公開日 2020年10月09日
This year, due to safety restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic, Shimane University made the decision to go online and hold exchanges with Ohnan Town for International Students via web conferencing software. “Let’s build a bridge between Shimane’s rural community and the world” has occurred every year for the past 10 years. As a result, in its eleventh year of the program, the university had the privilege of having two exchanges with Ohnan Town, one with Asuna Elementary School, and one with the Ohnan Local Tourism’s Interpreter Guides Network.
On Tuesday, September 8th, seven international students had an exchange with eleven students in the 5th and 6th grade from Asuna Elementary School. To start things off, the international students introduced their home countries and regions by using quizzes. The children all had fun guessing what the answers were and in the process learned about new countries and regions. After the international students’ presentations, the children from Asuna Elementary School had their own quiz to share. Many of the international students were surprised by the answers. For example, there was a question about what animal is most seen in the fields by the elementary school. Students were surprised to find out that it was not cats or tanuki, but monkeys. Both sides expressed how much fun they hadand how they wanted to visit each other's coutries and regions. This was a rare opportunity to have an exchange under pandemic times.
The second online exchange was on Saturday, September 26th. Five international students and eight members of the Ohnan Interpreter Guides Network participated in an online exchange. After the Interpreter Guides gave a presentation about Ohnan Town, participants broke up into two groups: English and Japanese. In the English group, students asked many questions about the Homestay Minpaku program and were surprised by Ohnan’s dialect. In the Japanese group, the members talked about seasons: cherry blossoms, fall leaves and snow. One student even said that they wanted to go to Ohnan to see the seasons. While time was short, it was a good opportunity for international students and the townspeople of Ohnan to interact.
Shimane University is committed to having on-going relationships with the community, and was blessed to have the opportunity to have online exchanges with Asuna Elementary School and the Ohnan Interpreter Guides Network. The university will continue to have similar exchanges to foster a global campus and community environment.
Asuna Elementary School Students and International Students (Day1)
Quiz from International Students (Day1)
Introduction of Home Country by International Students (Day1)
Introduction of Ohnan Town by Interpreter Guides (Day2)
Rural Scenery of Ohnan Town (Day2)
Interpreter Guides and International Students (Day2)
