Southern Cross University
Faculty of Global Studies Liberal Arts
About the program you participated in
[Training period and schedule]
3 classes per day (weekdays only)
(1) 9:00-10:00/Input-based lectures for acquiring knowledge
(2) 10:15-11:15/Output-type lecture
(3) 12:00-13:00/Communication with local staff
Weekly Review
- Week 1:Australian culture, Indigenous culture
Many of the lectures were focused on Australian manners and culture, including information about the Aborigines and other indigenous people. - Week 2: Festivals and celebrations
The students researched how festivals that are popular in Japan, such as Christmas and Valentine's Day, are celebrated in Australia. The group presentation was based on that research. The group chose the Australian festival "The Parks Elvis Festival" and each participant gave a 20-minute presentation, about 5 minutes long. - Week 3: Australian animals
They deepened their knowledge of the ecology of animals such as the typical koala and kangaroo, as well as the endemic Tasmanian devil. During the time spent communicating with local people using Zoom, the content strengthened their output skills of conveying the knowledge they had gained through research. - Week 4:Australian travel and leisure
The content was about learning about tourist spots and landmarks in Australia, which was related to the presentation in the final week. - Week 5:Environment
The program taught students about forest fires caused by Australia's dry climate and how they are protecting the marine life of the Great Barrier Reef from recent marine pollution. - Week 6:Presentations and Movies
The final presentation, in pairs, was a plan for a trip to Australia. As they worked on the project, they watched a movie in English and took a quiz about the content to sum up the six weeks.
About the program progress
- Contents
The teacher will give a presentation using slides about Australian culture and knowledge. - Timing of hand-raising
A question appears on the slide, and you can speak by pressing the raise hand button.
Oral questions from the instructor were asked by students who had their microphones turned on. - Exercises and assignments
It was a way to fill in the gaps in what we had learned and to prepare for what we would be doing the following week.
Sometimes they were also required to submit evaluations of their presentations. - others
Using the electronic whiteboard function, questions with multiple answers were written down all at once.
[Interactions in class, with teachers, and with classmates]
- Breakout rooms for small group communication
- Exchange of feedback after interactive activities on Zoom
- All of my classmates were Japanese and came from many different universities.
[Out-of-class learning, assignments, homework]
- Daily English conversation through group chat using LINE
- As for homework, it consisted of filling in the blanks on the printouts of what had been learned and preparing for the next week's material.
[About the test]
- Week 1: Placement Test (Writing) / Explained above as a pre-check test
- Week 2: -Nothing-
- Week 3: Group Presentations (Festival)
- Week 4:Quiz/(1) Reading(True or False) (2)Listening
- Week 5: Exit Writing Test
- Week 6:Pair Oral Presentations(Travel planning in Australia)
How does it fit with my level?
- Local Teachers
- There were two teachers in charge. The main female teacher especially valued independence and had a lot of interaction with students who spoke up, so the class went very smoothly. I had the strong impression that my colloquial grammar was not pointed out, but was simply read. I felt that I had not mastered the correct expressions. On the other hand, the male teacher selected students in a well-balanced way, so I felt that it was suited to Japanese students.
- Classmates
I studied for six weeks in a class of about 20 students from Chiba University of Commerce and other universities. In particular, I was able to communicate with the students from other universities outside of class and raise each other's motivation for studying, so it was a very productive six weeks.
How many of the goals were achieved through the program and were the episodes realized?
After participating in the program, I no longer felt nervous about speaking in English, as long as it was a short sentence. During the question and answer session, I raised my hand and thoughtfully expressed my opinion. At the final graduation ceremony, I was able to speak as a student speaker. Since I had set a goal of having a successful experience in expressing my opinion in English, I can say that I achieved that goal.
The only thing that was lacking was that there was information about optional communication events outside of class lectures, but I was unable to attend due to personal commitments. It was a chance to gain experience by jumping into something on my own. I regret not having participated.
Advice for future students
The content of the course itself is not difficult and easy to understand. In class, it is important to explain in English why you think the way you do, and if you have an opinion that is different from others, to express it in your own words. I think it is difficult to achieve results if you are passive and wait to be called on. The staff at Southern Cross University answer questions and doubts carefully. I think it is important to ask the staff instead of your friends.