Written below is a letter from Shino Irie, a 1st-year student taking part in Hawaii language study tour. She wrote about Hawaiian Huladance.

   “We took a lesson on Hawaiian Hula danceon July 26th. Hawaiian Hula dance, as many of you know, is a traditional dance of Hawaii, with beautiful movements. Each movement has a meaning, and so the whole dance is made up to tell a single story. This was the second lesson, because we learned a bit about the dance at school beforehanad as an International Day Event, it was all the more fun and we all got together as one! This was a great experience to get in touch with a different culture.”

   “Today, to sum up our learning at this summer school, we made a presentation at the Entrepreneurship Symposium. We showed our ideas about entrepreneurship at a large auditorium in front of a large audience.
   From the experiences we had at this summer school, we learned that English is just a tool and the most important thing is to make clear “who” to do “what” when expressing our ideas.
Now the school program is over, we are planning to enjoy a bit of sightseeing in London, and tomorrow we are leaving for Japan.
   We want to apply everything we have learned through this summer school to our own life, and also make more efforts in English learning! On top of that, we will keep in touch with the schoolmates we made friends with during our days here, and think highly of our connections forever.”

   On July 28th, there was a welcoming ceremony of Ehime International-Exchange Promotion Project, under which 16 students from 15 countries were invited to Ehime. 20 students from our school joined this ceremony to welcome these students! The visitors will stay in Ehime prefecture until August 1st. Their schedule includes Japanese Speech Contest, cycling Shimanami Kaido, experiencing producing Tobe poetry, and others. On the last day, they will visit our school to try their hand at Haiku-making! Hope their journey is memorable!

   “We are doing fine here in England. Time is passing so quickly, and we are now entering the last half of the 10-day stay. Now we started our main study theme, “company and entrepreneurship”. We are going to take lectures on Economics, Business Economics, and Social Enterprise, and then attend some workshops to think what business is like and how. During the workshop we talked about some ideas about what the social problems are now, reasons behind them, ways to tackle them, and how business can gain profits from solving them or how they can contribute to society. We talked with English students, so we needed not only some knowledge but skills to listen to other opinions, think from many different perspectives, produce one opinion by discussing many ideas in groups, and express ideas in an effective way. Everything we learn also leads to a deep learning.”

   We got a letter from Hawaii, written by Miss Ayane Mukai.
“Aloha!
   Today we had our first lesson at Hawaii University. Our teacher was Ms Megin Young, and we answered her questions, made self-introduction in pairs, and others. It was a lot of fun! Also I feel fresh to have a class only in English! There was a Hula lesson, but I’ll tell you next time.

We’re having a nice time.
We’re looking forward to the next class!
Mahalo! (means “thank you” in Hawaian)”

   “All the students taking part in England Summer School are learning a lot in fine conditions! We have listened to several lectures, including a lecture from Sir John Bertrand Gurdon, who received the Novel Prize with Prof Yamanaka! There also were a special lecture and a reception at University College of London in commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the birth of Soseki Natsume. After a lecture from Damian Flanagan, we made a presentation about Soseki. We felt very nervous when making a presentation in English in front of so many citizens and students in a big stage, but it was so honorable when we received a great applause in the end!”

   We received a letter from California, where one of our students is studying under the TOBITATE NEXT JAPAN project.
“This is Kenji Shiimori, learning in USA under the TOBITATE NEXT JAPAN project. I chose a short two weeks stay at ELS in the University of La Verene, in Los Angeles. I am learning about multi-cultural understanding and English Education in the country of USA, a melting spot where people gather from around the world.
   One week has passed since I came here, and now I am getting used to the way of living in USA. I feel fresh every day, experiencing so many new things!
   During this week, I was able to learn deep about multi-cultural understanding, since my host family was Mexican and they speak Spanish and English in the house! They told me some stories about the life of Mexicans, and some Spanish too. Also the class on multi-cultural understanding has helped me to learn a lot with many discussions and free talks with classmates comprising Chinese, Koreans, Taiwanese, Saudi Arabians, Americans, and others! I also had a chance to talk with students from Germany, Brazil, etc. The students here are from various age groups, from their teens to their 40s. One Chinese student told me his dream. He said he wanted to change the distribution system and economic situations in China after leaving the graduating school here. I respect him very much for having such a big dream.
   Learning here, I have come to have an idea that the English Education in Japan is very weird. In Japan, English Education focuses on grammar, words and reading. On the other hand, the education here focuses on listening, speaking and discussion, which I think is regarded as an “Active Learning”. Of course we learn about grammar and words, but since teachers put a high value on output rather than input, trying to communicate is the most important thing to do in the class. Surprisingly, this type of education is also standard in other countries, such as China and Korea. I even cannot help but think that only Japan focuses on input. Talking with students from my generation, I have realized that Asians and Europeans can smoothly express their thoughts in English. The only problem with their English, I think, is that they have strong accents. That is why I strongly feel that Japanese English Education system is weird.
   From this trip, I learned to see myself as a person living in the world, not only in Japan, and Japan in the world. I learned so many things only in a week! I feel sad when I think there is only one week left, but I will do my best to make my stay more meaningful for my future.
   Thank you for reading!”

   Rio Sumida and Yuzuki Omori, 2nd-year and 1st-year students, respectively headed to Fukuoka to participate in Japan Future Leaders School, which will be held for two weeks till August 7th. At the school, they will spend time with many other students coming not only from across Japan but also from overseas. They are going to learn a lot to be a future leader together. We hope they will absorb a lot of things to become strong leaders so they can lead others in the future!

   “We arrived at Hawaii safe and sound. The first thing we did was make our individual student certificates necessary to take classes in the campus of Hawaii University. It was a happy moment because we felt like we are university students.
   It was raining a little bit in the morning, maybe because of the storm approaching nearby, but as we moved toward the Waikiki Beach, the sky turned bright blue! The pictures below are the ones we took at the typical Hawaiian sites.”

   “All the students in England Summer School are doing well! Thirty-seven students, including us, are from Japan and the other twenty-six are from England. We spend time together, learn with each other, and exchange and share our thoughts. On the first day, we had a chance to introduce ourselves and our school. We strongly appealed our school pride!”

   Fifteen students left Matsuyama Airport for Hawaii on their language study tour. They are scheduled to learn a lot of things including Hawaiian culture, the climate there, and, of course, English! Two weeks is a long period, but we believe they will learn a lot and come back safe and sound!

   Yamato Sato, Professor of Keio University, gave his last lecture to his students at our SGH research program. Prof Sato has been visiting us all the way from Tokyo to teach at our school since the SGH project started. We greatly appreciate his cooperation and instruction.
   The lecture for his 3rd-year students was a summary of the research about “Finding and solving problems of Ehime companies in order for them to grow up as global companies.” The students have been working on the theme for a year and a half, and, eventually, each student compiled their research into a thesis. We hope the lessons Prof Sato gave to the students will be a great step toward their future.

   On July 18th, we had a class for the 2nd-year SG Course students titled “Risk control of studying abroad” by Ms. Takahashi, an associate professor in the Center for International Education of Ehime University’s Institute for International Relations.
   Staying abroad entails many risks, such as natural disaster, diseases, crimes and others. Ms. Takahashi explained how to prevent these risks and what to do when you are involved in such risks, with specific samples and details. Students discussed about the “What would you do if. . .” questions given by Ms. Takahashi and at the end they all learned what to do to stay safe in foreign countries.

   On July 21st, four 2nd-year girls left for England to take part in Summer School in London. They are scheduled to participate in many activities to study English with students in England. Studying in an English community will be a splendid experience!

   We received a letter from Mr. Kawada, who is now studying in Montreal, Canada, so let us share some of his experiences in Canada with you.

“Bonjour!!
I have now been in Montreal in Canada for 2 weeks on a study tour. The city Montreal is a special city, known as a bilingual city! Not only English, but a lot of French is also heard all over the city!
   Since I arrived, here I have thought about and have been noticing many things that otherwise I wouldn’t in Japan, every day. Maybe, I am learning about Japan, more than about Canada!
   I have been studying at a language school, and there are many students from all over the world. My life here is full of joy every day, learning other countries’ cultures and teaching Japanese culture.
   Last Saturday, we went to Quebec, a city listed as a world heritage site. It was so beautiful with its medieval historic structures.
   There is only 3 days left. I was lucky I was able to celebrate my birthday here in Canada, but, other than that, I want to enjoy as much as I can, to make this field trip an important experience for my life!”

   On July 18th, several groups gathered at the meeting room with our Principal. Each group is going abroad this summer for a tour, such as on Field work, on a short English study tour, for summer school and others. Even though their purposes differ, we hope they will experience a lot of things and come back safely.

   In the first semester, the 2nd-year students had a CLIL class on Modern Sociology. It was a study on current problems, not the one they can’t usually attain by depending on the usual textbooks. The theme was about foreign workers and immigrants. The students first did research about what is going on in the workforce in Japan, list up the merits and demerits of the current situation, and then find out the situations of other countries. After the presentations of their respective research, the students made debates on whether “The Japanese government should accept more foreign workers” or not. It first seemed too difficult, but helping each other as a team, the students listened carefully to their opponents’ ideas, made rebuttals, and modified their ideas to beat their opponents! It was a great time to learn the knowledge and the skills of debating.

   On July 13th, there held an orientation for the Japan Future Leaders School at Prefectural Office. From our school, a 2nd-year Miss Sumida and a 1st-year Miss Omori are going to attend this special summer school. Together with other attendants, they first had a meeting with Prefectural Governor, and then listened to a lecture from Ms Kato, the Secretary General of the school, about the general information of the school and what they demand of the participants. The school will be held from July 25th to August 7th. Hope they will get a lot of hints to be a future leader.

  &nbsb;On July 6th, we had a debriefing session about the companies the first-year students visited on June 27th. A total of 18 students selected each from those who visited the six companies explained and showed their global activities, problems they are facing, and how they are planning to solve those problems. Since each student was able to visit only one company, this session was a great chance to share other companies’ information. Through this visit and session, the students were able to learn many interesting things about what the company is all about, what work should be like, and what it is like to be a global company. We greatly appreciate the companies for their cooperation.

   On July 7th, three students, who were selected to be members of the “TOBITATE NEXT JAPAN Study-Abroad project” gathered in the principal room and stated their resolutions for their stays. Our head teacher said to them, “This is a special chance for you all, so please study as much as you can, but be sure to take care and come back safely.”
   We are looking forward to hearing what they see, feel and learn after their stay.