| Unlike traditional outreach programs--which typically reach students in primary and secondary schools indirectly, by means of curricular support and teaching resources offered to their teachers--the FEAS's Outreach Program was designed to reach students in our community directly, by providing a range of "hands-on" cultural activities that introduce them to various aspects of East Asian cultures. |
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The program is offered to visiting classes at the FEAS, in order to make use of the unique and varied resources that distinguish our program from traditional outreach centers. These resources include our Japanese-style tatami room and garden, a kitchen completely equipped for cooking and serving Chinese and Japanese meals, "hands-on" collections of Chinese and Japanese clothing, and a gallery with changing exhibitions of East Asian art. Our program is unique in yet another way as well, in that it is run entirely by our undergraduate East Asian Studies majors. The program thus serves our own students--by giving them the opportunity to pratice communicating their understanding and insight to others--at the same time that they serve a younger generation of students in the community surrounding Wesleyan.
The program was begun in 1987 and has grown steadily over the past years; at present, the program is run by three "outreach coordinators" assisted by other East Asian Studies students, of whom ten to fifteen are typically involved each year. These students plan and run the activity workshops for each visiting class, which are specially tailored to its age level (ranging from preschool through high school) and curricular focus (from social studies to Japanese language). Visiting classes average about 25 students in size, and are split into three smaller groups which rotate among the activity sessions; each student thus has the opportunity to participate fully in three different activities. Some of the units currently offered are: Writing and Language, Food in East Asia, Martial Arts, Japanese Tea Ceremony, East Asian Music, Traditional Clothing, Kamishibai Story-telling, and Origami.
The Program is offered most Friday afternoons throughout the academic year, and reaches an average of some 300 students each year. The FEAS's outreach program has excited so much demand among area teachers that a lottery system was introduced in 1994 to allocate the limited spaces available in the fairest manner.
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