Activity Reports

The "RELC-Waseda International Student Seminar" was conducted at the SEAMEO Regional Language Centre (RELC) in Singapore between February 6 and 10, 2006. A total of 52 people participated, including staff and students responsible for the seminar, DCC corporation members and DCC office members. It was an extremely valuable seminar.

Outline of the "RELC-Waseda International Student Seminar"

[Objectives]

This seminar was designed to deepen understandings and respect of the cultural background and linguistic characteristics of each other's countries, mainly in Asia, and to enhance practical English communication abilities

[Dates]

February 6 (Monday) - February 10 (Friday), 2006

[Venue]

SEAMEO Regional Language Centre (RELC), Singapore

[Sponsor]

Waseda University

[Support]

Digital Campus Consortium

[Main purpose]

This seminar was to ascertain ex-post the results produced by the international joint online course, "World Englishes and Miscommunications," implemented as part of the Cyber University Consortium (CUC) project promoted by the DCC. This seminar also aimed at mutual enlightenment for staff and students involved in the program from overseas and from Waseda University to provide an outlook for future development.

[Participants]

A total of 52 participants comprising staff and students from participating universities (the 8 universities listed below) in the "World Englishes and Miscommunications" course:

Korea University (Korea), Chulalongkorn University (Thailand), De La Salle University (Philippines), Fudan University (China), Hong Kong Baptist University (Hong Kong), University of Malaya (Malaysia), Namseoul University (Korea), Waseda University (Japan)

As part of the seminar, a special session was held at the National University of Singapore on February 8. Mr. Yoshihiro Matsukawa, Director of the Corporate Communications Group at Panasonic Asia-Pacific Pte. Ltd., which provides support for DCC activities, gave a keynote presentation. Dr. Anne Pakir and Dr. Takashi Terada from the National University of Singapore also gave special presentations

The seminar in motion

World Englishes special lecture (at the National University of Singapore)

Reports on each of the program elements appear below.

<< Seminar provided by the RELC >>
　

To coincide with the running of the international student seminar at the RELC, we requested seminars conducted by RELC specialists on themes in accordance with the main seminar's primary purpose, such as communication between different cultures, and World Englishes.

Each lecturer provided interactive seminars that comprise lectures, group discussions, and short speeches.

A seminar being conducted by an RELC specialist

The special presentation by Prof. Nakano

<< Special lectures and workshops by participating academic faculty >>　

Academic faculty from the various universities participating in the main seminar provided special lectures and workshops with content that corresponded to their own specialized fields of study and to the World Englishes theme.

Participating academic staff are listed below:

　　Prof. Bok-Myung Chang
　　Ms. Sydney Gonzales-Villegas
　　Prof. Azirah Hashim
　　Prof. Tony T.N. Hung
　　Prof. Hikyong Lee
　　Prof. Michiko Nakano
　　Ms. Rachel Tan
　　Prof. Xiong Xueliang

The keynote presentation by Mr. Matsukawa

Dr. Anne Pakir /Dr. Takashi Terada

<<Special Session at the National University of Singapore >>
　

Keynote presentation:

Mr. Yoshihiro Matsukawa, Director of the Corporate Communications Group at Panasonic Asia-Pacific Pte. Ltd., provided a keynote presentation regarding Matsushita Electric's corporate communications strategy and human resources development entitled "Requirements for Public Relations toward 'Global Excellence Company'".

Special presentation (1):

Dr. Anne Pakir from the National University of Singapore gave a lecture based on the views of specialists and researchers regarding divergent meaning resulting from differences in terminology defined by English as a common international language.

Special presentation (2):

Dr. Takashi Terada (a participant in the "Coexistence in Asia" international joint online course) from the Department of Japanese Studies, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, National University of Singapore gave a presentation regarding trends towards and the background to the formation of the East Asian Community based on the current status of the ASEAN+3. He also spoke about the importance of English as a common language.

<< Student presentations>>
　

Student made presentations in the afternoon of February 10 as a way of providing overall summaries of the main seminar.

Before the seminar, participating students chose one of four themes provided, and they considered and developed ideas for presentation in a group with the same theme throughout the seminar.

Each group made presentations expressing their ideas and differences through presentation materials, skits and so forth, and the participating students achieved a lively exchange of opinions.

A videoconference system was setup for the presentation session and Waseda University connected to this via the internet, allowing Prof. Michiko Nakano and Prof. Yasukata Yano to join in the session.

A look at the student presentations

Commemorative photograph of the participants

A discussion between participating academic faculty

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