Japanese class from URI visits Davisville Middle School

In February, students in the pre-advanced Japanese class at the University of Rhode Island took their learning and enthusiasm for the language to Davisville Middle School in North Kingstown. Davisville students are starting on a Silk Road journey in their seventh grade social studies class.

The visit built on connections between the two schools and the university's growing role as a leader in Japanese language instruction in Rhode Island. Only a handful of colleges in the state offer Japanese.

The program was started by Mya MacNeil. Starting the partnership was a way of thanking the teacher who first piqued her interest in Japanese, ultimately leading her to the University of Rhode Island and a major in the language. MacNeil was a student in Sandra Makielski’s classroom at Davisville Middle when she first learned about Japanese culture. She recalls that Makielski took students on a trip to New York City to listen to a seminar between Masahiro Sasaki, a survivor of the World War II bombing of Hiroshima, and President Truman’s grandson, Harry S. Truman.

After studying the language in Kingston and in Japan, MacNeil says she has found a greater appreciation for Japanese culture, and the world.

MacNeil’s first instructor in Japanese was Nahoko Collis, an assistant teaching professor, who says that even if students don’t get to Japan to study abroad, taking a class in the language still gives them the experience of Japanese culture and philosophy.

At Davisville Middle School, Emily Stewart, a civil engineering major from Providence, and her fellow student teachers tailored their lesson to seventh-grade levels with fun discussions and hands-on activities. The middle school students were excited and attentive.

Exploring commonality was one way to open discussion with the seventh graders. What do you know of Kyoto? Have you heard of Shohei Ohtani? The baseball fans’ ears perked up. Students learned how to write their names in Japanese and received a primer in words borrowed from English, such as Interneto.

At one table, University of Rhode Island junior Devin Hunsberger, once a student in Sandra Makielski’s seventh grade classroom at Davisville Middle School, helped students learn new phrases in Japanese; it was his second time helping in this program. The computer science and Japanese major is studying robotics and hopes his Japanese skills will help him in the future.

An American classroom is more active than what she normally sees in Japan, according to Mikiko Koike, an exchange student who recently arrived from Niigata University. An education major, she’s at the university to learn about elementary school teaching in the United States.

A 2023 National Geographic Grosvenor Teacher Fellow, Makielski says that hosting the university students brings invaluable cross-connections for her students.

“Devin was in this room 182 days, just like you,” she tells her class. “Now he’s here teaching and learning Japanese at the University of Rhode Island.”

Photo credits: Nora Lewis, University of Rhode Island

Photo 1: Devin Hunsberger, left, teaching students in Makielski's seventh grade classroom at Davisville Middle School.

Photo 2: From left, Emily Stewart and her Japanese professor Nahoko Collis oversee a lesson.

Photo 3: Davisville students enjoyed practicing their origami skills with Mikiko Koike.