1. Mina Yamanaka
Senior Seminar
Period 4
Script for Senior Seminar Presentation
Q. Please introduce yourself.
My name is Mina Yamanaka. I am from Japan and I am 18 years old. I used to go to
Japanese primary school and then I flied to Thailand when I was in 6th grade. I have been
at ISB for about 5 years.
Q. What are the four ways of knowing? Briefly explain it.
The four ways of knowing consists of perception, reason, emotion and language.
Perception is how we view things through our senses. Reason is how we understand
things logically. Emotion is the internal feelings and eternal forms of behavior and
language is a form of communication through mouth.
Q. Which of these are you going to discuss? What experience did you connect it to?
I will discuss about language, perception and emotion by connecting it to GCW Tsunami
Relief community service where I took care of the orphans from the tsunami. Through
this activity, I experienced many amazing things that I could not have gone through if I
did not go to this trip.
Q. Why did you choose it?
I chose it because it was one of the most meaningful and significant experiences in my
life that it totally changed my perspective toward doing community service or what does
it mean to actually help people. Also it was one of the most emotional events I have
experienced in my entire life.
Q. How are these concepts connected to your experience?
Slide 1: Language
Between the children at the school and me, what language we speak did not really matter

2. Mina Yamanaka
Senior Seminar
Period 4
but the body language really mattered to us. For I understand only a little bit of Thai and
the children do not speak English, or there were some little kids who don’t even
understand their native language, the only way to communicate was to use body
language.Through the interaction with tsunami orphans, I learned that it is possible to
convey feelings without language.
Q. Was there any difficulty?
Even though I understood that it is somehow possible to convey most of information and
communicate pretty much, accuracy was the problem. Body language does not always
express the accurate information.
Moving on to the next slide,
Slide 2: Emotion
This experience is one of the most emotional experiences in my whole life. It was
touching how the orphans treated us like their real mother or sister and I could feel the
unspeakable love from them. There was a one little girl who in particularly loved me and
always followed my way. I called her my daughter and she looked so happy. Every time I
saw her smiling, I felt so satisfied for the fact that I really did something that relieves her
and encouraged me to help them as much as possible. I did not have any pain taking care
of the children or painting the wall under a burning sun, although I am not a kind of
person who works hard for no tangible return but the children’s smiles.
Q. Is there any theory that explains why you were motivated?
Yes, there is a theory that explains this phenomenon called James Lange theory. It states
that the emotions are essentially physical in nature and bodily changes come before, and
cause emotional changes. Regarding this statement, it can be guessed that the children’s
smiles and laughter and excitement worked as external stimuli that influenced on my

3. Mina Yamanaka
Senior Seminar
Period 4
emotion. Emotions are essentially physical in nature so that interacting with the kids
actually made physiological reaction and we label it as emotions.
Q. In reflecting on the example, what impact does what you have experienced have
on you?
I was not so interested in children who are under unfortunate circumstances that I used to
be a kind of person who would never contribute to fundraising or community services
unless it was a graduation requirement before, but this trip changed me. Now I have
actually met them and played with them, I feel them more realistic than ever and feel that
I want to help them. It was a great opportunity for me to acknowledge about the reality.
Q. What do you know about yourself as a student that will change how you
approach learning in the future?
Now that I know that James Lange theory really works, I have control over my emotion
and manipulate it by bringing some external stimulus to change my emotion. I can use
this theory in the future situation for instance before giving the presentation in business
scene, I may go out to inhale some fresh air or drink a cup of coffee to calm myself down
or when I feel down, I may watch some funny movies to encourage myself.