Activity Report

We have only one and a half months up to visiting Indonesia. We are out of action now because Saga University students have regular examinations from July 30th to August 5th. I would like to request the members to get full marks in all examinations and to go to Indonesia without thinking of reexaminations.
 
Today, I would like to show you the preparation for overseas training. As Haruno and Yohei wrote in this homepage, we learned about Indonesia and Japan as the first step. We shared information which each member searched for both countries. Each member searched different things, so we could get various knowledge and information through English Corner.
 
Last time, we made name cards like this picture. Kacchi-kun, a mascot character of Saga University is in center of this card. I think it looks very pretty. Of course, it contains STEPs’ logotype too. I think this is a very good name card. I would like to distribute all cards to many friends in Indonesia.
 
As you already know, the blogs of English version appeared in STEPs homepage. What we wrote in English version is the same as in Japanese version. We would like to get and increase the readers around the world to know STEPs’ activities. When I introduce STEPs in Indonesia, I will show our website address to the Indonesian students. From now, we would like to renew our blog once or more a month, so please access our homepage.
Thank you!!
 
By Daiki YOSHIDA

The theme of English Corner in July 8 was about Indonesia. The STEPs member gave presentations on 'capital, climate, greeting, money, food, souvenirs' and so on. In addition, they talked about the taboo in Indonesia.
I would like to easily introduce the contents they presented.

・Capital : Jakarta

・Climate
Tropical rainforest climate
The dry season --- May ~ October
The rainy season --- November ~ April

・Food
Indonesian food is famous for spices.
Sate (One of the most popular dishes) like Japanese Yakitori
Most of Indonesian people belong to Islamic religion, who never eat pork and drink.

・Taboo
You must not use your left hand. (as much as possible)
It is prohibited to pat children's head
You should not take a photograph at the temple and use flash during a ceremony.

We can get much fundamental knowledge of Indonesia in these presentations. We can ask questions to Indonesian students and Professors by getting much fundamental knowledge before we visit Indonesia. I am going to get more knowledge of not only Indonesia but also Japan. And, I would like to prepare for the good self-introduction in English.
Thank you!

By Yohei INOKUCHI

''Japan'' was the theme of English Corner in June 24.
We searched and learned about various things of Japan, and we presented it and shared them. We chose 5 or more topics from ''food, education, technology, language, the national character, history, climate''. I'll show the contents briefly in the following.

*Festivals in Saga prefecture
Karatsu-kunchi, Arita Ceramics Fair
*Japanese Technology
not lose screw, surgical needles
*Japanese food culture
seasonal cuisine, Sushi
*Features of Japanese religion
Buddhism and Shintoism, the culture of respecting other religions

Though these are about my own country Japan, there are a lot of things I don't know. I learned many things from other member's presentations. After presentations, we asked questions each other and looked further.

In the overseas training to China in last year, I was asked many questions about Japan by Chinese students, but I could hardly answer them. However, on the other hand, when I asked about China, they gave ready answers to my questions. I was very surprised. For this year's training, I'd like to prepare well. This presentations is the first step, and it was a good opportunity to understand Japan. Next week, we'll hold English Corner on Indonesia, so we want to discuss with comparing Indonesia to Japanese culture we learned.

By Haruno KUROIWA

Three months have passed since the 5th STEPs began, so we are getting along very nicely.
The STEPs members ask many questions when “English Corner” is held, and we talk for 90 minutes without Japanese.
Today, I would like to introduce the most interesting theme in these days. It is "What do you want to bring for a desert island?”. Then, the STEPs members introduced essential items for living (water and food) and tools which they used as their hobby. The following are items which they presented.
Water, partner, air plane, personal computer, brown rice, camera, pressure cooker, mosquito coil of incenses, scoops, fishing pole, and knife.
Do you think why he will bring PC to an island? Keishi wants to bring and use PC there because his hobby is watching movie on YouTube. But, there are not electricity and radio waves. The other members asked him that, and then our talk got very exciting.
Also, Haruno wants to bring brown rice. It is because if she plants it on an island, she can live forever with eating it. This is very good idea, so if I go to a desert island, I want to bring it.
Like that, “English Corner” is the time when we talk casual themes in English in behalf of Japanese. It is practice for talking with Indonesian students in September. We have less than three months until visiting Indonesia, but we would like to prepare in advance for researching about Indonesia completely, and have a good time with Indonesian students.
First of the preparation, in next meeting, each STEPs member will present about Japanese culture. This is an activity to know our own country, Japan. Of course, it is important for us to research on Indonesia, but first we must know about Japan. If we visit Indonesia in September without learning Japan, we will be ashamed not to answer questions when Indonesian students ask us about Japan. We were forced to realize that in China last year, so we want to avoid that in Indonesia.

By Daiki YOSHIDA

On April 7th, the award ceremony of deans’ prize was held, and 14 students, 2 students in each department, won the prize.In winners, 6 applicants, 2 third year students and 4 fourth year students, became the members of the 5th STEPs.The formation of grades was similar to the 4th, but 4 people are new members. By having a lot of meetings, we’d like to be a one team.

About contents of meetings, same as last year, we will have meetings to increase our English level and communicate with foreign university students who will visit Saga University. For this reason, we began English Corner on May, earlier than last year. We think it makes our English better until visit to Gadjah Mada University on September.

When we visit Gadjah Mada University, we will receive lectures. The themes are ‘‘Differential and integral calculus (math)’’ and ‘‘Education in Indonesia especially English’’. We will study about calculus and its vocabulary in preparation for a lecture of math. And, for a lecture of English, we’d like to look back the thing that we took the lecture about English education in Liaoning University last year and search English education in Japan. If I have my opinion about it, the lecture will be more interesting, I think.

by Haruno KUROIWA