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

 Hello again! This is Sade Moore, a Learning Mentor at the Hakusanroku Campus! From Saturday, June 7th, 2025, International College of Technology (ICT) has had the pleasure of hosting a delegation of 5 high school students from Columbia, Missouri, United States at the Hakusanroku Campus. Along with two teachers from Columbia they have been participating in classes at the Hakusanroku Campus with our students and also various activities in and around Hakusan City and Kanazawa City. To facilitate welcoming them to our school the Learning Mentors decided to have a quick Ice Breaking Session for the students during the beginning of Learning Session on Monday, June 9th. 

 At the beginning of Learning Session, we gathered all of the students together in the Math Classroom. We started with normal announcements for our students to tell them about their necessary assignments and homework and any events that are going to happen soon and after the announcements the fun could begin! First, to wake up the students and let everyone loosen up, the Learning Mentors decided to play a game as most of the students seemed sleepy and not interested.

 The first ice breaker that we played is called “Fruit Basket.” It is a game where all the students sit in a circle and one student is in the middle. The student in the middle has to say, in English, something that pertains to them. It can be anything like what food they like, what color they like, what pet they have, or what class they like. After the student says the statement, then for the students who have the same answer, they must get up and move to a different chair. For students who say things like “my favorite color is pink” or “I have a pet fish” not many students can say the same so not many students move. But for statements like “I am a human” or “I like animals” or “Fruits Basket (where all the students have to move chairs)”, it can cause a lot of chaos as most students have to move to a different seat! The students had a lot of fun trying to find a new chair and not be the student left in the middle.

 At the ICT Hakusanroku Campus we have implemented a House System where all of the students are separated into 4 separate houses. The students have to work together with their Housemates to collect points based off of good behavior, such as doing their homework, completing assignments, helping their other classmates, and cleaning up after themselves. They can also lose points if they behave badly, for example, if they are being too loud during Learning Session, not completing assignments, not cleaning up after themselves, and not acting in an appropriate manner. To help integrate the American students into ICT, the Learning Mentors thought it would be a good idea to sort the American students into one of the 4 ICT Houses. So, we held a quick sorting ceremony for them and they were quickly welcomed into their houses by their ICT house members. 

 With the sorting done this led into our final ice breaking activity of the night where we would play English-only Charades. In a usual game of charades there are only gestures used to try and guess a secret word. However, today for charades the students must give hints in English only as to what the secret word was. Each house had to work together to give the best hints so that their teammate could guess correctly as fast as possible. The first House to guess correctly would receive 20 House Points, 2nd fastest would get 15 House Points, 3rd would get 10 House Points, and the last team to guess the answer would get 5 House Points. The students really enjoyed working together to use their English in order to get as many points as possible!

 After English-only Charades the ICT students and the American students were all released to regular Learning Session to work on any assignments, homework, or presentations that they needed to get done or to get to know each other better if they had free time. It was really nice to see all of the students laughing and smiling together and crossing cultural barriers through the Ice Breaking Activity. It is the Learning Mentors’ hope that this will lead to good memories and a great start to good relations between our students and the students from Columbia. 

Sade Moore

I’m Rattiya Mebusaya—or just call me Jane—and I’m from Thailand. The classes, Tossa Mebusaya and I are responsible for are mostly related to innovation and entrepreneurship in both Kanazawa and Hakusanroku campus. On June 8th, it was the anniversary of our being here and working for 3 years. I’m kind of a new full-time employee at ICT, but I’m not new here. I graduated from KIT studying in Nakazawa Sensei’s lab and had been temporarily working at ICT’s Kanazawa office—helping out here and there—for two and a half years. Now, I’m mostly at the Kanazawa campus but work at the Hakusanroku campus from time to time.

Tossa and I have a mission here to build an entrepreneurship program for students. In these past three years, it has been good, bad, exciting, and many other things in between. It has been a great experience and full of opportunities. We have done so many things so far—some have paid off, and some still need time and adjustment. With the startup and entrepreneur mindset, everything is an opportunity, and every failure is a lesson. We just need to move forward and act fast.

We’re really proud of our students in the startup and entrepreneur program. There will be more opportunities and learning throughout this long journey. We have not only taught students in classes—since entrepreneurship and a startup mindset need consistency and real-world, uncertain experiences—we also need to be part of a strong ecosystem to create a successful learning environment.

Even though we have not yet completely fulfilled all our goals, these are the activities we’ve built up so far at both the Kanazawa and Hakusanroku campuses. Here are some pictures of what we’ve done so far at ICT—our first and second KIT & ICT Startup Boot Camps. These boot camps were created to educate and support anyone interested in startups—not just ICT students, but also KIT students and even faculty and staff. We've been running them for about two years. This year, we will move to the next stage of startup development.

Startup Boot Camp

Next are our first and second ICT Startup Competitions. In these events, we’ve hosted a couple of interesting panels to educate and update participants on both Japanese and global startup trends. We’ve invited Japanese and international startups, investors, and other key ecosystem players such as Tech Startup HOKURIKU(TeSH), government representatives, and more. After the panels, we held a pitching competition. We’ve recruited teams from ICT, KIT (although no one from KIT has joined yet), and universities in other countries such as Thailand, Vietnam, and Malaysia. We hope that in the coming year, we’ll have more international teams as well as local teams from other universities, colleges, and technical colleges or KOSENs.

ICT Startup Competition 2024

ICT Startup Competition 2025

We’ve also built connections with entrepreneurs and others in the ecosystem through important events such as the Matching HUB Hokuriku, SusHi Tech Tokyo, and visits to universities in other countries. Lastly, we have been coaching our students for competitions such as the Entrepreneurship KOSEN Summit and the High School Students’ Dream Award.

Entrepreneurship KOSEN Summit

Other Entrepreneurship Events

Right now, our office is based at the ICT Kanazawa campus. If anyone is interested in Innovation, Startups, or Entrepreneurship, please feel free to swing by and see us at the Innovation Lab—we’d love for you to get to know us. Or, if you’d like to learn more about us first, you can also visit our Facebook page to see more details and activities。
https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1Gi66wGeQo/

In the future, we plan to host events that anyone can join to learn more about current entrepreneurs or share ideas—even short, casual pitches on solving real-world problems. It will be fun to share ideas without boundaries.

Play time at ICT Kanazawa after a hard day’s work. There are always opportunities for creativity and excitement.

Rattiya Mebusaya

  As the last patches of snow melted from the Hakusanroku campus grounds and tiny buds of spring began to bloom, something else started fresh, too—our newest batch of freshmen!

 Hi, I’m Domyson Abuan, one of the Learning Mentors (LMs) here at ICT, and our team works closely with both 1st and 2nd year students. This April 2025, we opened our doors to welcome the incoming students who are just beginning their journey of learning, growing, and living here at the Hakusanroku campus.

 Each weeknight from 7:30 P.M. to 9:30 P.M., we run Learning Sessions (LS)—a time dedicated to studying, doing homework, and building good study habits for students. And of course, us LMs are there to guide, support, and sometimes, just be a friendly face to talk to.

 To help our 1st year students ease into this new environment, we planned some fun and meaningful events to help them meet their schoolmates, and get a head start on the semester.

Kicking Things Off: Learning Session Orientation

 On Friday, April 4th, both 1st and 2nd year students gathered for our LS Orientation. We LMs introduced ourselves and gave a quick rundown of what the session is all about. Just like their morning classes, LS has a set of guidelines so everyone knows how to make the most of their evenings.

 One important part? English time! Students are encouraged to use English during LS so they can get used to it in preparation for their life in New Zealand when they are 3rd year students.

 We also introduced this year’s new activity: a Reading Laboratory where students read an article suited to their current level and answer a few questions to sharpen their reading comprehension.

 Afterwards, the 1st year students were given a short tour around the LS spaces—like where to find the announcements, where to grab study materials, and which rooms are used for quiet study and group work.

 Then, the real fun began.

Games, Giggles, and Getting to Know Each Other

 Back in the orientation room, it was time for some team-building games! First up was the Cup Stack Challenge. Divided into small groups, students had to work together using only a rubber band with strings (one per teammate) to stack paper cups into the tallest tower. With three rounds of fast-paced building, the room was filled with laughter, cheering, and a few dramatic cup crashes. Winners, of course, got snack prizes!

 Next was English Bingo, with questions about hobbies and personal interests. The goal? Talk to as many classmates as possible to complete your bingo sheet. It was a great icebreaker and got everyone chatting in English, asking questions, and realizing they already have things in common.

 To wrap things up, students worked together in groups to complete their STEM (Science subject) worksheets—an actual study task to help them prep for an upcoming quiz in their Chemistry class. They answered questions on laboratory safety and proper use of apparatus. We were really proud of how well they collaborated and focused, even after all the fun.

Welcome to the House System!

 On Wednesday, April 9th, excitement was in the air as the students were sorted into their Houses! Think Hogwarts vibes, but with homework points instead of magic spells. As each student discovered their house, you could hear laughter and surprise (“Yay! I'm with you!”) across the room.

 Meanwhile, the 2nd years, now seasoned pros, jumped right into earning points for their houses by completing homework and doing tasks. At the end of semester, the house with the most points wins the House Cup and a special reward. Let the friendly competition begin!

Karaoke, Board Games, and Bright Smiles

 To officially welcome the new students, we held a Welcome Party on Friday, April 11th. The 2nd years really stepped up—they helped set up games and even kicked off the karaoke session!

 One by one, students took the mic and sang their favorite hits. Many sang solo, some in groups, and others danced along. The room buzzed with energy and lots of laughter.

 There were board games, card games, and stacking challenges too—each bringing out bursts of cheers. A computer game even pulled a huge crowd, and before long, many were playing and bonding like old friends.

 Throughout the party, us teachers made our rounds, casually chatting with students in English about how they were settling in and what they looked forward to the most this semester - the chats were made more fun of course by delicious snacks.

 A Springboard into Something Special

 We hope these activities gave our freshmen a warm welcome and a strong start to their life here at Hakusanroku campus. With a new semester ahead, we're excited for more workshops, holiday events, and fun group challenges during our Learning Sessions.

 And yes—we’ll definitely keep you posted.

Domyson Abuan

Hello! This is Yuri Makada from the Hakusanroku office. At ICT, 24 new students have arrived and are beginning to settle into their new campus life. This time, I would like to write the icebreaker activities held on Tuesday, April 1st, 2025, after the entrance ceremony.

　 The first activity was a game called "Identity Crisis." Learning mentors handed out slips of paper to each student, with the name of another 1st and 2nd year student written on it. The mission was to find the person whose name was written on the paper. In addition, pieces of paper with students' names were also hidden under the chairs. At the end of the game, students had to find the chair with their own name written underneath and sit on it.
 As the game began, students introduced themselves to each other while searching for the person on their paper. It took some time to find one another, but once they found their name, they seemed really happy with big smiles and the atmosphere became lively and cheerful.
 It was also memorable to see students calling out to one another and then working together to find the chair with their own name on it.

The 2 boxes

 Next, a game called “In the Box” was held. The purpose of this was to find commonalities and hobbies among each other. First, students wrote their hobbies, hometowns, favorite foods, specialties, etc. on a piece of paper. The Learning Mentors then collected the papers and read out the contents one by one. If the students found something they had in common with what was read, they ran toward the center of the room.
 In the center of the room, there were two tape outlines in the shape of 2 boxes, with the rule that if they entered the outer box, they received one coin, and if they entered the inter box, they received two coins. The students wrote a variety of information, such as “I like reading books,” “I like penguins,” “I like ICT,” etc. When information such as “I'm from Norway” or “I'm from Indonesia” was shared, the students responded with applause, creating a warm and friendly atmosphere.
 At the end of the session, the three students with the highest number of coins were presented with snacks!
 Through the icebreakers, the students seemed to be able to get to know each other better.

@ictkanazawa

2025年4月1日（火）、白山麓キャンパス（1、2年生）でアイスブレイクが行われ、共通点を見つけるゲームが実施されました👀✨緑の枠に入ると2ポイント、白い枠に入ると1ポイント付与され、ポイントの多い3名にはお菓子がプレゼントされました🍫🍪 学生たちは、アイスブレイクを通して、お互いを知ることができたのではないでしょうか✨ #国際高専

♬ ABC - Jackson 5

Yuri Makada