Eighteen international students representing sixteen nationalities completed their Institute for Liberal Arts' Intensive Japanese Course with poster presentations, which were held at Hisao & Hiroko Taki Plaza on July 10.
Intensive Japanese Course students with their posters
The presenters showcased their progress with informative presentations on the culture, history, and geography of their respective home countries. While explaining everything in Japanese, they used various props such as national flags, coins, banknotes, and traditional costumes to get their message across. Some also used computers and tablets to display videos and other materials to the audience. This semester's Intensive Japanese Course students represented Afghanistan, Argentina, Belize, Columbia, Egypt, El Salvador, India, Israel, Mexico, Mongolia, Peru, the Philippines, South Korea, Thailand, the United States of America, and Yemen.
Making up the audience were Executive Vice President for Education Jun-ichi Imura, supervising faculty members, fellow lab members, past Intensive Japanese Course students, language instructors, and other students and staff from Tokyo Tech.
Approximately 120 fifth and sixth graders, and their teachers, from Senzokuike Elementary School also joined the event. Tokyo Tech's international students had visited the school recently to deepen international exchanges, and the youngsters happily returned the favor. Other listeners included two members of the Kanagawa Systematized Goodwill Guide Club (KSGG), a volunteer group that guided Tokyo Tech's international students around the historical city of Kamakura as part of the Intensive Japanese Course.
After the presentations, the students of Senzokuike Elementary School, under the guidance of Principal Satoshi Ito, thanked Tokyo Tech for the invitation and shared their views on the talks they had just heard.
Intensive Japanese Course student using tablet to communicate his message
Another student using flag and banknotes during his talk
Comments from elementary school students
- I understood well what the presenters shared about their countries.
- I want to visit the countries that I learned about.
- It was interesting to learn the meaning of the colors on different national flags.
- I want to try some of the traditional food in these countries.
- One of the presenters liked soccer, just like I do, so that further deepened my interest.
- I would like to join some of the festivals in these countries.
- The presenters spoke Japanese very well.
Commenting from participating international students
- I was very happy for the opportunity to talk about my country to elementary school students, who probably never heard or knew much about it beforehand. It was a great chance to introduce them to exciting new places and culture with less of a language barrier by speaking Japanese I learned in the Institute's Intensive Course. The kids were excited to hear about all sorts of things and I hope they enjoyed it as much as I did.
- It's not an everyday opportunity that you get to present about your country, especially to elementary school children and other people who probably never heard about your country. Tokyo Tech's Intensive Japanese Course for beginners gave us just that — an opportunity to present our countries to anyone who wanted to know a bit more about where we come from and how different our lives are in our countries compared to life in Japan. For me, coming from a country that is not widely known, I had the opportunity to talk about El Salvador's historical places and traditions. The kids seemed to enjoy my presentation and were so nice that when I finished, they clapped! It was relieving to know that it was easy for them to understand my full-on Japanese presentation and that they learned something new that day. Overall, it was a fun, superb experience and I enjoyed every second of it.
International students using banknotes, collages, and other visuals during presentations
Tokyo Tech's Intensive Japanese Courses
Tokyo Tech's Intensive Japanese Courses, held twice a year, are aimed mainly at Japanese government-sponsored international students looking to progress to graduate-level studies. Other students are also invited to join if capacity allows.
These courses aim to develop Japanese proficiency among beginner-level students who have just arrived in Japan. By the end of the course, each international student will have acquired sufficient language skills to make an oral presentation in basic Japanese. ILA's Japanese Section functions as "a hub for meeting and learning" for students from different cultural backgrounds, and a safe place where international students can exchange information about life in Japan.
Encounters with Japanese culture and people are important components of the courses. International students visit places such as Kamakura City and Sona Area Tokyo, an experienced-based learning facility for disaster prevention. Intensive Japanese Course students also conduct active exchanges with elementary school students in Tokyo's Ota City.
