CLE CONNECTION -...

Despite a cold winter, so far school has closed only once in the morning due to snow. (Hopefully no more than that by the time this newsletter is published!) Every time it snows, I worry that our schedule may need to be revised, which makes it difficult for both professors

and students. Baltimore recently set new records for its coldest temperatures and reminds me a bit of my days in Minnesota and Toronto. I am sure you are anxiously awaiting a warm spring, as am I.

-Yuki Johnson, Ph.D.

CLE Director

I N S I D E T H I S I S S U E :

Greetings From the Director

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CLE Hosts 2nd Annual Conference on LCTL for ACP in Maryland

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Spring 2015 CLE Study Abroad Scholarship Recipients

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Inside the CLE Classroom: A Cultural Experience

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Arabic: Making Moroccan Tea With First Year Arabic Students

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Korean: Learning Korean Culture Through Calligraphy and Cooking Lesson

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Chinese: Engaging Learners in Cultural Thinking

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Russian: Spring Update

5

Hebrew: Hummus Making-A Cultural and Class Tradition

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Japanese: Third Year Japanese at Hopkins by Ken Kwon

Haiku

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7

Upcoming Events 8

New ESL Course Offerings at MCC

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The 21st CLE Workshop 8

Conference Photos 9-10

Spring 2015 CLE Scholarship Recipients— Sydney Short Jeremy Nelson Alex Chambers

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Volume 5, Issue 9

Spr ing 2015

CLE CONNECTION NEWSLETTER FOR THE CENTER FOR LANGUAGE EDUCATION

CL E H O S T S 2 N D A N N UA L C O N F E R E N C E O N L CTL F O R ACP I N M A RY L A N D

The 2nd Conference on Less Commonly Taught Languages (LCTL) for the Academic Cooperative Program (ACP) in Maryland was held at the end of the fall 2014 term at the Hopkins Club. After opening remarks given by Dr. Omar Ka, Chair of the Department of Modern Languages, Linguistics and Intercultural Communication at UMBC, all attendees gave self-introductions and presentations on their foreign language program. We came to know each other’s background, history and the current status of each program. (see pictures

on pages 9-10). It was a great success, and we are all l o o k i n g forward to t h e 3 r d confer ence n e x t D e c e m b e r when we will be sharing f o r e i g n l a n g u a g e c o u r s e development a n d ins t ruct ion methods and ideas.

G R E E T I N G S F RO M T H E CLE D I R E C T O R

Yuki Johnson, CLE Director

(photo courtesy of Home-woodphoto.jhu.edu)

Faculty from language programs of surrounding universities in the Academic Cooperative Program along with JHU faculty meet at the Hopkins Club for the 2nd annual LCTL Conference.

Volume 5, Issue 8

Tea is one of the most popular drinks in Morocco; it is served any time during the day. Brewing and drinking tea is a much loved tradition that signifies hospitality and friendship, and is prepared with great care. Tea time is a daily cultural practice where friends and family members gather and drink Moroccan mint tea with cookies.

It was in our Friday morning class where s t u d e n t s gathered around the table for a q u i c k demonstration on how to make Moroccan tea. The ingredients t h a t a r e necessary to make a flavorful tea include: Moroccan tea p o t , m i n t leaves, green tea,

jasmine tea, sugar and boiling water. I demonstrated step by step how to make tea with the help of students and also brought some cookies to go with the tea!

Students enjoyed the preparation of tea; some of them loved the smell and the flavor of tea. Most importantly, they learned a new cultural practice which reflects the warmth in the culture. — Sana Jafire

A R A B I C

MAKING MOROCCAN TEA WITH FIRST YEAR ARABIC STUDENTS:

Teaching a foreign language involves teaching about culture. Students can`t truly master the language until they master the cultural context in which the language occurs.

Food and drinks are among the cultural practices that interest most students. Last fall semester, students had the opportunity to learn about these practices closely.

Sana Jafire, Arabic Lecturer

I N S I D E T H E CL E C L A S S RO O M : A C U LT U R A L E X P E R I E N C E

First Year Arabic students making and enjoying a flavorful cup of Moroccan tea during a class demonstration by Sana Jafire.

S P R I N G 2 0 1 5 C L E S T U DY A B R OA D S C H O L A R S H I P R E C I P I E N T S

Since the fall of 2013 the Center for Language Education has awarded funds to CLE language students who plan to study aboard during their fall, spring or summer semester. The CLE Study Abroad Scholarship is awarded to individuals

e x c e l l i n g i n acquisition of the target language and demonstrating o u t s t a n d i n g p o t e n t i a l t o maximize their language skills by studying abroad.

The 4 most recent recipients of the award for spring 2015 are Chinese language students

Matthew Moores, EAS Major, JHU Class of 2016. Matt’s spring semester in China does not begin until March, but he’s excited to be returning to Shanghai. He is pictured here in 2012.

Miss Hye Yeon Park and Mr. Matthew Moores (both studying in Shanghai, China); and Arabic language students, Miss Sydney Short and Mr. Jeremy Nelson (both s tudy ing in Raba t , Morocco ) . Congratulations to all! Applications are now being accepted from CLE language students planning to study abroad during summer 2015. The application deadline is Monday, April 13. For more information and an application, v i s i t o u r w e b s i t e a t cledu.jhu.edu/about/CLEScholarship.html Read more as Sydney Short and Jeremy Nelson share the start of their semesters abroad. Alex Chambers, a fall 2014 recipient, who is studying in Tokyo, Japan for a year, also shares his experience.

... continued on page 11

Hye Yeon Park, Interna-tional Studies major, JHU Class of 2016. Hye Yeon will begin her spring semes-ter abroad in Shanghai in early March.

CLE CONNECTION

those who wrote the letter most beautifully.

T h i r d - y e a r Korean class had another special event: cooking Korean food! Students chose the food to cook a n d t h e shopping list was completed by me and the students. One group of students made Ttokbokki (spicy rice cake), a popular Korean food made from soft cake, fish cake, and sweet red pepper paste sauce. Students chose this food as they missed having it on the streets in Korea or they saw it in various Korean dramas. The other group made Pajeon, green onion pancake which is made from a batter of eggs, wheat flour, green onions and other vegetables. As Ttokbokki is spicy and Pajeon is a bit bland, it was a perfect combination. As the students learned all the vocabulary and expressions regarding cooking, it was a great opportunity for them to practice the words while they actually cooked their favorite dishes. All the while students had fun cooking and conversing in Korean, the food was quickly ready and we all enjoyed the food. The event was a great success! — Jayoung Song

K O R E A N

Jayoung Song, Korean Lecturer

LEARNING KOREAN CULTURE THROUGH CALLIGRAPHY AND COOKING LESSON

Culture is an essential part of our languages, our past, and our present. It is often said that learning a language in isolation of its cultural roots prevents one from becoming socialized into its contextual use. In an attempt to encourage students to perceive and experience the deeper level of Korean culture, I organized two culture-related events last semester.

Given that beautiful handwriting is considered one of the important writing skills in Korean language, first, second, and third-year Korean classes had a special calligraphy lesson on Hangul Day, which is known as Korean alphabet day (October 9). The class first watched a video clip about how Hangul, Korean alphabet, was invented by King Sejong. Then, students learned how to use brushes, an ink-stone, and ink-sticks to write Hangul on a s p e c i a l p a p e r f o r calligraphy. Each student had a chance to draw his/her favorite words or sentences in Korean and a small reward went to

KOREAN NEW YEAR’S DAY is one of Korea’s most important holidays. This holiday lasts three days, starting on New Year’s Eve and ending on the day after New Year’s. The celebration starts with each family member wearing traditional clothing called Hanbok and honoring their family and ancestors through a full bow called Sebae. It is an extremely family-based holiday; thus people spend time with family playing games, children receiving gifts and money from elders, eating traditionally significant foods such as Dukgook, rich cake soup, and dumplings.

In celebration of Lunar New Year’s day, the Korean class made dumplings and learned how to make full bow, Sebae on February 13, Friday. First, the class made dumplings by adding fillings to wrapping papers. The fillings consisting of ground pork, glass noodle, kimchi, beansprouts, crushed tofu, garlic, and green onions were prepared in advance. The students made dumplings by placing a tablespoon of filling in the middle of the wrapping paper and folding the wrap in half. Then, the dumplings were steamed for 15 minutes until the filling was fully cooked. While the dumplings were cooked, the students also learned how to Sebae. I demonstrated how to bow and a group of students consisting of two or three came up to the front and bowed to me. Just like Korean children receive a small gift or money from their parents or relatives after Sebae, each student received a small souvenir from Korea.

Korean language students having a special calligraphy lesson on Hangul Day, known as Korean Alphabet Day.

Students of 3rd Year Korean enjoy cooking and eating popular Korean dishes, such as Ttokbokki (spicy rice cake) and Pajeon (green onion pancake).

More photos on back page

Volume 5, Issue 8

C H I N E S E

Hi everyone, Happy

Chinese New Year! It was very nice to get to know other colleagues in Mary-land during the con-sortium. Before the spring semester, I have also learned about my colleague’s research and peda-gogical interests. I am very happy to be part of this support-ive and friendly fami-ly and community! — Jing-Yun Chen

Time flies! 2014 has

been a year of fulfill-ment and harvest. I have taught Second Year and Third Year Chinese in the fall and I will keep teaching those two levels in the spring semester. It was a wonderful experience to teach and witness stu-dents learning and making progress in the past semester. It is a great joy to see them again in 2015. I would also like to convey my thanks to my lovely colleagues for their great personality and professional dedication that make CLE a wonderful place. — Yanfei Chen

I N S I D E T H E C L E C L A S S R O O M : A C U L T U R A L E X P E R I E N C E ( C O N T ’ D )

ENGAGING LEARNERS IN CULTURAL THINKING

On February 28th, I will give a presentation at

CLTAC conference at Stanford University. The

title of my presentation is: Engaging Learners in

Cultural Thinking: Introducing Reality Show into

Chinese Classroom.

Cultural awareness remains a heated topic in

language teaching. Culture includes the pattern

of everyday life, the do’s and don’ts of personal

behavior, and all the points of interaction be-

tween the individual and the society. In second

language teaching, language and culture are

inseparably intertwined.

In order to incorporate cultural elements into

the Chinese classroom to help learners develop

interest in target culture and recognize that be-

haviors are shaped by both situational variation

and cultural conventions, I have explored the

possibilities of introducing Chinese reality

shows as supplementary cultural materials into

intermediate level Chinese class so as to en-

hance learners’ second language learning pro-

gress and cultural awareness.

Different from deliberately edited TV dramas

and movies, reality shows provide a great

amount of more authentic and realistic materi-

als that covers the topics from job hunting,

parenthood, dating to school life. The scenarios

in the shows directly reflect how people speak

and behave in current society. Moreover, they

send messages about most prevalent social val-

ues in modern China. In the class, clips of the

reality shows were shown and explained to stu-

dents, followed by the discussion about the

language used and underlying cultural notes

conveyed through the shows. Assignments and

tasks along with online resources were given to

strengthen students learning experience through

the authentic materials.

This attempt received

very good feedback from

students. They showed

great interest in this form

of authentic materials and

had heated discussion in

class. After class, they

liked to search for online

resources and watch oth-

er episodes of the show

on their own. Yanfei Chen Chinese Lecturer

The Spring Festival, or Chinese New Year, is the most important traditional festi-

val in China. According to Chinese astrology, each year is associated with an ani-mal sign, occurring in a 12-year cycle, and 2015 is the Year of the Goat. In most Chinese people’s eyes, the goat is a kind of animal that possesses many good char-acteristics, such as strong creativity, perseverance, delicate thoughts and kindheart-edness, thus the Year of the Goat is generally believed to be a fortunate and peaceful year. This week our students learned a very special way to express their New Year wishes by writing some Chinese lucky words on a small piece of red paper called the “New Year Scroll.” In Chinese culture, the color red is believed to have a magic power that can protect people against bad fortunes and make one’s dream come true. Please accept the best wishes from all the teachers and students in our Chi-nese pro-gram—may the Year of the Goat bring you great health, lots of hap-piness, joy and love!

— Nan Zhao

Yanfei Chen Chinese Lecturer

Jing-Yun Chen Chinese Lecturer

Nan Zhao Chinese Lecturer

Chinese Lecturer, Nan Zhao and her students celebrate the Chinese New Year by writing Chinese words of luck on red paper and making a ‘New Year Scroll.”

CLE CONNECTION

Well, once again the spring semester is off to a running start. No surprise there. With two schools to service my col-league Annalisa Czeczulin and I are con-stantly on the move, shuttling back and forth between Goucher to Hopkins – and loving it, at least most days. I should point out that this semester with four Goucher students in Russia, the mini-van seems more like an echo chamber, but that’s also par for the course. We want our students to go abroad, of course. The flip side is that we feel the pinch in course enrollments.

This year it’s an interesting abroad mix. Angelika, who was adopted, has com-fortably adjusted to life in Russia. Cassie, who hated leaving the Goucher Bubble even for a stroll around Inner Harbor, first hated Moscow, then passionately fell in love with the bustling city. None of the students seem to mind one bit that Russia is at war with its neighbor to the south. Or maybe they just haven’t noticed. This may be because in the two former capitals of Imperial Russia one can still find folks who still consider

R U S S I A N

Putin a swashbuckling hero who is de-termined to re-constitute the borders of the bad old U.S.S.R. In Odessa, Ukraine, most of my friends have no desire to be re-constituted. They want to be left alone to their own language and customs.

A few years back Dr. Ol’ga Martyniuk who teaches linguistics at the Interna-tional Institute of Odessa helped me set up a Skyping ex-change with Hopkins students. This semes-ter two JHU students, Pedro Cortes, a Dou-ble Major in Russian and Neurology and George Boulabassis continue the tradition of Skyping with grad-uate students at the Linguistics Institute. Whenever Pedro “de-briefs” me on his most recent conversa-tion with Stasik, his


partner, he always laments that Stasik just doesn’t want to talk politics. The young man, who is studying to be a law-yer, prefers talking sports, cuisine, and history. One can hardly blame him…. That’s all for now. A wonderful semes-ter to all….

—Olya Samilenko

Director, Cooperative JHU-GC Program in Russian Language, Literature and Culture

Russian Language, Literature and Culture faculty, (right) Olya Samilenko, Ph.D., Adjunct Associate Professor and (left) Annalisa Czeczulin, Ph.D., Adjunct Assistant Professor

H E B R E W

HUMMUS MAKING: A CULTURAL AND CLASS TRADITION At the end of the fall 2014 semester, students once again met in the Hopkins Hillel building for a hummus making class conducted by Zvi Cohen, our Hebrew language instructor. The ingredients were arrayed on the table—fresh herbs and spices, tahini and chickpeas, lemon juice, olive oil, crunchy and not-too-sweet pickles, and loaves of pita bread for “wiping” up the hummus. Hummus making is a culinary tradition that exists throughout Mediterranean and Middle Eastern countries where the recipes can vary and the right way to make hummus is a hotly disputed and quite contentious topic!

With immersion blender in hand, Zvi demonstrated the proper technique to combining all of the ingredients and spoke in Hebrew to students as they joined in while taking turns passing around food and mixing the ingredients in the bowl. Everyone was in good spirits and it was clear to see that students were comfortable and at ease practicing their language skills. The hummus was delicious as usual and there were hardly any leftovers for students to take home!

Just as the art of making this simple and healthful dish is a tradition, so too has it become a tradition every semester for Hebrew students to meet and gather and share in a good time as they practice their speaking skills. And I for one look forward to many more semesters of dropping by to share in the wonderful food and conversation! — Julia Friedrich

Zvi Y. Cohen, Ph. D. Hebrew Lecturer

Hebrew language students work together to make hum-mus, the delicious and healthy culinary tradition that exists throughout Mediterranean and Middle Eastern countries.

Volume 5, Issue 8

J A PA N E S E

THIRD YEAR JAPANESE AT HOPKINS The Third Year Japanese class offered at Johns Hopkins Uni-versity provides a fun, interactive, and engaging approach to-wards understanding the Japanese language. The class meets every other day, and each week is usually broken up into lesson days and practice days. On lesson days, new grammar or vo-cabulary is introduced. On practice days, students sharpen their listening and oral skills by speaking with one another—while incorporating the grammar/vocabulary for that lesson. This approach allows students to explore the language in the best way possible—by actually speaking it. Fur-thermore, homework assignments are designed to help improve students’ writing capabilities. The class finds a nice balance between practicing oral and written skills through this method. Also, every assignment buffers the gram-mar/vocabulary that was learned in that chapter, so students are never doing work just for the sake of doing work. Overall, the class provides a full, in-depth understanding of the various nuances in the Japanese language.

The Japanese class provides not only an edu-cational environment, but also an enjoyable en-vironment to be in. The teacher often supple-ments each lesson plan with funny videos, songs, or other forms of media that illustrate the Japanese culture. The best part about the class is the fact that students have fun when learning, and they are able to see themselves improving each day. Re-cently, the class spent time making mochi and green tea, while also learning about the Japanese Tea Ceremony that is promi-nent in the Japanese culture. Mochi is a Japanese rice cake that is made by pounding paste into a ball, cooking it, and then eat-ing it with red bean paste. The green tea was made by ground-ing powder and pouring hot water into a tea bowl. The Tea Ceremony involves two people. One person presents the tea bowl to the other person, and they exchange bows. Then, the

person who received the tea bowl rotates the bowl before tak-ing a drink. Students were able to spend a day practicing this ceremony, while also enjoying delicious food. This is only one example of the many ways that the class incorporates fun and

engaging activities with learning. Rather than only learning about the Japanese culture through textbooks or readings, students are able to physi-cally practice and explore the Japanese culture.

My favorite part about the class is the con-versations with both the teacher and the other students. It is cool being able to carry out a con-versation—incorporating listening and speaking skills—and seeing myself grow with the lan-guage. The class environment encourages trying out sentences and phrases that you might not be comfortable with yet, and practicing them enough to the point where you are com-fortable using them. Also, you are able to meet a lot of friends and learn about them

because you are talking to the same people every day about a variety of topics. Regardless of your experi-ence or knowledge about the Japa-nese language or culture, the Japa-nese class at Johns Hopkins Uni-versity would be a great class to take. — Ken Kwon


Ken Kwon East Asian Studies Major

JHU Class of 2016

Rather than only learning about the Japanese culture

through textbooks or readings, students are

able to physically practice and explore the Japanese culture.

In December, Third Year Japanese class had a festive time with rice cake and green tea to celebrate early new year. After pounding 10 pound of sweet rice, students kneaded and rounded the rice into Mochi. They also had a quick lesson of Tea Ceremony rituals, and made and served tea to each other. This type of hands-on experience not only enhances the quality of their learning, but also pro-motes their further interest in the culture. I am hoping to hold more events like this in the near future. — Makiko Nakao

Makiko Nakao Japanese Lecturer

Third Year Japanese students explore Japanese tea ceremony rituals, making and serving green tea to each other.

CLE CONNECTION

Haiku is one of the most important forms of traditional Japanese poetry.

Haiku is typically a 17-syllable verse form consisting of three metrical units of 5, 7, and 5 syllables.

Shown above are some selected Haiku that Second Year Japanese students made this semester.

H A I K U : A F O R M O F J A PA N E S E P O E T R Y

Volume 5, Issue 8

T H E 2 1 S T CLE W O R K S H O P The spring term started with a workshop on January 23rd in the Great Hall in Levering marking the 21st such workshop for CLE faculty. Seven of our faculty made presentations on the theme "Best Class Activities: What Works." Thank you for wonderful presentations. We all learned from each other regardless of the differences in languages. Although grammar, culture and the instructional approach to the language might differ among one another, we always learn from interactions like this, and I hope to keep it up. Following the workshop, Chinese Lecturer, Yanfei Chen submitted her abstract to a conference, and it was accepted for oral presentation! Her talk will be presented at Stanford University at the end of February. Great work, Yanfei!

CLE Faculty give presentations on their best classroom activity ideas in Arabic, Chinese, Korean and Russian language classes at the 21st CLE Workshop on January 23.

Pictured left to right, top row: Olya Samilenko (Russian), Nan Zhao (Chinese), Sana Jafire (Arabic); center row: Jayoung Song (Korean), Baraa Rajab (Arabic), Jing-Yun Chen (Chinese); left: Yanfei Chen (Chinese).

BELOW: An audience of CLE Faculty listen to presentations and enjoy lunch and conversation after 21st CLE Workshop on January 23.

UPCOMING EVENTS

The 22nd CLE Faculty Workshop is scheduled for Tuesday, May 5th at 12:00pm at the Hopkins Club. All faculty are expected to visit at least one class, and write a brief half-page report. During the workshop, everyone is scheduled to make a presentation/talk about a class (or classes) they observed and what they learned about the language. This will be another great opportunity to learn from each other.

NEW ESL COURSE OFFERINGS AT MCC

In addition to CLE’s intensive summer English as a Second Language program at Homewood we will be offering two classes for the working profess ional in the Rockville/DC area on the Hopkins Montgomery County Campus (MCC) this summer.

JHU has been expanding its presence in the nation’s capital through its programs in the School of Advanced International Studies and in its many Biotechnology and Economics course offerings to students at MCC. It will be wonderful to contribute to our continued positive impact on the area by helping those in professional and political careers improve their business presentations, official written documents, and overall proficiency, particularly in areas such as accent reduction!

Susan Lee, who has been teaching ESL in CLE since summer 2014 will be conducting both classes.

Susan Lee ESL Lecturer

May 26-July 6th

Strengthening Oral Communications MWF 9:30-11:20am

Professional Writing MWF 6-7:50pm For more information on both MCC and Homewood offerings, visit cledu.jhu.edu/esl.

CLE CONNECTION

BELOW: Speakers at the 2nd annual LCTL Conference for ACP in Maryland at the Hopkins Club on December 12. Pictured left to right, top row:

Yuki Johnson (JHU-CLE Director-Japanese), Omar Ka (UMBC), Erin Chung (JHU-EAS Director), Olya Samilenko (JHU/Goucher-Russian); bottom

row: Ping Fu (Towson-Chinese), Yu Zhang (Loyola-Chinese), Uma Saini (JHU-Hindi), Inas Hassan (Loyola-Arabic).

ABOVE: More speakers, more stories shared at the 2nd annual LCTL Conference for ACP in Maryland. Pictured left to right, top row: Jayoung Song

(JHU-Korean), Ziad Bentahar (Towson-Arabic), Annalisa Czeczulin (JHU/Goucher-Russian), Jing-Yun Chen (JHU-Chinese), Baraa Rajab (JHU-

Arabic); bottom row: Makiko Nakao (JHU-Japanese); Xia Pan (Towson-Chinese), Satoko Katagiri (JHU-Japanese), Jin Yin (Loyola-Chinese), Sana Jafire

(JHU-Arabic).

P H O T O S O F 2 N D A N N UA L C O N F E R E N C E O N L CTL F O R ACP I N M A RY L A N D , D E C E M B E R 2014

T H E J O H N S H O P K I N S C L U B , H O M E W O O D C A M P U S

Volume 5, Issue 8

Enjoying lunch at the Hopkins Club, building relationships, and getting to know one another at the 2nd annual LCTL Conference for ACP in Maryland.

Along with group photos of ACP faculty, pictured above center, left to right: Pingsheng Cai (Loyola-Japanese) and Jinghua Wangling (Loyola-

Chinese).

CLE CONNECTION

SYDNEY SHORT, MOROCCO-SPRING 15

Morocco is beautiful! The food is amazing, the people are so welcoming and generous, the architecture is gorgeous, and I love that the trains are pretty reliable making travel between cities super easy. I live in Rabat with a host family. My family only speaks Darija (Moroccan Arabic) so communication is somewhat limited but we get along very well and they are incredibly sweet and caring people. Although I have taken Arabic since freshmen year I quickly learned that classical Arabic is vastly different than the Moroccan dialect. But it helps that my family makes an effort to encourage me to speak with them so that I can continue to improve. Since arriving in Morocco I have had the opportunity to travel throughout the country to Casablanca, Kanitra, Assilah, and Tangier. Within the next couple of weeks I will be going to Meknes, Volubilis, Chefchaouen, Marrakesh, and Fez. The history of each city is always really interesting and I love exploring the souks and the medina in each city I visit.

Sydney Short, International Studies and Anthropology double ma-jor, JHU Class of 2016. Tea time in Rabat!

C L E S T U D Y A B R O A D S C H O L A R S H I P R E C I P I E N T S ( C O N T ’ D F R O M P A G E 2 )

My time in Morocco has been great so far... the people here are extremely gracious, and there are so many amazing sites that haven't been diminished by overdevelopment.

I w o u l d d e f i n i t e l y encourage any JHU student interested in the Middle East/Arabic/Economic Development, or just looking for a great off-the-beaten-path adventure, to study abroad in Morocco!

Jeremy Nelson, International Studies and Economics double major, JHU Class of 2016. Among Jeremy’s off-the-beaten-path adventures so far in Morocco has been to the city of Chefchaouen, noted for its buildings in shades of blue, pictured below. The name refers to the shape of the mountain tops above the town, that look like the two horns (chaoua) of a goat. Pictured right: the city of Rabat, the capital of Morocco.

JEREMY NELSON, MOROCCO-SPRING 15

ALEX CHAMBERS, JAPAN-FALL 14 AND SPRING 15

Before coming to Japan, I had painted a pretty picture of study abroad in my head that simply entailed improving one’s foreign language skills and experiencing a new culture. Of course, I have done plenty of both of these things during my five months in Japan, but the most meaningful parts of my experience have been things I never foresaw. The shyness I worked so hard to overcome when speaking Japanese, all of my new friends who have made my every experience in Japan unforgettable and with whom I know I will stay in contact for many years to come, and the spirit of adventure and taking chances that I have acquired have all shaped me into a wiser and more fun-loving Alex. Overall, my time in Japan has been absolutely unforgettable. I feel so at home here and am looking forward to all

o f m y adventures in the following semester.

Alex Chambers, EAS and International Studies double major, JHU Class of 2016. While exploring Japan’s Kansai region, I made a brief stop in a small town called Nara. It is a quiet, traditional town, relatively untouched by modernization. Perhaps the most famous attraction there is the Nara Deer Park, a park where deer roam freely, waiting eagerly for food handouts from passersby. I made the mistake of carrying a bag of cookies with me to the park, for the deer chased me until I handed over every last cookie to them.

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In class, Korean language students learn to make dumplings from their instructor, Jayoung Song, in celebration of Lunar New Year’s Day. This was an opportunity for students to practice their language skills in an informal setting and gain insight into how Koreans typical-ly celebrate the holiday. It was also a great time to enjoy wonderful food and learn what makes this time of year so vibrant and hopeful!

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