With the spread of the new coronavirus making it almost impossible to travel abroad, online international exchange classes are spreading at junior and senior high schools across the country.At a venture company in Kobe, which he works on, the number of partner schools in Japan, which were two before the coronavirus epidemic, has rapidly increased to XNUMX.Overseas, the number of schools has expanded to XNUMX in XNUMX countries, mainly in Southeast Asia.Thanks to the development of an information and communication technology (ICT) environment as a countermeasure against infection, the time has come when students can casually study abroad at school. (Chiho Kotani)

"My favorite Japanese word is 'ichigo ichie'. It means..." Mid-November, Kobe Municipal Fukiai High School (Chuo Ward, Kobe).Thirty-one first-year students from international studies and others spoke in English to third-year Indian junior high school students on the other side of the screen.Today is the first class.By February next year, they will hold four discussions on themes such as "school rules" and "taboos in their own country" to deepen their understanding.

The event was planned by "With the World" in Chuo Ward of the same city.For half a year from November this year, in collaboration with the city of Kobe, Fukiai High School and Hata Junior High School (Kita Ward, Kobe) will be used as model schools to develop online international exchange classes as extracurricular activities.

Shunta Igarashi (XNUMX), the company's representative, started the business in April XNUMX. He thought, "By interacting with people of the same generation from different countries, I want them to learn about their own country's social problems and be able to solve them."Initially, Kwansei Gakuin High School (Nishinomiya City, Hyogo Prefecture) started exchange classes with Indonesia, and in XNUMX, the second year, a private school in Tokyo joined.Last year, when the coronavirus spread, the number of schools jumped to about XNUMX.

Due to the corona crisis, study abroad and overseas training have stopped across the board.On the other hand, the demand for online interaction increased, and inquiries flooded in.In Hyogo Prefecture, Prefectural University (Nishi Ward, Kobe City), Ikuno High School (Asago City), Sumoto Jitsugyo High School (Sumoto City), Prefectural International High School (Ashiya City), Kobayashi Sacred Heart Junior High School (Takarazuka City), Toyo Ohimeji Junior and Senior High School (Himeji City) participates.

The national government's GIGA school initiative, in which each student is provided with a personal computer in schools across the country, has also been a tailwind.For online international exchange, it is necessary to open the video conversation application "Zoom" on your own computer terminal, and until now, public schools have often been refused because they do not have the environment.However, last year due to the corona crisis, computers and other devices spread at a rapid pace, and the wall disappeared.

A XNUMX-year-old first-year student at Fukiai High School said it was the first time he had come into contact with a foreigner. I want to study hard,” with sparkling eyes.

Some schools that have implemented the program have said, "Students speak English like they've never seen it before," and, "Even if the coronavirus is over, I want to do it before overseas training."Igarashi is enthusiastic, saying, "We want to work with the government to reach as many public school students as possible."
Photo: Through the screen, a class interacting with Indian junior high school students = XNUMX Nozaki-dori, Chuo-ku, Kobe City, Kobe Municipal Fukiai High School (photo by Ms. Kotani, Kobe Shimbun)

The online version of the Kobe Shimbun is here:https://www.kobe-np.co.jp/news/sougou/202112/p1_0014947350.shtml