OUTREACH & INSPIRING COMMUNICATIONS 28: June 21st, 2024 – “Creating AWARENESS, Developing the YOUTH”. Communication STARTS at a YOUNG AGE.
Continuing the SCHOOL PROJECTS (outreach of UT-GGEC program ‘Global Communication Skills Training’ course). UT Guest Lecturer (GGEC / TAIIKU, TIAS2.0) “Shige (Atsumi Shigematsu)” along with Prof. Randeep Rakwal (TAIIKU / TIAS2.0, UT), visited “Meiho Junior High School” (JHS) Hitachiomiya City, Ibaraki Prefecture. Why is communication key? After teaching university students (graduate/UG) the same question has inspired us to communicate its importance with schools (students), in this project.
This was our second visit (first was June 30, 2023), and this time – we met the 2nd grade (8th grade) students and the 1st grade (7th grade) students. For 2nd grade students, we gave a short lecture in the subject of [Let’s listen to the experts] as the school principal requested which is for their social learnings about various jobs, and then we played the Word-chain game in about 20 minutes. [Last time, we met these students (in the 1st grade) and played communication games (Puzzle games). The purpose of this game is to let students think about communication and to know any difficulty of it and get some hints for their communication skills improvement as we believe better communication would help to make their lives better.] About 1 year has already passed since we met them last time but they are still bright and pure young boys and girls, and this time we felt their growth through seeing their attitude of listening and talking.
For the 1st grade students, we played the communication games (Puzzle games) for each class as we did last year. They were so excited and enjoyed the games, and at the same time they learned about the communication. We talked about the difficulty of word communication and provided a few tips to improve their communication skills.
In these activities as the team of MAGIC (INSPIRING COMMUNICATIONS©- Society for Investing in Practical Communication Learning and Mentoring by Inspiring Communications), we mainly focus on telling people about the importance of communication and the needs of improving and using English in their communication for their future (already coming) global societies. We will continue to disseminate these activities and meet people as many as possible in various generations and talk about the importance of communication and English skills to make their future lives better.
(‘Shige’ – A. Shigematsu; June 25, 2024)
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An observer (with whom we work with children on ‘international exchange through sports’ and English, in Inashiki City, Ibaraki Prefecture), joined us on the day, and she writes:
“In the ‘Let’s listen to the experts’ class in the second year of JHS, the students were passive and it seemed difficult to speak on their own. Also, even if wanted to talk, found it difficult to express it in words, “I don’t know what to say.” I felt that I needed an atmosphere where I could actively ask questions. In the “puzzle game” for the first year of JHS, it was a good opportunity to experience the difficulty of conveying pictures that can only be seen by others only with words. Even though the shape of the puzzle they completed was completely different, it was impressive that everyone was excited with a smile. Even after that, “Why did it become like this?” “It was a wonderful class to discover many improvements such as “I didn’t have enough words” and “I should have checked.” “Good communication” is a skill that is indispensable not only in the business scene but also in daily life, so it was a good experience. Thank you.
(Kaori Kuroda, Sports Promotion Ibaraki General Incorporated Association)
