japanese and their engRish

I'm currently working as one of the leaders of an English camp in my uni for two days where we have to help 250 japanese high school students exploring their dream and thinking how to reach their goals in the future. (I'm currently listed as a 2nd year student in Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University in Japan)

It has been really great because I get along well the other leaders, the project itself is fun, I make new friends, I learn a lot from  the kids, I can practice my japanese ability, and last but not least, I get paid*wink*

BUT the thing is, I kinda had such a high expectations on their english because the program director said it's an english camp and it turned out to be all wrong.

First, at the beginning of the program, we tried to do the ice-breaking games, and the first trouble appeared. I explained the instructions and no one moved. I was stunned. Yes, they dont understand my simple explanation * i just ask them to make a circle,ask about their group mates' hobby, and we will 'test' them afterward*

After that, we had to take them on campus tour. It went pretty much ok because we dont need that much explanation and I also had to make a presentation about how I view my future but since I had my translator with me, it was alright. *my japanese is not good enough to make a presentation. sad*

Then, the last session of the day is preparation for tomorrow's presentation. So we had to help them making presentation about how to make their dreams come true in the globalized society. IT WAS REALLY REALLY HARD,trust me. 

Because, they DONT understand the english explanation and I don't understand some of their Japanese explanation either, so we have to use our limited language skills to explain as good as possible. After a hard struggle of using gestures, writing kanjis, finding the easier words to explain, they finally understood what to do, but then it took FOREVER for them to make their own future plan.

Well, I believe doing such thing for senior high school students in Indonesia won't be hard at all. And anyway, they're from Tokyo, people.. yes, TOKYO, the capital city of this so called uber developed country. How come their english is even worse than those students in some small cities in the under-developed Indonesia????

Besides, after spending the whole day with them, I learned how narrow their views are about the world. They don't know what's going on in this world, starting from the closest part of their lives, music for example. They only know Japanese music. 

They don't know who on earth is Condoleezza Rice.

And other facts that really wow-ed me. It really makes me wonder how could Japan be a leading county if their young generation don't speak English and live their under-the-rock-life.

Being a part of this camp has really opened my eyes that there REALLY are certain points at which Indonesians are even better than the Japanese. Then if we have such skills than it's surely possible for us to reach higher than the Japanese do.

The world does need English. And we've already possessed one of the world's needs. So let's add some other skills up and I believe, starting from the small scale, we can pile up the efforts to make Indonesia a better country. =)