Multilingual Education at the Affiliated Schools

Participant Profile

Kanade Yoshizawa
Teacher, Keio Shonan Fujisawa Junior and Senior High School

Kanade Yoshizawa
Teacher, Keio Shonan Fujisawa Junior and Senior High School

Keio University's Integrated Education: Diversity in Unity

Multilingual Education at the Affiliated Schools

(Posted April 2025)

Keio Shonan Fujisawa Junior and Senior High School's "Germany Study Tour"

From February 26 to March 4, 2025, a seven-day, five-night Germany study tour was held in Berlin, the capital of Germany. This was our school's first overseas study tour centered on learning a second foreign language.

In our school's second foreign language education program, students choose one language from German, French, Spanish, Chinese, or Korean and study it continuously for two years. Originally, this was a course only for sixth-year students (12th graders), but starting in the 2020 academic year, the classes began in the fifth year (11th grade). This opportunity to learn a second foreign language more deeply, including its history and culture, led to the planning of an overseas study tour centered on these studies.

On this tour, after tracing the history from the Kingdom of Prussia to the Nazi and Cold War eras, students participated in a two-night homestay. The program was designed to be more than just language training, offering an experience that deepens understanding of German history and culture. At every place we visited, the tour allowed students to sense the lives of people who lived through both glorious and dark, cold times, and to experience the lives of the German people today, who carry on their traditions and reflections.

Photo 4: The entrance to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, with the words "Arbeit macht frei" (Work sets you free)

Here are some excerpts from the participating students.

* What I had only learned on paper as history was now right before my eyes, and I was living with people who had experienced it. Related museums and monuments everywhere asserted the existence of these facts. It was an experience that made me feel as if I had wandered into a dream, like Alice in Wonderland. But this dream was real; I could touch it and engage with it. And reality provides experiences that are more vividly etched into memory than anything else.

* What struck me most while staying with my host family was their strong sense of awareness as German citizens regarding the actions Germany took during World War II. While touring Berlin with my host family, we looked at the "Stolpersteine," which translates to "stumbling stones" in English. These are 10 cm square plates engraved with the names, birth and death dates, and places of death of Holocaust victims. The stumbling stones are embedded in the cobblestones in front of the last residence the victim chose of their own free will, and I saw them in many places around the city. I was surprised that when they explained these plates, the subject they used was "we." They didn't separate themselves from the Germany of that time but explained it collectively as "we," which I felt reflected how post-war Germany has confronted its wartime past.

Photo 5: Stolpersteine / stumbling stones

* My host family regularly hosts students from various countries and was very curious about other nations. They asked me a lot about Japan and taught me a lot about Germany. During one of these conversations about our respective countries, my host father mentioned, "Germany may be world-famous for its car brands, but I'm worried that we are now falling far behind in the EV competition." Hearing that, I thought it might be similar to the situation of Japanese car manufacturers.

Since its opening in 1992, our school, with English language education as a cornerstone and a quarter of its student body being returnee students, has implemented various overseas study programs. Nearly 30 years have passed since the school opened, and today's students live in a rapidly developing and complexly intertwined global society. As the "leaders of the future" in this society, they are required to view the world from a broad, multifaceted perspective, not limited to just a few countries or regions. We are confident that overseas study tours centered on learning a second foreign language will provide an opportunity for them to become aware of the social responsibilities they must fulfill. We plan to continue offering these tours sequentially from the 2025 academic year onward and hope that many students will participate.