| 1. Change in appearance of students |
| Students look tired when they enter senior high school. They are forced to compete since the fifth or sixth grades of elementary school. Words towards "me" decease and they become nervous about their relationship with friends. Girls change their looks when they come into contact with the Internet. |
| 2. Past Activities |
| In the past, we visited New Zealand, received football teams from New Zealand and Australia in Japan, and held friendship matches, etc., but all of these activities were led by teachers. For most students, a foreign country is a country far away and "internationalization" is merely a word. The Internet brings foreign countries into daily life. It realizes an environment where, once a student sits down in front of a terminal, beyond the monitor is a foreign country. |
| 3. Features of Lessons Using Internet |
| Here are examples of English and Commercial Courses (International
Understanding)
|
| 1) |
Learn how to write in English on a given theme (concentration is high since the purpose is clear). |
| 2) |
Text input (operational activity. Average student can enter 300 characters per 10 minutes.) |
| 3) |
Exposition of personal opinions (making objections, agreement, reasons and insistence) |
| 4) |
Sending mail/information (to schools in U.S.A., Finland, etc.) |
| 5) |
Response from partners returned in about a day (evaluation of the product) |
| 4. Internet Functions and Student Communication |
| (1) |
Electronic mail |
|
Communicating countries: Finland, U.S.A. (New York, Arkansas), China, Australia
|
Example: Mail from China
I don't like Japanese. Maybe Japanese are not as bad as I think, but I can't forget the war between our two countries. It is difficult for me to accept Japanese. If my answer is not right, then I'm sorry! |
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| (2) |
WWW |
|
Students made their own pages. They introduced themselves and gave presentations on club activities.
Search during lessons, exchange rate search, survey of the number of car exports, etc., in trade simulation class. |
|
| (3) |
Use of CU-SeeMe |
|
Periodic mail exchange with a technical high school in LA, U.S.A. (every Thursday) for 30 minutes from 8:00 a.m., aiming at voluntary operation by students. Language education and free discussion on the cultural festival at school. |
Students' impression by using Cu-SeeMe with a school in LA
| I was most impressed by the friendly response of "Hi" to the first message I sent. I felt wonderful that I could actually talk with a girl living in a country far away across the ocean. Words are understood by how they are pronounced. The most important thing is to have a chance to make many friends. Of course, I sent email using Cu-SeeMe. |
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| (4) |
Various projects |
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Example: Mailing list with Aichi Educational College, self-introduction using Cu-SeeMe, essay on school life (about 600 characters), making a questionnaire (What is required for a good teacher?) |
|
| (5) |
Change of students' consciousness |
|
"Secrets are proof of a person." Privacy of email correspondence is strictly observed as it is said that character is fostered by keeping secrets. This creates trusting relationships and makes students feel free to write English and Japanese mail. |
|
| (6) |
What was proved through practice? |
|
While bi-directional communication is important, it is important for teachers to work together to ensure this feature. A check of students not receiving responses is regularly carried out. Mail is private communication and we that feel that observing this improves student awareness. The Internet makes it possible for students to go over the classroom wall and break down the school fence. It makes us feel that we live in an era in which "the information creates the appearance." We feel that our slogan of "make personality important" is being realized. The network also realizes a place for interchange among teachers of different types of schools (private, public, two-year college and university) and provides new points of view and energy to teachers. |
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