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Internet English Education Seminar: Announcement and Request

Thank you for visiting the sites "Japan Thru Young Eyes" http://www.wnn.or.jp/wnn-tokyo/english/young/001/ .

"Japan Thru Young Eyes" is set up on a Web site by my English classes at Kanda University of International Studies and Bunkyo Women's Junior College and myself. It is an experiment in using a learner-centered and task-based approach to learning English. Students introduce Japan in both Japanese and English over the Internet. Established in September 1997, the project is a year and a half old.
The site has 30,000 - 40,000 visitors weekly from over 30 countries around the world.
It has been featured several times as a Yahoo! "cool site" and in the mass media, and many organizations throughout Japan have the site linked to their homepages.

Our goals behind its establishment:

  1. By transmitting information in English, improve overall English communication skills.
  2. By researching Japanese culture and transmitting this information to the world, increase international understanding of Japan and reaffirm our own understanding of our own culture.
  3. To show how the site can be used as educational materials within Japan, not only for English classes but also for other general classes, including Japanese language, social studies, science, engineering, home economics, and music.
We would like to hold an Internet English Education Seminar centered around our visitors. Together with you, we hope to discover the possibilities of the Internet in education.
We would like to hold the seminar based on the needs and opinions of our visitors. Please let us hear your ideas.

Setsuko Watanabe
Seminar and Workshop (proposed)

Date:
June 14th (mon) 1999, 18:00-20:00

Venue:
Meeting room, Multimedia Business Department, NTT-East Corporation Provisional Headquarters, Otemachi Urban Net Bldg 18F. (2-2-2 Otemachi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo)

Admission:
Free

Participants:
Anyone interested in using the Internet in English education

Instructors (scheduled):
  • Setsuko Watanabe, Kanda University of International Studies
  • Yutaka Yamauchi, Tokyo International University
  • NTT representative

Contents (proposed):
  1. "Japan Thru Young Eyes": Problems during the making of the site, international response, and the problems and results with use in English education
  2. Seminars on "Japan Thru Young Eyes", "Setsuko's Travel Sketches" and other sites
  3. Teaching methodology for Internet classes in environments without a hardware set-up
  4. Q & A session
  5. Workshop: Forming groups and creating lesson plans using Internet sites

We would like to run the seminar based on your needs as much as possible. Please let us hear your thoughts. For example...
  1. What would you like included in the seminar program?
  2. How do you use the Internet in education?
  3. How would you like to use it in the future?
  4. At your school, what kinds of obstacles to Internet education exist?
  5. When should the seminar be held?
Thank you very much. We look forward to hearing your opinions and requests.

* Setsuko Watanabe * E-mail: aswata@xa2.so-net.ne.jp *

* Toshimasa Komatsu, Multimedia Business Department, NTT-East Corporation Provisional Headquarters * E-mail: wnn-c@mbd.mbc.ntt.co.jp *

"Japan Thru Young Eyes" has appeared in the following newspapers.

@ Asahi, The Japan Times Student Times, The Yomiuri, Asahi Evening News and others have introduced the site as an example of an innovative approach in education.

@ It has been introduced several times as a Yahoo! recommended site.

@ In March 1998, results regarding the site were announced at the English and American Culture Organization, gaining the understanding and interest of many people.

@ The following educational institutions have used the site: Showa Women's University, Keio University Shonen Fujisawa Campus, Tokyo International University, Kanda University of International Studies, Bunkyo Women's Junior College, Wayo Women's Junior College, and others.

@ It is listed as a link on the Web sites of many educational institutions, Japanese friendship societies, regional municipal bodies, universities around the world, and Japanese cultural promotion organizations.