By Julia Berkman
The Asia University in America Program (AUAP) has started its second term. If you see these students around, make sure to welcome them to campus with a smile or a wave.
AUAP is an international exchange, where sophomores at Asia University in Tokyo come to several schools in Washington and Oregon. Western hosts around 150 students a year, separated into two cycles. The students take four classes a day, all revolving around English comprehension, functional use, and career planning. Sachie Ogino, a former AUAP student, participated in the previous cycle of this program. She said that AUAP is fantastic, not only for the students, but also for the Americans who volunteer.
“You can get to know Japanese culture, and if you are learning Japanese, we can help,” Ogino said.
Most, if not all of the students, look forward to meeting American people. After all, that’s half the reason they have come so far from home.
Many people have seen the international students out and about on campus. It can be a bit intimidating to see a huge group of them. Still, these students have flown thousands of miles just to learn English, and international friendships play a crucial role when learning a new language. A close relationship with an international student will not only lead to lifelong friendship, but also an improvement in the student’s English endeavors.
There are several AUAP teachers, who rotate the groups they teach per class. Most of them have lived in Japan at some point, or have participated in the AUAP program on campus during their college years. “I love ESL teaching – it is a constant learning experience and I get to meet such a wide variety of people that it is never dull,” says Judith Zink, one of upwards of six teachers for the program. Each day she teaches four classes to various groups of students.
How can you get involved with this program? Easy! If you go onto the AUAP website, you can sign up to volunteer in their daily ESL classes. That may seem intimidating, but being a part of the lesson is vital for the students and the teachers. Besides making friends, you participate in a cross-cultural exchange that benefits both you and the students. Most of the day-to-day lessons consist of a lecture followed by small group discussion.
“Every single vastly different student volunteer that I have met has one common connector – they feel that spending 50 minutes out of their day to hang out with some international students to be a good way to spend 50 minutes,” Zink said.
Once you start volunteering in the classes, it feels like you’ve been adopted into a very large family.
If volunteering in classes feels like a lot of pressure, you can also sign up to be a Campus Friend. Campus Friends hang out with their assigned student once a week. That’s it. It’s a casual and unstructured way to make a new friend. Just being involved in the program opens you up to so many new opportunities.
Each year, AUAP hosts or participates in many events. They recently had their Welcome Ceremony, where the new students are inducted into the school. The event introduces each group of students, after which there is a reception where students are invited to mingle with the volunteers. Another event thrown by AUAP is the Campus Friends meetup. All those who signed up to be a campus friend are invited, where they meet their student match and then play games and get to know each other. There’s usually pizza, which makes it my favorite event.
The AUAP school year has just started on campus, so there’s still plenty of time to sign up if you want to volunteer. All the information can be found on their website. On September 30, they’ll host their annual LCP fall picnic. All are invited!
