This week I had an
"exchange class" between my Academic Reading/ Writing class of 22 Japanese university students' and 23 international students studying Japanese at our university.
It went really, really, well, so I wanted to share what we did and how the students reacted.
For the past four years, I've done joint sessions like this once a term
with another professor in charge of teaching Japanese to international students. My Japanese students have commented for years
that the
exchange class is the most valuable and stimulating 70 minutes in their language study experience, and today's reaction was just as strong.
I hope to propose that this type of
exchange
become a regular part of the university curriculum. The benefit is not only that the students on both sides can stimulate each other in terms of language and
culture learning, but also establish connections that will extend beyond
the joint session and enrich their university life.
-----------
2012 Autumn Exchange Class SummaryWho:
19 students from ELA section 4F met up with 23 students from JLP level 4
in H-352. Both groups had a few absent students. Ms. Suzuki and Ms.
Hosaka from the JLP and Mark Christianson from the ELA facilitated the
session. The JLP students mostly came to ICU in September as OYRs (one
year regular students) and have been living in Japan for 7 weeks now.
JLP Level 4 is low-intermediate, and most studied Japanese in their home
institutions for a year and a half to two years.
When: 2012/10/22, Monday 2nd period. Planning started at the
beginning of the term to compare schedules for the two classes and find
good timing. JLP classes are basically only held in the morning, so 2nd
period is the most common time for
exchanges.
What: The first 35 minutes were in Japanese. The last 35 minutes in English. An even
exchange.
In the Japanese part 日本語の部, all students did self-introductions in
Japanese and then JLP students led discussions about things they found
were interesting or strange in Japan and interviewed the ELA students
about them. In the English part, ELA introduced their 2nd ARW essay
research questions and outlines and led discussions to ask the JLP
students' opinions on the issues.
Survey Responses: At the last 5 minutes of the session, the
students filled out an anonymous questionnaire regarding their
reactions, especially focusing on what they gained and whether they felt
such
exchanges should be done during class time or not.
Q1: I enjoyed this exchange class:
Strongly Agree = 17 out of 19 for ELA, 21 out of 22 for JLP. Two ELA
students and one JLP student chose "Agree". The two ELA students
commented that they felt frustration because they wanted to communicate
more effectively but did not have enough English skill yet.
Basically, all who attended enjoyed it. The energy in the room was overwhelming.Q2: This type of exchange is a valuable use of class time for my communication practice: Strongly Agree = 18 out of 19 for ELA, 22 out of 22 for JLP. Agree = 1 ELA student, frustrated with his/her ability.
Basically, all felt it was a valuable experience. Most explained
their main reason as because they were able to practice communicating
with native speakers and able to learn about the others' culture from
peers. They were also able to see how the other side is making efforts
to learn their language (or a third language, in some cases) and were
able to make new friends. For some ELA students this was the first time
to ever talk with a non-Japanese student on campus.
Q3: In your opinion, how often should ICU have exchanges like this during class time per year? Write a number of times per year you feel would be best.
JLP students' average =
want to do it 17 times per year. (Many wrote weekly or biweekly
exchanges are best)
ELA students' average =
want to do it 9.2 times per year. (Many wrote 2~3 times per term are best)
Q4: Free response: How was this exchange? What was the main benefit or gain for you? (Pasted from the Excel form. Original responses were hand written.)
From JLP Students--------------------------
- It was really fun. This "exchange"
should be our speaking class. I'm glad I got to practice Japanese more
and try to communicate more. Very useful. Experience. Practice.
- I really like it and think it is good to have classes like this
twice a week or three times a week. This kind of class is more useful
than the usual class because we can learn speaking and listening more.
-
楽しかったです。 日本語を良く使いました。
- I found this to be more useful than our projects, so I think having
more of this and less projects would be beneficial. Fun and useful.
Speaking and listening practice.
- I loved this! すごく楽しかった！ I found
this very helpful for my Japanese. I learned SO much. It was nice to
use my Japanese in a real setting. Once a week or once every two weeks
would be great. It was helpful to converse in Japanese, then in English.
I made lots of friends. Now that I've met Japanese friends, we are
planning on meeting up again and practicing languages.
- I think it would be helpful to have this every other week. I think
it was really enjoyable. It is fun to meet with other students your age
who are just as eager to practice speaking. Because both groups of
students know what it is like to study another language, its more
comfortable to practice.
- It was a good way to meet people practice real Japanese/English. It
was interactive and challenging. I feel like I was challenged to
speak more than I normally would in class, so it was more useful. Also, I
had to form sentences about things I would normally want to talk about.
- It was awesome. Very, very useful and interesting. It should be done
at least once a month. Speaking with people in a different
environment than the usual class.
- I really enjoyed! It was very fun. I can have this kind of class every week in one semester. The exchange of ideas between Japanese and JLP students.
- It was a very fun and valuable experience. I was able to exchange ideas from Japanese students and tell them about my opinions about their projects.
- I
wish we had more time. It was extremely informative and fun as well.
I have a better understanding of Japanese culture and learned about
issues that are important to ICU's Japanese students.
- It was amazing. It should be done once a week at least. Language practice
- It
was really fun! I got to know more Japanese students and more about
Japanese culture. 人間関係！I finally got to talk to Japanese students,
one of my goals of studying abroad.
- It was beneficial to my education, and very helpful. Can we do it
again please? Practicing speaking about topics we've done in class
with real Japanese people.
- It was very fun getting to talk about various topics. I would appreciate doing this kind of exchange
once a month. Sometimes when speaking to my own classmates, I'm not
inclined to utilize Japanese because English is easier to use. Speaking
to Japanese students feels more purposeful.
- I reall enjoyed it. I made some great new friends. I learned a lot
of new language and improved my speaking ability. Fun and useful
practice for everyone. Improved speaking ability and new friends.
- Very interesting. I want to talk to more Japanese students. We should have more exchanges. The more the better! To utilize what we learn in class and apply it to real life situations / conversations.
- It was a valuable experience. I've got lots of new idea from
Japanese students, which I have never heard before. It is a really good
practice for me in both Japanese and English. Getting fresh ideas,
speaking Japanese. Talking to Japanese people is the most effective way
to enhance my speaking skill, as long as I assert.
- It was fun talking to my Japanese peers. I enjoyed it very much. Practical usage of Japanese and the comparison of cultures.
- Today
was fun. It was helpful for me to be in actual conversations and not
only doing role play situations. Meet once a week! Experience with
talking and listeing. Also learning how others think.
- It was very good. I practiced how to paraphrase in Japanese.
Even when we couldn't understand each other, everyone tried their best
and explained it until we understood each other.
- It was good vocabulary, conversation, and plain language practice. Good practice for casual conversation.
From ELA Students----------------------------
- I'm excited. We should exchange every day!
- I
enjoyed this class. I never go abroad, so I never speak English with
native speaker except ELA teacher, but it was so interesting! Even if
I mistake the grammar and words, we can communicate actively!
- I had a great time! This is a great opportunity. I could make good
friends and enjoyed. I can learn a lot of things. "Don't be shy" is
very important
- とても楽しかったし、良い刺激になった。It was so fun and inspiring
because we can experience "real" English/Japanese communication.
英語に自信がなくても伝えようとすれば伝わる。
- グループの人々と楽しく話せた。頑張って日本語を話しているので僕も頑張ろうと思った。Very enjoyable. It is good for me to know another country's culture. 私たちがJLPの学生に分かり易く話すようにJLPの生徒も分かりやすい英語を使ってくれた。様々あn国から来ているので、いろんな考え方に触れられて勉強になった。
- 本当に楽しかったし、英語を話しているなと感じた。 自分と異なる価値観を持っているので本当に良い！！今まで自分が気づかなかった視点から話してもらって本当に楽しかった。毎日この授業が良いです。
- Very interesting for me. I could exchange opinions in the class. I should get more strong opinion because my ideas are ambiguity.
- I
enjoyed the class! I want to take it again, every term. I could talk
about my essay, so maybe I promoted my topic. ELA students are all
Japanese so sometimes we talk Japanese. But in this class we have to
speak Japanese all the time. JLP students learn Japanese only two or
three years but they speak Japanese fluently!
- It was very valuable. I enjoyed it because I never had a chance to
speak with JLP students before. It was difficult to listen to
English. To speak in English with JLP students was very difficult for me
but I thought this is the best way to improve speaking skill.
- I really enjoyed this class. 実際に話すのが一番英語が身に付くと思う！それはとても楽しいこと！
- 同じくICUで学んでいる外国の学生さんと初めて話した。I can speak English with enjoy. It is nice plan. 自分の国のことや自分の意見をはっきり伝えたいと思った。
- "いろんな視点でディスカッションができて有意義だった
- Once or twice a term would be best." "自分のスキルのレベルが分かった。英語も日本語
も同じだということ。I enjoyed, but I was frustrated very much. My topic was very
difficult. I wanted to speak better! I felt I had to improve my English
skills more. It was interesting that each people has each opinion. I
could think about my topic more deeply."
- とてもためになったし、お互いに英語をしゃべりづらいStream4には必要だと思います。 もっとJLPの人達と仲良くなりたいです。
- "いろんな人と話ができてすごく楽しかったです！We should exchange two times per semester.
- " みんなの興味とかが共通していることが多かった。アニメとか健康。
- I
couldn't speak English. I want to communicate in English! If we do it
every term, or every writing essay, we will get more information about
topic. If language education in English is good, we can speak more
good maybe. We should more speaking practice.
- Very interesting. Once per term is good. I talked about my essay.
I could hear many opinions. JLP students' question was very
interesting!
- It is good opportunity! It is very fun and useful
for me!! It is very interesting that Japanese culture about hentai
should be more hidden.
以上、簡単な国際交流授業の報告でした。 -Mark
