Toyohashi University of Technology,
Institute for Global Network Innovation inTechnology Education

News from QC（Vol. 17 2015/11/30）

Reports

Activities in the Fall Semester at Queens CollegeTakumi Ohnuma, National Institute of Technology, Numazu College
1. Introduction- Teaching in English

We only have less than two months- Academic Language Support

left at Queens College. Since the fall

“Electromagnetism”

deals

withsemester began, we have been studying

theories

about teaching, while observing somemagnetic fields, which are included inlectures of special subjects, and attending

KOSEN curriculums as well. In theclasses about teaching in English for thephysics department, I had the impression

FD members. This period is invaluablethat it is explained more strictly by using

time to enhance not only English but also

applied math. It is not easy for me to get

education

diversethe credit because the pace is fast andenvironment. Moreover, I have been

there are two sessions for 110 minutes

trying to develop my communicationeach every week. Although the lectureskills in English in various ways. One ofstyle using a whiteboard is similar tothe advantages of this FD program isJapanese school, student participations

that we can flexibly design the approach

are more active. The number of theto improve our skills to cultivate global

students attending the class is less thanperspectives. Six- month stay is too short

20, and the seat arrangement is set round.

to strengthen the skills, and we have to

These are effective to interact withstart preparing for the next practice instudents.

ina

culturally

about

electric

fieldsandPenang.
2. Lecture Observations and Teaching
Training
In the fall semester, I am taking one
subject and observing three subjects.
These courses each are scheduled twice aweek. In addition, we are taking twocourses about teaching methods for theFD members, which are given on everyFriday.

Fig.1 Course Observation 1・For Credit : Electromagnetism I“Our changing planet” mainly deals

・For Observation :with conceptual meteorology and it is- Our Changing Planet

conducted- Elementary Japanese

Nevertheless, the teaching style of this- Linguistics

subject is very interactive and impressive.

・For FD :withpower

pointslides.

The professor speaks just like a president6speech. Even though, there are nearlyengineering and he is good at English.

100 students in the class, the professor

Therefore, we decided to have a privatetalks with a student in turn. Other

lesson for two hours every week. I teachstudents

thehim about power electronics and motor

conversation. In addition, he is obviously

drive technology in English, and he gives

conscious of clear speaking with a strong

me feedback. Now we became a best

intonation, which are all what we learned

friend here.

learn

hisideas

fromin this FD program at TUT. It isIn addition, I have some opportunities

instructive to improve our teaching infor continuing research activities inEnglish.

Japan. I have a Skype session with mylab students in Japan once a week.
Although we have to adjust ourselves tothe time difference of 13 hours, a network
environment is good enough. And, I
received requests from the committee
about peer review and writing a textbook.
(2) English Skill Development
I have been trying to find opportunities
to improve my English proficiency as

Fig.2 Course Observation 2much as possible. I registered for English

I am attending also “Elementaryspeaking/ listening class provided byJapanese” and “Linguistics” because I amEnglish Language Institute at Queens

interested in how American students

Collegelearn foreign language and how Japaneseevenings. I also started online English

professors teach in English. However, I

lesson with Skype for 25 minutes a day.

have come to be attracted to the content

We have to pay extra cost for themitself rather than being conscious of

because these are not included in the FDteaching in English. It is ideal to speak

program. In addition, I registered for freefluently like that, however in reality, I

conversation

found that it requires a long life in thestudents at Queens College on every

onTuesdayclassandfor

Thursdayinternational

United States for many years.
3. Other activities(1) Research Activities
I found a learning partner to discuss
about my research in English. He wasone of my classmates in the English
intensive course in summer. He is also
studying English as a second language
and preparing for going to Europe tostudy

physics.

Heisinterested

Fig.3 English Class (ELI evening)in7

Thursday. In my free time, I practiceregular meeting on lunchtime about twice“Rhythm and Beat”, which I learned ina month. Most of the members are

the TUT section of this FD program, byAmerican students who are interested inmyself with the web-based teaching

Japanese culture and studying Japanesematerials.

language. We enjoy conversation witheach other and exchange ideas about our(3) Club Activities

culture. In the Japanese culture club, II joined two club activities for QC

got a chance to give a presentation aboutstudents. First, I applied an a cappellaan a cappella culture in Japan and I willgroup, the qc iTones. It is really earnest

talk about it on November 11th.

and great group. After having two
4. Summaryauditions, I became a member of iTones.
Although I can participate rehearsals

Besides studying teaching method in

only on Sunday, when I have no class, it isthe class, I have been trying to take angreat time to have a real communication

active part in various things. I learned

with American students. Second, I joinedfrom these activities that it is the mostJapanese culture club, which has aimportant to have plenty of topics ofconversation. We can find a good person
to talk to as long as having rich topics.
Evenintheclass,professors

give

examples and questions based on theirexperiences to derive an idea. And then,English is still important to communicate
with people from different countries. Ihavetoeveryday

practice
like

Englishtrainingforpatiently
athletes.

Overall, I felt this period went by very

Fig.4 Club Activity

quickly.

Taking Computer Science Courses in the Fall Semester at QC
Hideaki Misawa, National Institute of Technology, Ube College
In this report I describe the courses that I

get credits and the others are just forhave taken in this fall semester at QC.

observation.

I have taken three courses offered by theInformation and Intelligence is a generalComputer Science Department: Information

education course for freshmen. About 20and Intelligence, Discrete Structures, and Data

students take this course and learn aboutStructures. All the three courses have two

information theory, artificial intelligence, and75-minute classes a week for three credits. Data

coding. So far, they have learned about theStructures is the course that I am attending todigital representation of information and coding8

to control a microcontroller, Arduino.

to do their homework so as to get good scores

One of the course’s goals in this semester isin exams. The solutions of homework of theto make dance costumes with decorative

section are explained over the following several

lighting by using Arduinos. At the beginning ofclasses. This makes it possible for students tothe courses, the students had little knowledge ofeasily review the contents of the previous

coding and electrical circuits. They haveclasses several times. Furthermore, a class

gradually learned about the minimum amount

before an exam goes over the coverage of theof knowledge of electrical circuits and Arduino,exam. I think that this course is very helpful forwhich is also the name of a programming

students if students follow instructions by thelanguage based on C++ to control Arduinos, ininstructor.

order to finish laboratory work assignments.

The instructor of this course is a native

In every class, a handout called takeaway is

English speaker and has an expressive voice

distributed to the students and they need towith rich facial expressions. I want to learn

evaluate whether the class is interesting or not

about her behavior in class as well as English

and whether the class is clear or not on a scale

expressions. Although this course seems to be aof 1 to 5. In addition, they need to write

traditional style of teaching, I recognized again

something difficult to understand during class,that this teaching method is effective.

questions or suggestions in their takeaways. In

Data Structures is also a required course forthe next class, questions in the takeaways of thethe Computer Science major. About 35 students

previous class are answered by the instructor.

take this course and learn about data structures

Because the instructor of this course is asuch stacks, queues, lists and trees with theirnative English speaker, I can learn the ways ofJava implementations.

explaining something and giving instructions toThe instructor of this course is Chinese andstudents in English. Moreover, the teachingis a non-native English speaker. In the firststyle of this course is informative for me.

class of the course, the instructor himself told

Discrete Structures is a required course forstudents that he has a little difficulty in

the Computer Science major. The number ofcommunicating

students in this course is about 30 and they

Sometimes, he asks them to help him

learn about algorithms, recursion, recurrences,pronounce words correctly. The teaching stylegraphs etc. Each class usually consists ofof this course is to show slides and write

explaining solutions of homework, introducing

additional explanations on aa new content and showing how to solve

Compared to native English speakers, hisexample problems. The instructor uses a

explanation is not fluent and polished. However,blackboard for explanation in this course.

he uses simple English explanations and draws

withtheminEnglish.

whiteboard.

The textbook used in this course has moreas many illustrations as possible. I want tothan 50 exercises in each section and theintroduce this point into my classes when I

instructor selected 5 to 10 exercises from themteach classes in English at my college.

as homework for each section. After finishing a

After taking the courses for a few months, Isection

instructor

have noticed that the instructors use more noun

announces that the students should start to doclauses such as “What we want to do” andhomework of the section. Although the students“What we are going to do” than I expected.

don’t need to submit their homework, they have

Although I heard that noun clauses are often

ofthetextbook,the9used in academic writing during the summer

noun clauses in my class to extend the range ofintensive English course of ELI, they are often

my expressions.

used in speaking during class. I want to use

Toyohashi University of Technology
Institute for Global Network Innovation in Technology Education
Center for International Education
1-1, Hibarigaoka, Tempaku-cho, Toyohashi, Aichi, Japan
Tel: +81-532-81-5161
Mail: unireform@office.tut.ac.jp

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