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

News from QC（Vol. 12 2015/9/28）

Reports

What I Learned from the Summer Intensive Course at Queens CollegeTakumi Ohnuma, National Institute of Technology, Numazu College
Two and a half months have passed

been hard for me because listening to mysince we came here in New York. Duringown

this period, I met many people who

However, I think this is important in

inspired me and have had a greatorder to improve my teaching skills

influence on this FD program. Because

because by doing it I can recognize how

other members of this program alreadymy usual tone induces sleep.

reported

about

anoutlineandavoice

Ourisreallywritinguncomfortable.

instructor,

Daniel,beginning of our stay at Queens College, I

always corrected our essays of homework,

focus on people whom I met in theand assigned us revising them at least

Summer Intensive Course at English

once. Judging from the number of hisLanguage Institute (ELI) of Queens

class and students, I guess the correction

College and what I learned from them.

was very hard work for the instructor.

In the first part of this FD project at

His annotations were written extremely

Toyohashi University of Technology, I

fast, and I had difficulty with doing thelearned that Japanese language tends tohomework. I was confident of reading

depend on high-context communication.

handwriting because I am accustomed to

In fact, contexts are important also in

decoding students’ report and answer

English conversation because the context

sheets of the exam. I tried to guess whatmeans not only the words or phrases that

he wrote; however, I often went to ask

help to explain the meanings but alsohim about the corrections. One day, whensituations or conditions where it issomeonespoken. One of the instructors at ELI,

explanations in the textbook, which wasBeth, who taught us many idioms,

newly adopted this year, Daniel said thatemphasized the importance of the context.

a simplified textbook has a trick and it

She sometimes demonstrated like angoes unreality. Moreover, he also said

actress the effectiveness of gestures andthat English is messy and crazy, which

voice modulation to change the meaning.

means that we cannot organize grammar

I realized that this part of the context,

into simple rules. Based on such an idea,

which comes from eye contact, gestures,

he showed us the real sense of English

tone

meaningful

with various examples. Although it was ainformation when we speak in English.

little hard for me to keep up with his pace,

To learn this elocution, we need to makehis classes were very instructive.

ofvoice,

gives

us

claimedabout

unclearmore time to practice just as an actor or a

Looking back on classes in our college,

singer does. Therefore, I came to record

each professor has their own style ofand check my voice sometimes when Iteaching.

Inanycase,interactions

read

betweenprofessors

andstudents

aloudandpracticeformypresentation in English. This practice has

5oramong students are the key to make

them interesting. I am thinking that I

has a good knowledge of not only English

will go over my teaching style in my mind

but also math and physics. He also has anwhile observing the lectures in fallexperience in working as an engineer,semester.

and he is interested in my study fields,

During the summer course, I spent

whicharemotordriveandpower

my lunchtime with my classmates. Weelectronics. Therefore, we decided to startenjoyed talking about our culture such asa seminar about my research topics, andfood, language, and music.

he is helping me with my teaching

I had a good friend from Colombia inpractice. Although our seminar has justthe class. His name is Nicolas. He is very

started, he patiently provides me afriendly and always encouraged me toproper feedback.

speak more in class. He also helped me

I am necessarily looking into mywhen I was one of the team leaders of theinner self while I meet various newdebate. After school, I often studied withpeople. It is not easy to accept the reality

Nicolas and Inseo, who was also myof my slow progress; however, I will beclassmate, in the library or the student

carrying out my intention of being

lounge.

positive with conviction.

Nicolas intends to be a physicist andStudy after school

Lunchtime

Summer Intensive Course at the English Language Institute of QC
Hideaki Misawa, National Institute of Technology, Ube CollegeIn this report I describe the summer

reading class, a writing class, and two listening

intensive course at the English Language& speaking classes. Each class was held two

Institute of QC, which took place for six weeks

days a week for three hours. In the following, Ifrom July through the middle of August, 2015.

briefly introduce the classes that I attended.

The course consisted of 4 classes: aThe reading class focused on the way of6reading that guesses the meaning of an

the difficulty in expressing them in English.

unknown word based on context clues which

Each class, in addition, covered a different

were words before or after the unknown word.

grammar unit with a textbook and handouts

This task was difficult for me and sometimes I(Fig.1).

could not understand why such a word can be adeterminers,

context clue. Because the use of dictionary wasbetween

not allowed during class in all the four classes,

nouns. Because some parts of rules are

the course seems to put emphasis on thegrammatical and other parts are based on usage,

development of the ability to guess theI recognized again that it is difficult tomeanings of unknown words from context.

appropriately use determiners and nouns.

Thereading

class

dealt

especiallytherelationshipdeterminers

andwithcount/non-countIn the writing class I learned about a basic

Although the instructors have different

structure of essay and wrote an essay on ateaching styles, they all ask students manydifferent topic every week. I think that the aim

questions in common. The instructor of theof this class is to make students be able toreading class told me that a professor’s job is tonotice and correct their errors by themselves

ask students many questions to stimulate them.

rather than to learn about how to write an essay.

I feel that my listening skill has improved

The instructor pointed out that the errors ofover the intensive course. On the other hand,tenses, articles and prepositions are common.

my speaking skill has not been improved very

The first listening & speaking classwell. By the end of my stay in NY, I hope I will

primarily dealt with idiom exercises andbe able to speak English more easily.

conversation practices with sample questions.
The instructor recommends students to watch alot of TV dramas and movies without English
subtitles. By following the advice, I went to see
a movie with my classmates. Because themovie was Inside Out, a children’s film ofFig. 1. Textbook and handouts.

Disney, I was able to enjoy it without subtitles.
The other listening & speaking classincluded debates, pair discussions on TED talksandNewYork

Times’

videos,andapresentation. Although we had debates on death
penalty and gun-control, I couldn’t express myopinions well due to the lack of experience andFig. 2. Group photograph of my class.

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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