Mori no Ike

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Mori no Ike (森の池, Mori no Ike^?, Lake of the Woods) is the Japanese language program of Concordia Language Villages, with sites located in Dent and Sandstone, Minnesota, U.S.A. Japanese is one of the 14 languages offered by Concordia Language Villages. Mori no Ike is a Japanese immersion summer camp where campers, called gakusei (学生, "student"; 4-week credit program) and seito (生徒, "pupil"; 2-week and 1-week non-credit sessions) together with their counselors, called sensei (先生, "teacher") learn Japanese language and culture. Campers and counselors all choose a Japanese name to use during the session, and make a wooden nafuda ("nametag") to wear at camp. Campers partake in traditional Japanese cuisine and cultural activities such as kendo, origami, and taiko drumming in addition to their lessons. Lessons take place in small groups based on your proficiency in Japanese. And, like all the other Concordia Language Villages, sensei are not permitted to talk to the campers in English or any other language besides the camp's language for a true immersive experience.

Mori no Ike offers 1-week exploratory, 2-week immersion, and 4-week credit programs. CLV also offers a summer credit abroad program in Japan and a Japanese Village Weekend program for school groups in the fall.

1 Name
2 History
3 External links
4 See also

[edit] Name

All of the CLV names (except Al-Wāḥa, the Arabic village, and Hometown USA, the English village) roughly translate to "Lake of the Woods". In Japanese, the direct translation of "Lake of the Woods" would be Mori no Mizuumi, 森の湖. Ike ("pond") was chosen over mizu-umi only to sound more fluent to both English and Japanese speakers.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] History

The first Mori no Ike Japanese program was offered in the summer of 1988. The location of the first site was Giant's Ridge Resort [1] in Biwabik, MN. The program was held at the Giant's Ridge facility until 1992, when it moved to two different locations: Lakeside Camp in Dent, MN was used for the first half of the summer, then transported to Waubun, MN for the second half. From 1996, Dent became the single site used for the full summer (although the program was still managed in two sections, with a distinct staff hired for each half of the summer.)

Due to the popularity of Japanese language in the US, enrollment numbers have increased, resulting in the expansion of Mori no Ike programs. In 2000, the Credit Abroad program to Japan was started. In 2005, Mori no Ike became a multiple site village with the addition of the Cass Lake, MN location. In 2006, the secondary site moved to Sandstone, MN.

In July of 2007, the Japanese permanent site on Turtle River Lake was dedicated, making Mori no Ike the sixth culturally authentic and permanent site to be established. When construction is complete, it will be neighbors with El Lago Del Bosque.