マルコム・フィールド教授が神奈川総合高校のワールド・カフェに参加し指導

平成29年12月10日に総合政策学部のマルコム・フィールド教授が、県立神奈川総合高校の第9回ワールドカフェに参加し指導しました。Modern TechnologyとTraditional Cultureをテーマに、生活、健康、芸術、教育の分野での個別トピックについて、200人の高校生と20人の教員がグループに分かれ席を移動しながら、英語を使い深い思考をコミュニケートする学修イベントが行われました。以下に、マルコム・フィールド教授の報告を載せます。

On December 10th, Kanagawa Sogo High School hosted the annual World Cafe for 2017. Kyorin University was again fortunate to have been involved with the event. Professor Malcolm Field from the Faculty of Social Sciences represented Kyorin University as the guest speaker. The theme for the World Cafe 2017 was Modern Technology and Traditional Culture. More than 200 high school students from schools in Kanagawa Prefecture, including the U.S. military base schools, participated in the event. After the opening ceremony and Professor Field’s address, the students sat in groups of four and discussed key topics in English, such as technology in health or in education, and enjoyed feasting on many snacks. Professor Field sat with the students and engaged in the group discussions. About every 30 minutes, everyone rotated to create a different group and discussed a different topic related to the World Cafe theme. The students thus had the opportunity to meet many people.

The World Cafe provides a very practical example how young students in Japan can be given the opportunity to use their English and discuss very important topics about their futures. These two opportunities, language use and in-depth discussion, are not often available in the Japanese educational experience; yet, they are crucial for developing skill capacity and proficiency and knowledge for Japan’s futures. All the students enthusiastically engaged in conversation and discussion - even when Professor Field challenged them with questions they had never considered before. The World Cafe also provides an example for universities with a global educational foci to provide practical professional and global experiences, whilst simultaneously developing an outreach to motivated high school students.

As a footnote from Professor Field: I was very impressed by both the event and by the high school students who participated in the World Cafe. Each student and each group provided interesting ideas and thoughts that stimulated engaging conversations. I hope Kyorin University will continue to cooperate in the World Cafe event.

マルコム・フィールド教授
高大接続推進室
2017.12.12