KUAS International Students Visit Kameoka-Kawahigashi Gakuen

On January 12th, 2024, four international students and staff from KUAS visited Kameoka-Kawahigashi Gakuen (an integrated Elementary and Junior High School), where they interacted with 66 students from the 4th and 7th (Junior High 1st) grades. From KUAS, three international students from Indonesia, Malaysia, and Bangladesh currently studying in the Faculty of Engineering as well as an International Office staff member from the US participated in these exchange activities.

First, the KUAS participants and the schoolchildren were divided into four groups and introduced themselves. The fourth graders had prepared slides and used their tablets to introduce themselves, talking about their birthdays, hobbies, favorite foods, etc. Next, the international students and staff introduced a game they had played as children. An Indonesian version of Old Maid, a stone-throwing game, I Spy, and Duck, Duck, Goose were played. While it was the first time to play the games for most of the schoolchildren, the event was a great success. While the explanation of the rules took place all in English, the 7th graders helped the 4th graders when they got confused. This way, everyone was able to have a good time.

“This was a wonderful experience,” said one of the international students, “I would love to go visit them again.” “I really enjoyed interacting with the Japanese school kids,” commented another student. “I’m really surprised that they were able to understand an Indonesian game very fast too. I really want to have this experience again in the future.”

(Atsushi Iwata, International Office)