In May of last year, the Japanese Language Supporter Training Course was held at Hiroshima City International House. Due to the many requests received after the course, Fall Training Course was held on October 7 (Sun). For this latter course, the number of applicants exceeded the number being recruited, indicating the high level of interest among Hiroshima citizens in the international students.
Associate Professor Kazunari Iwata of the Faculty of International Studies at Hiroshima City University provided instruction on "The position of the Japanese language in the world", "Language Acquisition" and "Non-Japanese people". This was followed by a hands-on exercise where participants corrected text written by international students. Participants in the course diligently took notes as they nodded or showed surprise at what the instructor was saying.
In the next part of the course, two current supporters gave presentations on their regular activities. These were extremely well-received, with participants commenting that they were able to develop a concrete idea of what they would be doing. There were many questions and much lively discussion.
In the report session, ten supporters gave reports on their recent activities and exchanged information with the instructor. The supporters reported that through their activities they were able to rediscover Japan and they learned many things from the international students, demonstrating clearly the significance of the support activities. The session was also a good opportunity for the supporters to get together and talk.
We plan to further enhance this system, which enables the supporters to interact naturally as good partners with international students, while achieving personal growth.