2020.11.17 Tue

On November 4 and 11, the International Centre held the second sessions of the "Online NIHONGO Chat Room" for international students from our partner universities and Gakushuin students who have signed up with the Centre as volunteers. In response to the spread of COVID-19, Gakushuin University suspended accepting exchange students from overseas who were scheduled to start their programs here at Gakushuin this past September. In lieu of the face-to-face exchange programs, we organized the Chat Room to give both international and Gakushuin students an opportunity to interact with each other.

A total of 23 students (7 international students and 16 Japanese volunteers) participated online from home in the two sessions. The theme was "My hometown."

In the survey afterward, many participants expressed their overall satisfaction at the events. Below are some of the comments.

"It was interesting to learn about the cultures of different countries and know what aspects of Japan people from other countries are interested in."

"It was a good opportunity for me to have a frank conversation about our cultures and languages and to exchange views with very friendly people in Japanese."

"Now I know that I can enjoy a conversation more when I participate in it more actively even though I may need to have my grammatical mistakes corrected."

　　

It seems that both Gakushuin students and international students found it fun to learn about each other and engage in international exchange, thanks to the Online NIHONGO Chat Room.

The next sessions are scheduled on December 2 and 9.