More than 70 high school students join “Eiri Zoom Cafe” connecting Japan and the U.S.

Today, we held an event called “EIRI Zoom Cafe” online.

This event is an event in which more than 70 high school students from High Schools in Japan and the United States participate to discuss and think about Post COVID-19 Education in English. It was held today, with preparations being made mainly by English teachers and students.

At the beginning, Dr. Robin Sakamoto of Kyorin University made a presentation on this subject.  After that, students divided into groups about three times (Zoom has a convenient function called “breakout session”, so students can have discussions in a room with a few people).

In addition to high school students from Kanagawa Prefecture in Japan (other than our school, students from Kashiwayo High School, Yokosuka High School, Sagamihara High School and  Kanagawa Sogo High School) participated, as well as students from Keio New York Gakuin in the United States and some local schools in the United States also participated in the event, attracting a very diverse range of participants.

The students were able to speak to a high school student from the U.S. whom they would not normally be able to speak to directly, and also talked about their the situation in Japan. Since it was all held in English, there may have been situations where Japanese high school students could not communicate their thoughts in English as well as they wanted, or they could not understand what American high school students were talking about. However, from this point forward, students believe that interacting with various high school students broadened their horizons and motivated them to improve their communication skills.

Thank you to everyone who participated and to all the organizers!