CEAL

🇯🇵🍙 Learning Japanese... one onigiri at a time!

At CEAL, we believe that language learning happens far beyond the classroom. That's why we regularly organise fun cultural activities alongside our lessons.

Last Friday, two Japanese friends of our wonderful Yuko-sensei visited the Japan Fans with their food truck, .food2026. We had the chance to order delicious onigiri, freshly made takoyaki, and refreshing drinks... but there was one little twist!

For this special occasion, they pretended they could only speak Japanese. 🤭

The funny thing is that they actually speak English and Dutch far better than most of us speak Japanese! 😂 It was a real challenge, but thanks to Yuko-sensei's excellent lessons, everyone managed remarkably well. And whenever someone got stuck, we simply helped each other.

Learning a language should be practical, social, and above all... fun!

What a wonderful afternoon. Delicious food, lots of laughter, and plenty of Japanese conversation. We can't wait for the next adventure! 🍙🇯🇵✨

📚 At CEAL, we believe that creativity is a powerful way to explore language, culture and intercultural understanding.

Alongside our language programmes, we regularly organise creative workshops inspired by the rich artistic traditions of Asia. Whether it's origami, calligraphy, ink painting or other hands-on activities, these workshops invite participants to engage with culture through making.

Next month we'll be facilitating a Chinese painting workshop for Huiskamerkunstenaars, and we're very much looking forward to it!

Interested in a bespoke creative workshop for your school, organisation, community group or private event? We'd be delighted to discuss the possibilities.

More info via https://ceal-utrecht.nl/workshops-activities/ .

🇯🇵✨ CEAL on national television! ✨🇳🇱

This week, the Dutch television programme *Hart van Nederland* ("Heart of the Netherlands") visited us as part of their coverage of the Japanese Emperor's state visit to the Netherlands. 💙

During the recording, we shared a glimpse of some of the activities that bring our community together: Japanese language learning, calligraphy, origami, and above all the joy of learning from one another. ✍️📚🎎

We were also pleased to see Japanese studies specialist Casper Wits contribute some fascinating insights into the long and unique history of relations between Japan and the Netherlands. 🇯🇵🤝🇳🇱

A special thank you goes to our wonderful teacher Yuko Kabashima sensei, who, as always, brought warmth, enthusiasm, and energy to everything she did. We suspect the camera may have become rather fond of her too! 😊🌸

We would also like to thank the team at Bibliotheek Utrecht Leidsche Rijn for their continued support and collaboration. We are incredibly grateful for the opportunities we have been given to organise activities together and to share our love of languages and cultures with the wider community. 📚💙

At CEAL, we believe that friendship, inspiration, and mutual understanding can grow from shared interests. Whether through language, culture, art, or simply curiosity about the world, meaningful connections begin when people come together.

We are honoured to have been part of this lovely feature, and we hope it inspires even more people to discover the richness of Japanese culture and the special ties between our two countries. ✨

🇯🇵🇳🇱💙

🌸✨ Throwback Tuesday ✨🌸

Today we're looking back on a wonderful origami workshop at the Flower Art Museum!

During this special workshop, children and adults alike discovered how a simple sheet of paper can be transformed into something beautiful. As befits a museum dedicated to flowers, we folded a colourful variety of blooms, from elegant single-sheet designs to more intricate flowers assembled from multiple folded elements. 🌷🌹

For our younger participants, we also folded a few cheerful origami animals, adding an extra touch of fun to the day. 🦊🐦✨

We worked with traditional origami paper, hand-coloured paper, and even napkins, showing that origami can be both artistic and practical. After all, who wouldn't love a beautifully folded flower waiting on their dinner plate? 🌸🍽️

The best part was seeing participants of all ages experiment, learn new skills, and leave with creations they were proud of. Moments like these remind us that creativity truly brings people together. 💛

Would you like to bring a creative workshop to your company, cultural institution, festival, community group, private event, or hen party?

🌸 CEAL would be delighted to create a tailor-made workshop for your audience. Get in touch to explore the possibilities!

🌷✨

Every Friday afternoon, we meet with our Korean study group 🇰🇷✨

We gather in the library in Leidsche Rijn — a small but lively mix of advanced learners and native speakers — and spend an hour exploring the language together. Not in a formal, rigid way, but through shared curiosity, conversation, and a whiteboard full of ideas (as you can see here 😄).

What makes this group unique is precisely that mix: some participants bring deep knowledge, others bring fresh questions, and somewhere in between, something genuinely collaborative begins to take shape.

You are very welcome to join us! Whether you already speak some Korean, or are just at the very beginning and feel curious to listen, try, and learn.

Fridays, 16:00–17:00
Library Leidsche Rijn

If you have questions, feel free to leave a comment below or simply come by and see what it feels like 🤍

함께 공부해요 🌿

Last Friday, our A2 Japanese conversation group took on a new challenge 🇯🇵✨

We worked with freshly prepared materials from our wonderful teachers, exploring new grammar patterns and really trying to *feel* how they function in context — from simple purpose constructions (“〜に行く”) to more abstract nominalisation (“〜こと”). It’s that beautiful moment in language learning where things start to connect… and also get just a little bit tricky 😄

Some of these exercises may look deceptively simple, but they ask for quite a subtle understanding. When do you choose one form over another? What *feels* natural? That’s exactly the kind of question we love to explore together.

Have you worked with this grammar before?
Did you find it intuitive, or does it still feel a bit elusive?

If you’d like to try, pick one of the exercises from the sheets and post your answer below 👇 And if you have questions, don’t hesitate to ask… chances are, someone else is wondering the exact same thing!

🤍 We’d genuinely love to hear how you'd approach these! 🤍

And if you’re curious about joining a small, thoughtful, and slightly nerdy (in the best way) learning group… you know where to find us.

がんばりましょう 🌸

🌊✨ CEAL Film Afternoon: RIBA (River) ✨🌊

This Friday, join us for a cosy and slightly mind-bending film afternoon at CEAL! We will be watching Riba (リバー) — a Japanese film where time loops and moments repeat, a bit like Groundhog Day… but with a unique Japanese twist.

🗓 Friday, April the 3rd
🕜 13:30 – 15:30
📍 Library Leidsche Rijn (first floor)

The film is in Japanese with English subtitles, so everyone is welcome — whether you're just starting your Japanese journey or already more advanced 🇯🇵

Expect:
☕ Tea - please do bring your own cup!
🍰 Vegan Cake
💬 Good company
🎬 A fascinating film

Bring your curiosity, your love for language, or just yourself — it’s all welcome at CEAL 💛
We hope to see many of you there, from all our study groups!

Today at CEAL we had both our beginner Korean 🇰🇷 and beginner Bahasa Indonesia 🇮🇩 study groups — and as always, the atmosphere was full of cosy vibes, coffee, and lots of new words (including plenty of animals 🦊🦋) ☕✨

From vocabulary (yes, we all love animals 🐯🦋) to little conversations, everyone is learning at their own pace, together. Some are even picking up a bit more Dutch along the way! 🇳🇱

Swipe to the last photo to see what happens when you attend both study groups back-to-back… 😄📚

We love seeing this kind of cross-language chaos — it means people are truly diving in.

Would you like to join us sometime? 💛