Rachel was one of 10 students selected to be a seminar leader in the inaugural 2014 Komatsu Summer School organized by Princeton University, Harvard University, and Cambridge University. She researched and proposed a seminar syllabus to teach a course on women as change-makers in Chinese literature, touching upon issues of gender roles, history, and representations of female characters in popular narratives to Japanese high school students.
Komatsu Summer School is a summer school for high school students of 5 nights and 6 days, built by university students from all over the world, including Princeton University, Harvard University, and Cambridge University in the United Kingdom, and university students from all over Japan. The purpose is for high school students from Ishikawa prefecture and all over Japan to “learn the power to open up the future” by sleeping and eating together with university students and working people from diverse backgrounds and having discussions together. I will. This year, which is the third year, we are recruiting 60 high school students from all over the country. Participating high school students will stay at the same inn together with US university students who have been learning Japanese for over a year and Japanese university students who support high school students, and will challenge comprehensive learning.
In the morning, there will be a small group discussion (4-5 high school students for each US university student), in which US university students will lead in English about their areas of expertise and imitate university classes. Preliminary assignments using materials from the university will be imposed, and discussions will be conducted in English with the support of bilingual Japanese university students. In addition, high school students will participate in lectures and dialogues by people who are active in each field, cultural activities working on traditional industries in Komatsu City, and free exchanges with speakers and working people who make use of the place to stay. Komatsu Summer School where you can interact and learn across various worlds such as English and Japanese, and the world and regions. Through learning from new friends and seniors, high school students aim for 5 nights and 6 days, which will be an opportunity to connect “the way I have taken” and “the way I want to take in the future”.
Name : Rachel Leng
University : Harvard University
Major : East Asian Studies (China and Japan)
Hometown : Singapore
Seminar Topic : Chinese Literature in Translation: Encounters between Tradition and Modernity
