ePub Japanese Lessons: A Year in a Japanese School Through the Eyes of An American Anthropologist and Her Children download

by Gail R. Benjamin

Author:

Gail R. Benjamin

ISBN13:

978-0814713341

ISBN:

0814713343

Language:

English

Publisher:

NYU Press; Revised edition (August 1, 1998)

Category:

Other

Subcategory:

Education

ePub file:

1817 kb

Fb2 file:

1325 kb

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Rating:

4.4

Votes:

812

Gail R. Benjamin Education English

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Includes bibliographical references (pages 255-257) and index.

Japanese Lessons book. In Japanese Lessons Gail R. Benjamin recounts her experiences as an American parent with two children in a Japanese elementary school.

InJapanese Lessons, Gail R. Benjamin recounts her experiences as a American parent with two children in a Japanese elementary school

InJapanese Lessons, Gail R. Benjamin recounts her experiences as a American parent with two children in a Japanese elementary school.

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Author:Benjamin, Gail R. Book Binding:Hardback. Publisher:New York University Press. World of Books Ltd was founded in 2005, recycling books sold to us through charities either directly or indirectly. Read full description. See details and exclusions. Japanese Lessons: A Year in a Japanese School Through the Eyes of An American Anthropologist and Her Children by Gail R. Benjamin (Hardback, 1997). Pre-owned: lowest price.

In Japanese elementary school children are relatively free spirits in the classroom compared with what follows. I had Gail Benjamin as a lecturer in a Japanese society course at the University of Pittsburgh in late 1999. This uninhibited spirit is coupled with academic rigor. Gail Benjamin's book accurately and richly portrays much of Japanese elementary school experience. See the forest for the trees. Not only was the class fascinating, but "Japanese Lessons" (compulsory reading for the class) sparked within me new interest in the subject. I highly recommend it for anyone interested in japanese society, and stress that it is not in the least bit textbook-like.

Note: New York and London: New York University Press, c1997. Subject: Benjamin, Gail.

In Japanese Lessons Gail R. Benjamin recounts her experiences as an American parent with two children in a Japanese elementary school

In Japanese Lessons Gail R. This was a very interesting book that aimed to provide some insight into the Japanese education system from an American perspective find out what really happens in Japanese.

in a Japanese School through the Eyes of an American Anthropologist and Her Children Gail R. Benjamin.

Japanese Lessons A Year in a Japanese School through the Eyes of an American Anthropologist and Her Children Gail R. Japanese lessons : a year in a Japanese school through the eyes of an American anthropologist and her children, Gail R. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-8147-1291-6 (cloth : acid-free paper) ISBN 0-8147-1334-3 pbk. 1. Education, -shi.

Benjamin, Gail R. This book recounts the experiences of a . parent with two children in a Japanese elementary school. parent with two children in a Japanese elementary school

Gail R. Benjamin reaches beyond predictable images of authoritarian Japanese educators and automaton schoolchildren to show the advantages and disadvantages of a system remarkably different from the American one... --The New York Times Book Review

Americans regard the Japanese educational system and the lives of Japanese children with a mixture of awe and indignance. We respect a system that produces higher literacy rates and superior math skills, but we reject the excesses of a system that leaves children with little free time and few outlets for creativity and self-expression.

In Japanese Lessons, Gail R. Benjamin recounts her experiences as a American parent with two children in a Japanese elementary school. An anthropologist, Benjamin successfully weds the roles of observer and parent, illuminating the strengths of the Japanese system and suggesting ways in which Americans might learn from it.

With an anthropologist's keen eye, Benjamin takes us through a full year in a Japanese public elementary school, bringing us into the classroom with its comforting structure, lively participation, varied teaching styles, and non-authoritarian teachers. We follow the children on class trips and Sports Days and through the rigors of summer vacation homework. We share the experiences of her young son and daughter as they react to Japanese schools, friends, and teachers. Through Benjamin we learn what it means to be a mother in Japan--how minute details, such as the way mothers prepare lunches for children, reflect cultural understandings of family and education.

Table of Contents Acknowledgments 1. Getting Started 2. Why Study Japanese Education? 3. Day-to-Day Routines 4. Together at School, Together in Life 5. A Working Vacation and Special Events 6. The Three R's, Japanese Style 7. The Rest of the Day 8. Nagging, Preaching, and Discussions 9. Enlisting Mothers' Efforts 10. Education in Japanese Society 11. Themes and Suggestions 12. Sayonara Appendix. Reading and Writing in Japanese References Index

Dranar

Many books on Japan and China will try to give you everything from a history lesson to a break-down of their culture and ideals. Whole chapters are needed by the author just to define the terms he, or she, will be using. This book is nothing like that. She does not TELL us about Japanese school systems, she SHOWS us how a Japanese school works, through her eyes and the eyes of her two kids. She explains about uniforms, Sports Day, lunches, how classes are set up, how many hours a student goes to school in a year, how a class is run and so on.
The book is an easy read, full of details that other books just seem to over-look. Remember, that this is dealing with one elementary school, and does not reflect how things are done in the Senior High Schools and/or Colleges, but it does destroy a few myths I had about how the Japanese taught their children and the book was also a delight to read!
Try to get a copy, any condition. It's worth it!

Aria

Benjamin writes this account from within the Japanese culture and gives clues especially about the school system that I found riveting. The system for walking to school in pre-selected groups, the reaction towards foreigner's appreciation of Japanese food, the sharing and cooperative practices among school children, and the early acceptance of responsibility for clean-up and class prep, the cohesiveness of the culture. Fascinating. I don't like to travel, but I would be very interested in visiting a rural Japanese village.

Kemath

I learned a lot from this book, and I couldn't wait to pass it to my American son & Japanese daughter-in-law (parents of 3) for comparing/contrasting school systems in U.S. and Japan.

Saithi

With the Advent of the common core and teaching performance coming to mainstream I think this book is worth revisiting. In American society responsibility for a child's education should be 50/50. Teachers on one side and child/parent complex on the other. Do we blame Professors in college for our children's grades?
Read and take a role in waking up America and our society to the limits of our early education system.

Hawk Flying

The book is in good quality and condition, very new, no marks on the book at all, really like it.

Murn

Anyone with an interest in Japanese schools will enjoy this book, since it describes in detail the workings of a single school. Teachers (those going to Japan on the Fulbright Memorial program, for instance) will find it particularly useful. Benjamin, whose two children attended an elementary school during the year their parents spent at a Japanese university, draws on her own training as an anthropologist to offer a view of Japanese education based on the experiences of her children, one in first grade and one in fifth. She admires many aspects of the Japanese system and is critical of others, all the while offering an implicit contrast to American practices. At the end, she offers suggestions as to how American education could be improved using Japanese models. Especially interesting are her observations about group work, moral education, and, in particular, the value of large classes! I read the book before visiting a Japanese elementary school and can vouch for the accuracy of Benjamin's observations.

Conjulhala

I teach English at two Japanese Elementary schools an hour's drive from the elementary school described in this book. I also have an American daughter in a Japanese pre-school who is headed for elementary school soon. I found this book rich in useful, practical details and perceptive analysis. In fact, as one who has studied American education I found that Gail Benjamin's weaker points arose when she described American elementary education to contrast with the Japanese elementary school. I also believe readers should be aware that many changes occur after Japanese primary education (grades 1 E6) in the following junior high school, high school, and tertiary education. I believe the most negative aspects of a Japanese education occur AFTER the primary education. In Japanese elementary school children are relatively free spirits in the classroom compared with what follows. This uninhibited spirit is coupled with academic rigor. Gail Benjamin's book accurately and richly portrays much of Japanese elementary school experience.

The people of many countries are stereotyped and this is certainly true of the Japanese.

Gail Benjamin's observations about her children's experiences in Japanese schools and her own participation in the process provide valuable insight into the entire behavior of the Japanese.

I lived and worked in Japan for three years (with a Japanese staff for part of the time.)I would have benefitted from a better understanding of the school system.

Everything I had heard was no better than second hand information from expats or Western writers with no direct experience. The overall stereotype is that Japanese teachers lecture and the students listen. The teachers are not questioned. While questioning the teachers may or may not occur the overall group emphasis and its nuances are an integral part of the Japanese society throughout life. The many variations of group activities described here (and the expected support of the parents) are not known by many Americans.

I'd put this book in my Top 5 of those to read if you want to understand more about the Japanese.

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