Universiti Selangor (UNISEL)

A collaboration between UNISEL and Alumni Look East Policy Society for The Home-stay Program in Japan For Indonesian Students

By Md. Rosli bin Haji Ismail, Lecturer, UNISEL

A collaboration between Universiti Selangor (UNISEL) and Alumni Look East Policy Society (ALEPS) was held to organize a home-stay program at Fukiage District in Kagoshima, Japan recently. ALEPS is a non-profit organization which was formed by the graduates of technical institutions/universities in Japan and Korea in 1988.

This Home-stay Program is unique because in the recent event, the participants were not from Malaysia but students of a secondary school in Pekan Baru, Indonesia.   Fourteen students aged between 13 and 15, and two teachers of Yayasan Lembaga Pendidikan Islam (YLPI) Secondary School, Pekan Baru participated in this program.

“As Pekan Baru is nearer to Kuala Lumpur as compared to Jakarta, YLPI Secondary School had selected UNISEL as a hub for organizing its home-stay program. UNISEL can be considered as a ‘bridge’ for internationalization of two countries between Japan and Indonesia”, said the principal, Tukiman Maman who was also one of the participants.

 “In the future, there will be more opportunities for UNISEL to organize the same program especially for those schools from Sumatera Island because of its location and expertise” added Tukiman Maman.   

According to Tukiman Manan, the main objectives of the home-stay program are to expose the participants to cultural diversity, of which they would have a better understanding on the Japanese culture and tradition, as well as to foster a good relationship and create a networking with Japanese community.

These participants were in Kuala Lumpur for a week for an intensive basic Japanese language course prior to leaving for Japan. “Communication is the main barrier during the home-stay in Japan. Through the intensive course offered by UNISEL, the participants were exposed to daily word expressions, greetings, self-introduction and communicative spoken Japanese language. Although their vocabulary and sentence structures are very limited, but at least it may help reduce the communication gap in certain ways and these participants were able to communicate with their host families”, explained Md. Rosli, who is the only lecturer teaching Japanese language in UNISEL.

During the home-stay program at Fukiage District, the participants had an opportunity to experience themselves to make their own potteries, visit an orange orchard and an elementary school. “I am very happy because I have learnt something from the students of this elementary school. During the activity time, I learned how to make an origami, play Japanese traditional games such as takeuma which is very interesting”, said one of the participants. In Tokyo, they had an opportunity to learn basic ikebana which they enjoyed it very much.

ALEPS has been promoting the Home-stay Program to Japan since the last 13 years. Talking about the background of the home-stay program, Zaba Youn who is the president of ALEPS mentioned, “Originally, the home-stay program started back in 1985 when it became a compulsory for foreign students of Technical Institutions in Japan to undergo a two-week home-stay program in Kagoshima. The home-stay program continued until 1995. In 1997, three of their host families came to Malaysia for the first time. As a reciprocal home-stay program between the two countries, the committee members of ALEPS decided to go to Kagoshima for the home-stay program in the same year. In the following year, the committee sent its children for the home-stay program to Kagoshima. Since then, we have two or three home-stay programs in a year”.   

The home-stay program is open to any individual such as students, businessmen, professionals who are interested in getting to know daily life of the Japanese society and their cultures. The duration of stay in Japan is about seven days of which four days are for the home-stay program and the rest is a study tour program in Tokyo of which the main highlight is Tokyo Disneyland. 

“I am planning to bring my own students who are currently learning Japanese language sometime in April next year. I believe that this exposure is vital for them not only to practise communicating in the target language with Japanese native speakers, but to learn about the Japanese society” said Md. Rosli who is also a graduate of Keio University.

“The beautiful part of the home-stay program is that Japanese people are also exposed to Malaysian multi-cultures, Bahasa Malaysia and their perception about Islam”, added Md. Rosli.

Those who are interested in the Home-stay Program in Japan are advised to undergo a basic Japanese language course offered by UNISEL and any enquiry related to the home-stay program, please email to Md. Rosli bin Haji Ismail at Mdrosli_1204@yahoo.com or call directly to 012-283 7053.