October 2018

“EDUCATION IS LIFE ITSELF.“ (JOHN DEWEY)

I did an online simulation game to take care of a family in Africa as an assignment when I took an online  undergrad course.  I killed at least two family members by my decision (not enough money to take them to hospital after spending money to education etc) every time when I played.

Simulation is not real.  However, it gives the opportunity to use imagination to feel and think.  I feel we have been focus to be “logical” rather than “emotional” in education and business.  But if education is not only sharing knowledge (cognitive), we can also talk about “emotional – how you feel?” (heart) even in adult education.

IF THE WORLD WAS 100 PEOPLE, HOW WOULD WE TEACH?

“Sustainability Harmonist Workshop” at UBC on October 15, 2018

Thank you to the participants (UBC 20 ESL students (intermediate level)/1 ESL teacher/ 1 undergrad student/ 1 grad student/ 2 staff and 3 participants from outside of UBC) for joining the workshop!!  I did not expect that many participants could join.  I enjoyed to listen to the participants’ own experiences and think about how I could do better job as a facilitator.

Sustainability Harmonist Workshop – Oct 15, 2018 – PowerPoint is used.

We had two group discussions:

  1. about their own Ikigai (five groups)
  2. how to make harmonized community/ies (four groups by the sustainability related topics chosen by participants, 1.Waste management, 2. Loneliness, 3. Food security (production), and 4. Social justice).

It seemed it was difficult to find own Ikigai in 10 minutes as well as the answer of how to make harmonized community/ies.

Sustainability and Ikigai themselves have vague and broad meanings.  I could have mentioned and explained the connection among sustainability, ikigai, individual psychology, and community clearly in the beginning and with examples for some concepts.  It might be helpful for the participants in their group discussion.  At the same time, it might limit the freedom for participants to think about the concepts by their way?  As a facilitator I am not sure how much control I should have.

As you see the participants’ list and photo above, the participants had variety of background even though majority was ESL students.  I think I got used to talk about sustainability with people who already have experience in the field and community, it was fresh to talk with people who have just started to think about the topic.  Some of the ESL students are staying Vancouver for short-term.  One of them told me he did not feel lonely here because he has been here too short to feel lonely.  I could ask him the questions 1)how strong he feels connection to the community here and 2)if he cares about the community here or not.

I wish this workshop (the concepts) helps or makes sense especially, when people have hard time to sustain who they are.

I would like to improve the workshop/my facilitator skill with feedback from the participants.  I had definitely different kind of experience in the workshop as a facilitator compared with the workshop in the classroom of our grad program whom I  regularly meet and share the knowledge about sustainability.  I hope I can do more workshops like this to different groups in different places.

Pakistan’s Mithi, an oasis of Muslim-Hindu tolerance – Al Jazeera English

This is one example of harmonized community.

https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera/videos/191083998462856/?__tn__=kC-R&eid=ARCDqxOMtMftZ4LKIabofPUEABTLXWtbfhu0wz_GsCfWaDW1iJaL05L3TTZH3yZ64KWjbOtBDs4pIqIj&hc_ref=ARSx5ezdMvNZnQK_mXYK4joseBmj7pqaOmnkjfC4Ju1uAon47mmp4B63Giw9V8ZsrlQ&fref=nf&__xts__[0]=68.ARDqMPaY7BQaL63kF1vGq_S2DQs8IIDNdZ4osUoy64iHJ2TkmCf68hXn2i7PrIFVlFyppdwwCIkhJxrUB9mpr4Z2zkQ3v1G8P0DrdKmMhnUslrRSdGgQEik_jGC9viDAcoaCCPKg2mNhWscmMZq7ueMruwJjVkTZiz2aRX2I9mrIveisKNs2wyA-CGkyP5zr3VaZQcBe6v5GjL5vTqUK8MyIIv0uG_-n8byP5yQlASJ6NdtB2BE

Al Jazeera English

 

 

On the Frame of Reference of “Ikigai” by Hiroshi KUMAKURA

Japanese Article: 「生きがい」の構造について 熊倉弘

PDF article (Japanese) available: https://iwate-u.repo.nii.ac.jp/?action=pages_view_main&active_action=repository_view_main_item_detail&item_id=12132&item_no=1&page_id=13&block_id=21

This article is summarized the concept of Ikigai from various of resources even though the resources are published almost late 60’s and early 70’s the “ikigai” boom happened in Japan.

Concept of “Ikigaai” (3) : Why was the “Ikigai”? written by Kanda, Nobuhiko

Japanese article: 生きがい考(3) : なぜ生きがいだったのか生きがい考 ー 神田信彦

Details about article and PDF form (only in Japanese) are below site:

https://bunkyo.repo.nii.ac.jp/index.php?active_action=repository_view_main_item_detail&page_id=29&block_id=40&item_id=3002&item_no=1

This article examines historical circumstance of “Ikigai theory boom” in around 70’s in Japan.  This article shows everyone has ikigai consciously/unconsciously all time.