Like every year, DIVEULS awards scholarships to students of the institution who apply for the benefit of taking the course for free.

There are different approaches to Japanese culture that the Directorate of Liaison with the Environment and Extension of the University of La Serena carries out year after year, including those activities that are concentrated in the month of January and that are part of the Japan Weekend. On this occasion, it was the turn to complete a stage of studies carried out during 2018, such as the “Basic Japanese I and Basic Japanese II” courses.

Both activities were organized by the Directorate of Environmental Liaison and Extension and carried out by the volunteer of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Ritsuko Kohara.

In the certification, 7 students from the first year and 4 students from the second year received their certificates, thus completing a constant delivery of knowledge and approaches to Japanese culture through classes with their teacher twice a week.

During the ceremony, the Director of Liaison with the Environment and Extension, Dr. Catalina Cvitanic, and the language teacher, Ritsuko Kohara, congratulated the participants and delivered words of thanks.

“For DIVEULS it is always a pleasure to carry out workshops and activities because they are processes that our Management executes with great dedication and, naturally, a successful end makes us all happy. "I congratulate you," said Dr. Catalina Cvitanic, also highlighting that "in the case of the students from the University of La Serena who received scholarships, it is a double pleasure because we know that with this we are contributing to your future tomorrow." have an open door, perhaps to continue their studies in Japan, as many declared in the small survey at the beginning of this course (…) Thank you all very much, congratulations, and thanks to JICA.”

Meanwhile, Ritsuko Kohara commented: “I hope that this achievement is the first to continue knowing the Japanese language and culture. Congratulations and much success.” In addition, she highlighted the participation of former student Juan Gómez as a course assistant.

As on other occasions, the Japanese language courses I and II fulfilled their objective of providing knowledge about the vocabulary, grammar and reading of the Japanese language, also managing to develop in the student the ability to form small basic conversations in this language. This activity is carried out thanks to a collaboration process between the University of La Serena and JICA, where Professor Ritsuko Kohara is a volunteer.

The students

For the students, this instance of connection has become an opportunity for those people who, for different reasons, seek to get closer to this ancient culture.

“I love languages, in fact I have already studied English, and when I heard on University Radio that the Basic Japanese course was being promoted and that through Linking with the Environment the possibility was given to people who were outside the University to participate, I said yes. This is a possibility, the pleasure of knowing another world, another way of seeing life,” said student Carmen San Martín.

For his part, Andrés Ramírez, a student of the course and a third year student, stated that “I have always had an interest in Japan in general and in Asian culture, so I saw this course as an opportunity that fell from the sky because I wanted to study Japanese and I didn’t have time at school, so I was able to do it after school.”  

Japanese Language Speech Contest - Chile 2018

It should be noted that during November the Japanese Language Speech Contest - Chile 2018 was held, where two former students from the 2017 and 2018 Japanese courses won second and third place in the competition. They are Antonio López and Francisco Salinas, which constitutes another source of pride for her teacher Ritsuko Kohara and for the Directorate of Liaison with the Environment and ULS Extension.

Source: DIVEULS press