Hello, I am Stephanie Reynolds, an English Teacher in charge of the Advanced Reading & Writing courses at Hakusanroku campus. On Wednesday, June 18th, 2025, 5 international exchange students from Columbia, Missouri, USA joined my 1st year International College of Technology-Kanazawa (ICT) Advanced Reading & Writing IA class. The class typically has five students, so the American students and ICT students were perfectly matched 1-to-1 as partners for the class activities. 

 We began the class by discussing what both the ICT students and American students have been reading recently, in addition to the ICT students updating their reading logs. Over the 15-week semester, students in the Advanced Reading & Writing IA class are expected to log a minimum of 8 hours of free, independent reading time. They can include the time spent reading during learning sessions and other classes, as long as the content is in English. It was exciting and motivating to hear what others have been reading and what they thought about their chosen texts.

 The next activity involved reviewing vocabulary and reading a 2-page article about the history and development of plastics. Students worked together with their partners to answer reading comprehension questions and practice the target skill of using inference to answer questions that are not directly addressed in the text.

 The final task was a grammar exercise, in which all students answered a list of 10 questions and made sentences using the habitual past forms used to and would. The challenge was to decide when to use each type of form and how to adapt the forms to negative statements. The activity was written first, then students stood up and shared their sentences with one another while mingling in the classroom.

 It was a wonderful opportunity to exchange language and cultural knowledge between ICT and American students. In the future, hopefully we can continue our exchange through writing emails and developing a deeper connection as pen pals.

Stephanie Reynolds