English Café Open the Door to the World!

Kelvin Lai Siong Ong, Akimi Fujita (Shinshu University)

Outline

1. What is English Café? a. Motivation b. History c. Activities

2. Assessment on the effects of English Café - Experiences abroad à awareness of a bigger world outside, acceptance of diversity and differences - TOEIC à a basic English skill as a global communication tool

3. Conclusion/Future Work

Outline

1. What is English Café? a. Motivation b. History c. Activities

2. Assessment on the effects of English Café - Experiences abroad à awareness of a bigger world outside, acceptance of diversity and differences - TOEIC à a basic English skill as a global communication tool

3. Conclusion/Future Work

What is English Café?

i) We have our opinions (identities --ourselves, our societies and cultures, abilities to think logically and objectively)

Fully run by Shinshu University students. English Café is not an English conversation class! not even an English class!　

a. Motivation 　　　　 ~ empowering ourselves to become global leaders in 3 steps

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ii) We want to express our opinions (confidence, assertiveness, flexibility and a sense of responsibility)

iii) We know ways to express our opinions effectively to others (communication skills, understanding of diversity in culture, religion, age, economy etc.)

What is English Café ? b. History

-  An international student, Santosh Yonjan (Nepal), and two Japanese students, N. Nakajima and T. Iwamoto who returned from studying aboard for a year wanted to start TEDx at Shinshu University.

-  English Café started in December 2013 with the TED’s spirit of “Ideas Worth Spreading”

-  An environment where students can freely discuss and debate their ideas with other students from all over the world.

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-  Obtain license to organize TEDxShinshuUniversity in 2015

Japanese Students

78.4% (182)

International Students

21.6% (50)

Data source: Global Desk, Faculty of Engineering, Shinshu University

-  Since December 2013, 232 students participated, including

i)  Engineering students (Japanese and International students)

ii)  Short term exchange students

iii)  Students from Faculty of Education (nearby campus)

iv)  Public

English Cafe Participants

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Number of Student Participants (December 2013 ~ July 2016)

2013 Winter 2014 Spring 2014 Fall 2015 Spring 2015 Fall 2016

Spring

Data source: Global Desk, Faculty of Engineering, Shinshu University 4/19

What is English Café ? c. Activities

-  Weekly session on every Friday from 12pm to 2pm

-  At refresh corner* of the faculty library.

-  12pm – 1pm : A 10-minute interactive presentation, followed by Q&A session and a short discussion

-  1pm – 2pm : Debates, Group talk, games and etc.

-  Naming as cafe is to encourage students to spend lunchtime while practicing communication in English

* eating and drinking are allowed at the refresh corner of the library 5/19

Short Presentation

-  Approximately 10 minutes interactive presentation with minimum 3 questions for the audiences

-  Followed by Q&A session and a short discussion.

-  Inspired by TED events

-  Genre: Anything!

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Presentations in 2016 1.  Apr 15 : France – A. Verkyndt (France) 2.  Apr 22 : Japan Pop Culture – K. W. Filip (Poland) 3.  May 06 : Study Experience in Boston – N. Tanaka (Japan) 4.  May 13 : Chinese Staple Food – Y. T. Zhang (China) 5.  May 20 : Study Experience in Chico – M. Onuma (Japan) 6.  May 27 : This is my adventure – Y. Kimura (Japan) 7.  June 03 : Korean Culture – Y. Y. Jang (Korea) 8.  June 10 : Malaysia – A. D. Gunasegaran (Malaysia) 9.  June17 : Artificial Intelligence – R. Hirayama (Japan) 10.  June 24 : Flat Panel Display – G. Ikeuchi (Japan) 11.  July 01 : Where and How to Find Life – N. Md. Afif (Bangladesh) 12.  July 08 : Energy Resources – T. Kano (Japan) 13.  July15: My Hometown: Gifu – H. Yokoyama (Japan)

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Discussion/Debate/Group Talks

7/16 8/19

Outline

1. What is English Café? a. Motivation b. History c. Activities

2. Assessment on the effects of English Café - Experiences abroad à awareness of a bigger world outside, acceptance of diversity and differences - TOEIC à a basic English skill as a global communication tool

3. Conclusion/Future Work

Assessment on the effects of English Café

TOEIC* achievement

Experiences abroad

* Test of English for International Communication 9/19

Out of 182 Japanese students participate in English Cafe

64* (35.2%) Japanese students of English Café have experiences abroad

* As on June 2016. Data source: Global Desk, Faculty of Engineering, Shinshu University

Experiences abroad ~ can be a measure of our awareness of a bigger world outside and our willingness to accept the differences and diversity

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And from these 64 Japanese students who attended English Cafe

- 34 (53.1%) students went abroad after they attended English Café - 30 (46.9%) students went abroad before coming to English Café

Data source: Global Desk, Faculty of Engineering, Shinshu University

after attending English Café 34 (53.1%)

before coming to English Café

30 (46.9%)

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And from these 64 Japanese students who attended English Cafe

- 34 (53.1%) students went abroad after they attended English Café - 30 (46.9%) students went abroad before coming to English Café

Data source: Global Desk, Faculty of Engineering, Shinshu University

6 students went abroad again after coming to English Cafe

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Summarizing the results: 40 (22.0%) students who went abroad were attending English Café before they left.

This suggests that up to 40 (22.0%) out of 182 Japanese student participants could have been motivated by English Café to go abroad

Data source: Global Desk, Faculty of Engineering, Shinshu University 13/19

Among the 64 students who went abroad

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- 45 students continue attending English Café after coming back

Our data suggest English Café is a place where we want to 1)  practice our communication skills gained from our

experiences abroad 2)  create a global community inside Shinshu University

based on our experiences abroad Data source: Global Desk, Faculty of Engineering, Shinshu University

Continue coming to English Café 45 (70.3%)

Among the 64 students who went abroad

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- 45 students continue attending English Café after coming back

Our data suggest English Café is a place where we want to 1)  practice our communication skills gained from our

experiences abroad 2)  create a global community inside Shinshu University

based on our experiences abroad Data source: Global Desk, Faculty of Engineering, Shinshu University

9 of them are the previous and current committee members

Data source: Global Desk, Faculty of Engineering, Shinshu University

We also note

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-  Since 2013, the total of 122 Shinshu University Japanese students went abroad for short/long term studies, volunteer work and etc.

Out of 122, 64 (52.5%) of them have attended English Café

*Test of English for International Communication Data source: Global Desk, Faculty of Engineering, Shinshu University

A Preliminary Result on TOEIC* Score Improvement ~ as a measure of basic English skill as a global communication tool

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1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   10   11   12   13   14  

TOEIC  Scores

Student

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A2er  

350 345

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- We have TOEIC scores from 14 students

Outline

1. What is English Café? a. Motivation b. History c. Activities

2. Assessment on the effects of English Café - Experiences abroad à awareness of a bigger world outside, acceptance of diversity and differences - TOEIC à a basic English skill as a global communication tool

3. Conclusion/Future Work

Conclusion

- English Café is a place where students practice our communication skills gained overseas and create a global community inside Shinshu University.

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- English Café is run by students for students, to empower ourselves to be global leaders in 3 steps:

1) Have opinions 2) Want to Express them 3) Know Way to Express them

- English Café is encouraging students to go abroad and learn the world outside Japan.

Future Work - Collect TOEIC scores from the participants.

- Maintain or increase the number of participants towards the end of each semester.

- Japanese committee members as role models to empower more students.

- Create fun and friendly learning environment to keep English Café growing.

19/19 Thank you!