The BC Japanese Language Teachers Information Exchange Meeting was held inside C.K. Choi Building
On May 13, 2023, the BC Japanese Language Teachers Information Exchange Meeting was held inside the C.K. Choi Building at UBC. The event was co-hosted by the UBC Japanese Language Program and the Japan Foundation Toronto, with support from the Canadian Association for Japanese Language Education (CAJLE)’s Regional Workshop Support Fund.
The purpose of this meeting was to bring together Japanese language teachers from BC’s high schools and universities to exchange information and gain knowledge about each other’s system, which is essential when considering high school-university articulation.
The one-day meeting was divided into presentations and group discussions. In addition to about 30 Japanese language teachers, Ms. Ryoko Hasegawa, Researcher/Cultural Officer from the Consulate-General of Japan in Vancouver, also attended the meeting.
Presentation by the Japan Foundation on “Survey on Japanese-Language Eduation Abroad 2021”
Presentation by Ms. Keiko Yoshikawa on articulation between high schools and universities in Alberta
The afternoon meeting started with an information exchange session among teachers at the same educational level, followed by another session among teachers at different levels of education, ending with a discussion on the theme of “What can we do to cooperate between different levels of education and institutions?” Near the end of the sessions, each group shared various specific ideas of possible areas of cooperation.
Group discussions in the lounge space
Due to the pandemic, the information exchange meetings were held online in the past few years, but this year’s meeting has returned to being held in-person. While online communication offers the advantage of overcoming geographical barriers, the face-to-face nature of this gathering fostered more dynamic networking opportunities among participants.
The Japanese Language Program would like to sincerely thank the Japan Foundation Toronto for co-hosting this event, and to appreciate CAJLE and the home department (Asian Studies) for their support.
Photos by UBC/The Japan Foundation, Toronto
