Introducing activities related to words (518) Many people participated, including the general public

May 18th is "Language Day." In conjunction with the open campus day at Chiba Togane Campus, an event was held to mark the anniversary.

"Kotoba" is a compound word made up of "kotoba" (word) and "ha" (leaf). The leaf represents abundance.
The date comes from the idea that the word "ha" (leaf) represents the freshness of the new green leaves in May, and the numbers 5 and 18 are a pun that can be read as "ko (5) to (10) ba (8)."
The purpose of this day is to use words carefully, to be grateful for the way people can communicate with each other through words, and to enrich our lives through words. The reason it was chosen to be "Words Day" written in hiragana rather than "Words Day" written in kanji is because it is our desire that people learn about "words" in a broad sense, including sign language and Braille.

In addition to English, our university offers eight languages: Chinese, Korean, Spanish, German, French, Hungarian, Polish, and Czech. Students can also learn Japanese, which is studied by international students, and how to teach Japanese to international students. As a comprehensive university with seven faculties and nine departments where students of various nationalities learn from each other, there are many opportunities to use "language" and learn "language."
Taking this as a good opportunity to introduce the unique learning experience of our university, we introduced our initiatives with "language" as the common keyword, and the venue was bustling with participants.

Department of Department of Clinical Pharmacy Initiative: "Support for taking medicines"

Medication guidance for foreigners
We created a guide to using Google Translate for pharmacists as a tool to overcome the language barrier with foreign patients. We also devised a pictogram design called "Alert Tag" to convey warning information about over-the-counter drugs sold at drug stores to foreign visitors to Japan.

A teacher (left) explaining about pictograms

A student giving a detailed explanation

Department of Department of International Exchange Studies Initiative "Japanese Language Support"

Japanese language support for Sri Lankan students in Sanmu City
Students are volunteering to provide Japanese language support to Sri Lankan children. They introduced participants to Kanji Bingo and Karuta that they had actually created.

Presentation of results from overseas Japanese language teaching training
We provide Japanese language teaching practice to students studying Japanese at universities overseas. We introduced participants to the countries in which the Japanese language internships are conducted, as well as the cost and number of days of the internship.

A student (center) explaining the teaching materials he created

A student (second from the right) explaining the Japanese language internship to participants

Extracurricular activities (quasi-curricular education) initiative "Volunteer Circle (STAR DUST KIDS)"

We introduced the activity report of the circle (STAR DUST KIDS) which is engaged in sign language chorus activities. Participants also had the opportunity to experience sign language chorus.

Practicing a sign language chorus with the participants

"Foreign Language Mentor" initiative: Academic learning + extracurricular activities (quasi-curricular education)

Nihao Chinese Club
Japan-Korea Support Team
We introduced exchange activities between international students and learners, as well as mentoring activities.

ニーハオ中文同好会の説明をポスタ―を使い説明する学生(左奥)

A student (left) explaining about the Japan-Korea Support Team