Misa Yamada

Senior Seminar P.1

Interview Script for Video Presentation:

Student: Hello my name is Misa Yamada. I am seventeen years old, a senior at

the International School of Bangkok or ISB for short and I have been at ISB for

about 13 years. For my Senior Seminar class, I will be talking about how different

ways of knowing have affected my learning experiences, specifically from my

recent trip to Morocco during the global citizenship week and how it has helped

me grow as an individual. Senior seminar is a class about epistemology that

replicates the Theory of Knowledge course.

Interviewer: What are the four ways of knowing?

Student: The four ways of knowing that have been studied in Senior Seminar are

language, perception, reason and emotion, in which they assist the way we

recognize whether what is being perceived is truthful.

Interviewer: What is the global citizenship week?

Student: The global citizenship week is a program that involves learning out of

the classroom to learn experiences focused on global issues and/or community

service that take place in Thailand or in other countries in the world.

Interviewer: What did you choose for your global citizenship week?

Student: This year, as it is my last year of high school, I chose an out of country

trip to Morocco.

Interviewer: Why did you choose the Morocco trip?

Student: When I looked through the global citizenship week course book, there

were a few options that caught my attention. The two main trips I was interested

in were Morocco and Tanzania, particularly because I have never been to Africa

and I have always wanted to go to Africa.

Interviewer: What did you do during your global citizenship week in Morocco?

Student: During the global citizenship week in Morocco, a group of ISB seniors

and I traveled to a few cities in Morocco but for the majority of the trip, we

stayed in a small village called Beni Kolla, located right outside the city of

Ouezzane.

While our stay in the Beni Kolla village, we experienced an authentic Moroccan

lifestyle as the local families of Beni Kolla hosted us. Throughout our home-stay

at the small village, we interacted with the villagers by planting various types of

trees to help out their annual income as well as play and teach the children in the

village.

Interviewer: Why did you choose this example?

Student: I chose my global citizenship week to Morocco as an example because I

have learnt a lot from the memorable experience as it has allowed me to

appreciate and recognize cultural differences and become more aware of the

importance between the values of needs and wants in life.

Interviewer: What are the main ways of knowing that relate to this example?

Student: The main ways of knowing that relates to my example are emotion,

perception and language.

Interviewer: How does emotion play a role in your example?

Student: Well, after arriving at the small village of Beni Kolla, and after having

been introduced to my host sister, initially it was extremely uncomfortable as

she and her family whom were complete strangers to me, were to be my family

for the next four days. Being located in a peculiar environment without a familiar

sight or sound, it was difficult to become open-minded and try to allow myself to

enjoy a unique experience. Although it was difficult to try to overcome the

negative emotions I was going through, instead of showing how anxious,

confused and uncomfortable I felt, I decided to put on a happy face and smiled.

This example of how my emotions changed from changing my physical

symptoms from frowning and being anxious to smiling and having a wonderful

time is an example of the James-Lang theory. As soon as I smiled and tried to be

positive, I noticed that my host family felt a sense of relief in which it also

allowed me to feel more comfortable. From that point, I let go of my anxiousness

and decided to try to enjoy the short time I had with the incredibly inspiring and

kind people of Beni Kolla in which I had a remarkable experience that will

forever be treasured. This is also an example of perception playing a role in

changing my emotions as from the moment that I noticed the sense of relief from

my host family, it allowed me to feel more comfortable, which is known as

emotional coloring.

Interviewer: How does perception play a role in your example?

Student: The villagers of Beni Kolla live a simplistic lifestyle, where they only

have the basic necessities to live their life. As for myself, I live in a suburb area

and as much as I hate to admit it, I am a very materialistic person. So when I first

arrived to the Beni Kolla village, I was in shock and felt guilty for the way I live

my life. At first I wasn't able to understand how the villagers were able to live

their life without various options of clothing, or other materialistic objects.

Although now, having experienced their lifestyle and the way they perceive life, I

now realize that however many materialistic objects you have, it will never bring

you true contentment. Prior to the arrival in Beni Kolla, my cell phone was my

life, though from the four days in the Beni Kolla village I went about my days

without using any sort of technology, which was a huge accomplishment and yet

I was still able to have an enjoyable time interacting with my host family. The

theory of reality that I experienced was phenomenalism, as I now know that to

achieve pure contentment and satisfaction it does not come from materialistic

objects but simply from the simplistic things, such as family and friends, which

are the most important things in life.

Interviewer: How does language play a role in your example?

Student: As you can imagine, language played a tremendous barrier because

traveling to a different country is always difficult to communicate with the locals.

And because my native languages are English and Thai, the language the

Moroccan people speak is Arabic, which is one that I am not familiar with

whatsoever. So throughout our trip to Morocco, various facial expressions, body

languages and basic illustrations were used to communicate with the Moroccan

people. Some of the different facial expressions and body languages that were

used consist of smiles, hugs, and hand gestures. Basic illustrations such as stick

people were also drawn to make communication easier. With the use of various

facial expressions, body languages and basic illustrations, I think that it allowed

me to be able to communicate as well as if I were able to speak the northern

Arabic dialect because it still allowed me to be able to truly connect and relate

with my host family.

Interviewer: What does this say about you personally or as a student?

Student: From my incredible experience in Morocco, it shows that I am capable

of changing my emotions to make others feel comfortable and vice versa. It also

shows that I am able to adapt to peculiar environments yet appreciate what it

has to offer and to take it as it is.

Interviewer: How will this example impact your learning in the future?

Student: I think that I will be able to be more understanding in perceiving the

reasons behind various situations and become more optimistic. Also, it has

taught me that it is not necessary to know the same language to communicate

and connect with someone of another nationality. But most importantly, it will

allow me to become more appreciative and sensible in realizing between the

important values of needs and wants in life.