8Applicableprinciple

Initiative to Promote Cross-Cultural Understanding in Miyako Junior College
Iwate Prefectural University, Miyako Junior College
Takayuki Mimura, Associate Professor, Yoshiyuki Omae, Lecturer

Principle 6: A commitment to encouraging global citizenship through education
Principle 10: A commitment to promoting inter-cultural dialogue and understanding,and the “unlearning” of intolerance, through education

At Iwate Prefectural University, Miyako Junior College, wehold English Time program to provide students an opportunity
to attend lectures on international exchange and English
conversation with the hope that students' international
understanding will be further deepened through crosscultural understanding and cross-cultural exchange events aswell as volunteer activities for foreign tourists.

In December 2021, the Deputy Secretary-General for theMiyako International Association was invited to our university
to give a lecture on "Current Efforts for Foreign Residents in
Miyako City".
In the lecture, through pictures, the Japanese language
classes, English conversation classes, and events to learn
about traditional Japanese culture that are held by the Miyako
International Association were introduced and students
learned how the Miyako International Association is workingwith foreigners living in Miyako City.
After the lecture, group work on understanding life in foreigncountries under the title of “International understanding ineach of us” was conducted. The participating students formedgroups and learned about international issues through quizzes
on their interest in international understanding.
Some participants commented that they would like to learn
more about international issues and different cultures in more
depth, while others had difficulty in understanding againstinternational understanding and did not answer the quizcorrectly.

English Time was held twice in July and December.
(1) July
In July we held English Time twice for the first-year andsecond-year students respectively.
For English Time for the first year students, many ofthem were participating for the first time and were a little
nervous as they began English conversation. However, as
time passed, the students gradually began to speak more
actively in English. The students learned that there weremany languages spoken in one country, and deepened
their cross-cultural understanding. The students seemed
to have a good time as they found that they could have aconversation with simple English words. For English Timefor the second-year students, many participants could
speak English, and they talked about foreign cultures, thehistory of countries, the history of music, and so on in
English.
(2) December
In December, we held English Time twice by mixing thefirst year and second year students.
After watching a video about the life before and after
COVID-19 titled "After COVID-19", we spoke in English
about things that became inconvenient and convenient,
what we couldn't do and could do after the spread of
COVID-19, and what we would like to do if COVID-19
subsides. At first, the students seemed confused andnervous about speaking in English, but in the end, they
became comfortable speaking in English and began tospeak willingly, and seemed to have a good time.

Lecture on International Exchange

English Time

1. Lecture on International Exchange

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2. English Time