Civil Rights Cultural Education

Now Brainstorm Resources

Talk about volunteering with: Home University Study Abroad Office Abroad University Study Abroad Office Students who have been abroad Host family

Other Resources Include: Search engines- many non-profits will have websites Newspapers- many online newspapers are available in English and Japanese, and will have information on local volunteer events

Find Target Organizations Begin compiling a list While it’s good to have a first choice, make sure to have back ups; organizations are not always able to accommodate volunteers.

Develop a Volunteer Objective When you approach an organization to volunteer, it will be impressive to them if you can talk about why you want to be with that organization specifically Think about the time constraints of your time abroad. What can you realistically accomplish? Example: Say you are volunteering at a middle school, and have one semester in Japan. A realistic objective might be to spend 3 hours per week at the school, and to have taught students about popular holidays of your home country by the end of the semester.

Make Contact When you contact an organization to volunteer, treat it as though you were interested in a job. Think about your language skills Do you speak enough to use and understand honorific language? Most organizations will use keigo ( 敬語 )over the telephone, so you will hear different verb forms than you would in more casual conversation is often the best choice for someone not confident in their Japanese. You can take time to clearly say what you would like, and if you don’t understand something, you can always use a dictionary.

Have a Clear Timeline As a student studying abroad, it is important to tell an organization when you will be leaving for your home country. From the first meeting with a potential organization, try to give them the dates you will not be available to volunteer (school vacations, etc.) as well as the final day you could serve.

Commit Once you’ve made successful contact with your organization and they’ve offered to have you, committ! Throughout your time, be consistent. Remember, you are not only representing yourself through volunteer work. For some organizations, this may be the first time they have come into contact with someone from your country.

My Experience

During my Homestay My host-mother put me in touch with a local Kindergarten Each week we volunteered together, teaching English children’s songs and English conversation My host-mother also helped me organize an English Club on Saturdays for children living in the neighborhood. These students were older, so we practiced more difficult conversation and vocabulary.

Example Lesson for Middle School Age Students At the grocery store -Cut up a number of items that can be purchased at the grocery store -Label the back with the English word for the item -Create a short dialogue that involves asking for help finding something at the grocery store or the checkout process. -Ask students to model the dialogue, using the items as part of the dialogue -Make sure to leave room for questions and ask students to be creative!

Most importantly…Have fun!