Record of Our Activities

From August 3rd to 7th, four students from the third-year SG course participated in this event held in Tokyo.  The theme of the conference was “Sustainable City & Community”.  High school students from Japan, China and Korea participated and had discussions in English.

[the participants’ comments]
＊There were times when I was not able to express myself in English.  However, when I was able to, it gave me a lot of confidence. 
＊Before joining this program, I assumed the high school students from China and Korea had some kind of hatred toward Japanese, but I found out that this assumption was not true as I had conversations with them.

On July 14th, the third year students of the SGH course had their final presentation.  They have worked on their project for more than a year and a half and they did their final presentation in front of teacher around the country and foreign guests.  Professor Shigeru Matsumoto of Rikkyo University and foreign exchange students from Tokyo University of Foreign Studies and Kanazawa University were invited to the sessions.  The people who watched and listened to the presentation gave positive comments like: “The students looked very confident when they were answering questions during the Q&A sessions”, “Most of the research consisted factors from the SDGs and were amazing”.
  
【Comments from students】
・It was our first time working and doing research on the same theme for more than a year and half.  There were tough times, but we came to realize each other’s characteristics and started to respect each other.  We were able to experience things, which were impossible if we worked on it by ourseleves.
・At first, I had difficulty explaining things in English.  There were even times when I had difficulties explaining things in Japanese.  However, now that I have finished giving the presentation for my research, I can say this with confidence.  “If the listeners feel that you are trying hard to get the message across, they will try hard to understand you.  So don’t give up.”

On July 14th, after the presentations by the third year students, the second year SG course students had an empowerment program where they explained and asked for advice from the foreign guests on the project they are working on.  This session was done in English. 
 
【Comments from students】
   ・I was able to get my message across to the foreign guests.  I will like to improve my English skills so that in the future, I can ask and answer questions smoothly in English.
   ・The foreign guests listened to our presentation and asked many questions.  We are grateful for their questions and advice.  We were also inspired by the way the guests were actively asking questions.