1

HONORS EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING PROJECT PROPOSAL FORM

Complete this proposal prior to your projects start date and upload it in the UHP Database
(https://webapps.uc.edu/uchonorsstudent). Create a project (Add a new record) in the Tracking Project tab and then
upload your proposal document as an attachment. The deadline for submitting proposals is on the 5th of each month.
While the quality of the proposal is most important, strong proposals are typically 3-4 pages in length (single-spaced).
Please maintain the proposal format.
Basic Information
Full Name: Shannon Dowling
UC Email: dowlinsn@mail.uc.edu
College: Carl H. Lindner College of Business
Major: Business Undecided
Title of Project: Becoming Japanese
Thematic Area (choose only one): Global Studies
Expected Project Start Date: January 11th, 2015
Expected Project End Date: June 7th, 2015
Project Information
1. Provide a detailed abstract of your proposed honors experiential learning project.
This spring semester and summer I plan to be teaching myself Japanese and about the culture for my honors
experiential learning project. I have always been extremely interesting in the Japanese culture and language, but I
have never done anything to explore this curiosity. By teaching myself basic Japanese, the Japanese culture, and
visiting Japan Town in San Francisco when my family visits in June, I will be able to put this on my resume and
learn about something I love at the same time. I have always had a hard time focusing in language classes because
often they are early in the morning or I didnt really care about the language, but by doing in on my own on a
Rosetta Stone subscription and learning about Japan at the same time, I will have a passion for what I am learning
and be able to do it on my own time. I plan to have half hour meetings with a University of Cincinnati Japanese
teacher, Professor Nakamura, at the end of the month so that I can ask questions and practice speaking Japanese to
someone who understands. My interest in Japan comes from reading Japanese comic books ever since I was in 7th
grade and hearing my dads stories about the 9 months he worked there. I know a good amount about the culture
but there is so much more to find out. For this reason, I am researching different subjects of Japan and the
Japanese culture during this time. I will also be doing an activity every month so that I am not just learning about
the culture but also experiencing it. I will finish off my learning experience with a trip to Japan Town in San
Francisco in June when I visit with my family. These events will give me a good opportunity to find people that I
can practice speaking with other people. I will be documenting my process and summary of my research findings
on my University Honors blog (www.shannondowling.weebly.com) so I will stay accountable and others can
learn too. These 20 weeks of study, research, and activities will be beneficial to me for learning more about the
world and gaining skills that will hopefully be helpful in the future.
January Start on the 11th
Practice Japanese on Rosetta Stone Subscription for 1.5 hours a week total
Research Japanese geography for 1 hour a week
Meet with Professor Nakamura for 30 mins at the end of the month
Document progress and summery of knowledge learned through research on honors blog (1 hour/ 2 weeks)
February
Practice Japanese on Rosetta Stone Subscription for 1.5 hours a week total
Research basic Japanese history for 1 hour a week
Make onigri and a bento (authentic and common Japanese food) at home (estimated 5 hours)
Meet with Professor Nakamura for 30 mins at the end of the month
Document progress and summery of knowledge learned through research on honors blog (1 hour/ 2 weeks)

March
Practice Japanese on Rosetta Stone Subscription for 1.5 hours a week total
Research life styles for different types of people and locations in Japan 1 hour a week
Go to Mei Japanese Restaurant (8608 Market Pl Ln, Cincinnati, OH 45242) to have authentic, nicer Japanese food
(estimated 1 hour)
Meet with Professor Nakamura for 30 mins at the end of the month
Document progress and summery of knowledge learned through research on honors blog (1 hour/ 2 weeks)
April
Practice Japanese on Rosetta Stone Subscription for 1.5 hours a week total
Research Japanese traditions and festivals for 1 hour a week
Participate in a traditional Japanese Tea Ceremony in Fairfield (estimated 4 hours)
Meet with Professor Nakamura for 30 mins at the end of the month
Document progress and summery of knowledge learned through research on honors blog (1 hour/ 2 weeks)
May
Practice Japanese on Rosetta Stone Subscription for 1.5 hours a week total
Research modern day Japan for 1 hour a week
Try on a traditional kimono at Hanamiya (traditional Japanese store at 7795 Cooper Rd. Cincinnati, Oh 45242)
and listen to modern Japanese music (estimated 3.5 hours)
Meet with Professor Nakamura for 30 mins at the end of the month
Document progress and summery of knowledge learned through research on honors blog (1 hour/ 2 weeks)
June Ends on the 7th
Go to San Francisco with family 6th-13th
Visit Japan Town on the 7th and visit stores and have conversations in Japanese with people (estimated 5
hours)
Write and submit honors experience reflection
Estimated total time: 83 hours
Clearly and thoroughly address how each of the following elements will be exhibited in your work:
2. Connection to Learning Outcomes within the Honors Thematic Area (identified above)
Possess global literacy, including knowledge of geography, history, current world issues and similarities and
differences among cultures
I will be able to greatly increase my global literacy and knowledge of Japan because I will be spending 30-60
minutes researching a different topic each week about Japan. I will be able to dive into my basic knowledge about
their culture and Japan (both history and current events). Knowing basic Japanese and in depth knowledge about
their lifestyles will fulfil this element of Global Studies theme because when you understand someones
background, knowledge, and general values, you are able to understand where they are coming from or what they
mean when you talk to them. Having this knowledge will help me a lot in the future when interacting with
Japanese people and trying to practice my Japanese with them.
Interact with individuals from different world cultures and express a sensitivity, appreciation and respect for the
complex range of experiences of diverse peoples
By not only reading about the Japanese culture and language but also doing many authentic events and traditions,
I will understand the people even better and be able to fully appreciate and respect their way of life. When I am
learning in depth about the culture and the basic Japanese language, I will supplement my learning with authentic
Japanese events. I will go to an authentic Japanese restaurant near my house (Mei Japanese Restaurant) and eat
the authentic food I have read about. If there are Japanese speaking people at the restaurant, I will practice my
Japanese by trying to have a basic conversation with them. I will also try to make common Japanese food such as
bentos and onigri at home. There is also a Japanese Tea Ceremony event in Fairfield in May that I plan on taking
part in, and hopefully having the chance to practice my Japanese by having a conversation with someone.

Participate in a global society and understand the role of a global citizen

I will participate in a Japanese society as best I can when my family goes to San Francisco this summer to visit
my family. They have agreed to let me spend an afternoon in Japan Town. I think this is the closest I can get to
being in Japan (because San Francisco has one of the highest number of Japanese-American populations in the
United States), and Japan Town has many authentic restaurants and stores. I will try to practice my Japanese
language skills there. Seeing this places with many authentic Japanese places will give me a greater appreciation
of the culture than what I have already learned in my reading.
3. Connection to Goals and Academic Theories (include reference list, as appropriate)
A. It has always been one of my life goals to go to Japan and with this knowledge that I will gain during this
process, I will hopefully have the advantage to go there for my company when the opportunity arises. I know
in many large companies it is important that their upper managers have experience living outside of the
United States, and hopefully I will be able to rise higher in the ranks and also live in Japan. The knowledge of
the culture will be essential in a culture that is very conservative and different from the one that I have always
known. I also love learning about the ways of other culture, and this passion will help me keep on going with
my routine when I am extremely busy during the year. Learning Japanese and the culture will help me both
fulfil my personal goals and my professional goals by using my passion for Japan and learning.
B. I have found many articles about to learn a second language easier and how learning a second language can
help you in getting a job. Two of these articles are 12 Rules for Learning Foreign Languages in Record Time
The Only Post Youll Ever Need by Tim Ferriss and How to Successfully Learn a New Language This
Year by Benny Lewis. I will try many of these suggestions such as Focus on Your Priorities in That
Language and Be Specific in What You are Aiming For. These seem like good ideas, and if they dont
work for me, I will write a blog post with suggestions for others trying to learn a new language with
suggestions I think will be more helpful for them. There are other articles about how learning a new language
will help you both mentally and professionally. Two of the best articles I have found are Top Ten Reasons
Why Learning a Foreign Language Can Help you Succeed by Education Portal and Learn a Language?
Why? Which? How? on BBCs Languages website. I will have to read these articles to remind myself why
this is important to me and how it will help in the future. Both of these types of articles are important for me
to have before and during my progress because when I am discouraged they will help me remind myself what
the goal of this project is.
4. Initiative, Independence, and/or Creativity
Making a self-design experiential learning project already shows a lot of initiative, but I have never done anything
like this before. Having a project that will rely solely on me to get the work done and to keep myself on track will
be a huge growing experience for me because I have never attempted to do such an extensive project for 20 weeks
before. I know that I will always be passionate about researching my topics of the month (I will probably have to
make sure that I dont go hours above my estimate time allotted), but it may become a challenge to practice and
learn Japanese. I have heard of University Honors students teaching themselves to play guitar and other skills, but
as far as I know this is an original idea to investigate into many parts of a countrys culture. I am excited to start
this growing experience and get better at writing as I document my progress on my blog. I am also excited to
know more about a culture that I have indirectly been learning about for almost 7 years through the Japanese
comic books that I read. I have also always heard stories about the Japanese culture from my dad who spent 9
months living there, and I am curious if it is that different from our culture and if it has changed in the past 20
years. I have always wanted to live in Japan like my dad, and with this new skill of Japanese and knowledge that I
will learn, I will have an advantage to be able to do that in my future company compared to most Americans. I am
glad that I am taking this initiative and learning about a culture that I have heard so much about from indirect
sources.
5. Reflection
To reflect on my progress, I will write a blog post about how my experience is going every two weeks, and I will
talk to Professor Nakamura about what I have learned and my perspective of it. I hope that writing so much and
so often will help my basic writing skills, and I know that every time I write I realize something new about the
subject when I am typing. I think writing is a way that my brain organizes and decides my opinions on what I am

talking about. Also, before I write, I always reflect on the topic for a while and order my thoughts generally about
it. This form of reflection works well for me to remember all the different parts of my last two weeks, and it
naturally gives me a new perspective about it. The other way that I will reflect is my talks with Professor
Nakamura every month. I have always reflected on events by talking about them with others. These talks with
help me a lot with my progress and having a professors opinion on the subject that knows much more than I do
will help me a lot. When I talk out loud to someone, I realize more about my opinion than I thought because it
forces me to put my feelings into words. This is extremely effective for me. I will continually reflect on my
experiential learning projects progress by writing about it in my University Honors website every other week and
talking with Professor Nakamura.
6. Dissemination
While this project will greatly expand my knowledge of Japan, I plan to summarize and cite all the information I
have researched on my University Honors blog (www.shannondowling.weebly.com) so that other people can find
it. This section of my blog will hopefully become helpful for people who want to know more but dont want to
put aside all the time I will to learn about Japan. It could also be a helpful resource for a student working on a
project because I will cite all my findings from respectable websites and have more links for people who need to
go more in depth. The nice thing about Weebly is that it shows up on Google searches so I do not have to do any
advertising for the website. The people searching for the information will find it themselves. Knowing that people
will read my work and it will help them will also keep me motivated to keep up with my biweekly blog. Potential
companies will search my name on Google and find all this hard work and hopefully be impressed. Having my
findings public on the internet will be helpful to the small group of people looking for information about Japan,
but also be helpful for me because it will keep me accountable and motivated to work hard.
7. Project Advisor(s)
Professor Makoto Nakamura
Adjunct Instructor of Japanese
nakamumt@ucmail.uc.edu
Professor Nakamura and I will have 30 minute meetings every month to check up on how my Japanese is going
and for me to ask him about any questions I may have. It will help tremendously to have someone who has been
to Japan and speaks Japanese fluently to have as a resource to make sure I am getting correct information.
8. Budget (if applicable)

Learn Japanese with Rosetta Stone 6 month Online Subscription: $169

To learn and practice correct Japanese every week
Food and supplies for making Japanese food: $50
To understand what Japanese people usually do to prepare their food
Mei Japanese Restaurant bill: $25
To know what more complex, well-made Japanese food
Total: $244