Hello this is Kuroda, one of the Japanese language teachers at ICT. I would like to introduce some of the 2nd year students’ stories created in Japanese Expression IIB.
 In this class, instead of starting to write a story straight away, they wrote the main character's background and personality on a character sheet in the first lesson, wrote how the main character's problems would be solved on a story map in the second lesson, and finally started to write the main text in the third lesson. The character sheets for the teaching materials were created with reference to Eishi Otsuka's Character Maker (ASCII Shinsho, 2008) and the story maps were created with reference to Shigeki Yamamoto's Story Map for Creating Japanese Language Lessons (Toyokan Shuppansha, 2014).

 Yoh Nieda's work “Smoked Friendship” tells the story of the protagonist Chris P. Bacon, who loves bacon so much that he plots to ‘baconise all mankind’, but his friends, the roast pig man and Sal S. Chorizo stop him and return him to normal.
 I liked the ending, in which the protagonist's perverse wish is prevented by his friends, their friendship grows, and the culminating scene flows well. The work was also highly praised by other students.

 In Ruuna Nakazawa's work “Star Voyagers”, the main character is an alien who has lost his home planet. At the character sheet stage, the story seemed too grandiose, so she decided to cut out the scene where he lands on Earth first. Then, during writing the story map stage, she came up with the idea of transforming the protagonist into a police dog. This sci-fi-like story style setting makes me want to read the rest of the story.

 The protagonist of Kaya Yasuda's work “One Man and One Cat” is about an old man who lives by a lake. Since the death of his wife, he spends his days feeling as if he is neither alive nor dead, but an encounter with a cat brings about a small change. It is a quiet, heart-warming work, like a ray of light shining through an open window. Kaya says it was difficult to choose words that matched the atmosphere of the story. It is proof that he paid attention to every detail.

There were many other unique pieces of work. One student included his own rap lyrics. Another student included an image of an example of an Instagram anniversary story. Some students projected their personal problems onto the main character.
Although the class time was short, everyone seemed to concentrate on their creation.
 One student commented: ‘It was difficult to make the dialogue natural, professional writers are amazing’.
 There is no correct method for creating a story. However, in this assignment, I hope they were able to experience a process similar to engineering, such as designing the overall structure in advance and adjusting the detailed expressions. I hope that students enjoyed making the stories as much as they enjoy making things.

Kuroda

Hello, This is Yuri Makada from the Hakusanroku Office.
 On Wednesday September 25th, 2024, a book review presentation was held for 1st year students. The students presented for up to 3 minutes on the books they read during summer vacation (with no restrictions on genre), sharing what they learned and their impressions. Japanese students read English books and presented in English, while international students read Japanese books and presented in Japanese. The students presented about a variety of genres, including fantasy, adventure, biography, and mystery. Some students created Power Point presentations, others created animations of their books’ story, and one student introduced their book by making a board game based on the book. 

 After the presentations, a voting session took place among the students and faculty to select the best presentations. There were two students chosen as the winners of the English presentations (Japanese students) and one student chosen as the winner of the Japanese presentations (International students). The results are as follows.

English Presentation Winner: Madoka Nakazawa

English Presentation Winner: Kotori Mae

Japanese Presentation Winner: Lapananrat Pantawat

Yuri Makada

　こんにちは、白山麓事務室の間加田 侑里です。今回は、雪の日に行われた1・2年生の保健体育の授業について紹介します。

 Hello, this is Yuri Makada from the Hakusanroku Office. This time, I would like to talk about the 1st and 2nd year Health and Physical Education classes held outside in the snow.

【1年生】

　2024年1月22日（月）、北陸は暖冬傾向が続き、例年だと大雪が降っている時期ですが、この日は積もっていた雪がほとんど溶け始め、天候に恵まれた（？）日でした。

　まず、学生たちは3段の雪だるま作りに挑戦しました。溶け始めた雪は水分を多く含んでいるため、学生たちは大きな雪玉を転がすのも一苦労で、重みがあり持ち上げるのも大変そうな様子でした。学生たちは大きな雪玉を割って2段、3段と積み上げていき、苦戦しながらも大きな3段雪だるまを完成させました。
　次に雪合戦が行われました。学生たちは2チームに分かれ、開始の合図とともに相手チームに向けて雪玉を投げました。日頃のストレスを発散するかのように、学生たちは全力で雪玉を投げているのが印象的でした。その後、雪玉が当たったら相手チームの一員となるルールに変更されました。相手チームに雪玉を当てれば当てるほど、自分のチームの人数が増えていきます。学生たちは雪玉を避けるのが上手く、大きな動きはなかったものの、笑い声が絶えず、楽しそうな様子でした。

　1年生の中には、滅多に雪が降らない地域からきている学生も多くおり、白山麓ならではの自然を存分に楽しむことができたのではないでしょうか。

1st Year Students

　On Monday, January 22nd, 2024, the Hokuriku region continued its mild winter trend. Usually we have heavy snowfall at this time of year, but this January had been warm and most of the snow had melted and began to disappear. We had beautiful weather on that day.

　First, students tried making a three-tiered snowman. Because the snow had begun to melt and contained a lot of moisture, the students had a hard time rolling the large snowballs and lifting them up because of their weight. Because of this, the students split the heavy snowballs into smaller and lighter pieces and then stacked them on top of each other. After a lot of hard work, the students completed a large three-tiered snowman.
 Next, a snowball fight was held. The students were divided into two teams, and when the signal was given, they threw snowballs at the other team. It was fun to see the students throwing snowballs as hard as they could, and releasing their daily stress. Later, the rules changed and if a student was hit, they had to switch teams. The more successful the hits, the larger the team grew. The students did a good job of avoiding the snowballs, and although there were no big moves, there was a lot of laughter and they seemed to be having a lot of fun.

　Many of the 1st year students come from regions where it rarely snows, and I think they were able to fully enjoy the nature activity.

@ictkanazawa

保健体育IB（1年生）の授業では、雪だるま作りや雪合戦が行われました⛄️❄️ニュージーランド出身で保健体育教員のフィリップ先生による授業紹介です✨ #国際高専 #白山麓キャンパス #高専 #ボーディングスクール #寮生活 #寮 #国際理工学科 #tiktok #snow #雪合戦 #雪だるま

♬ Songs and cheap arrangements that flow in the athletic meet(1020345) - Kids Sound

【2年生】

　2024年1月24日（水）、前日から今季最強の寒波が列島を襲い、石川県は大雪に見舞われ、白山麓キャンパス周辺は1メートルほどの積雪がありました。

　まずは、雪だるま作りが行われました。中庭にはサラサラのパウダースノーが積もり、丸めた雪がなかなか固まらず、学生たちは雪玉作りに苦戦している様子でしたが、数分後には2メートルほどの巨大な３段雪だるまを完成させました。その後、オリジナルの雪上ラグビー大会が行われました。学生と教員が2チームに分かれ、ラグビーボールを持った学生が相手チームのタックルを受け、フカフカの雪で転んだり、雪に足を取られたりしながらも、両チームとも持ち前の運動神経で雪上を全力で駆け回り、真剣勝負を繰り広げました。
　その後、2年間保健体育の授業に全力を注いだ2年生へのご褒美として、瀧本 明弘先生とフィリップ・ケザウ先生は３種類のピザを用意しました。しかし、フィリップ先生は雪上ラグビーの試合に負けたチームには簡単にピザを与えませんでした。雪上ラグビーの試合に負けたチームは、ピザを食べる前に罰ゲームとして、フィリップ先生がニュージーランドで朝食として食べていたシリアル「Weetabix」という大きな小麦ビスケットを水分なしで食べなければなりませんでした。このビスケットは、口の中の水分が全て奪われるため、負けたチームは「水分が全部持っていかれる！水飲みたい！」や「早くピザが食べたい！」と言いながらモクモクと食べ続け、試合に勝ったチームは誇らしげにピザを次々に食べていました。学生たちは体をたくさん動かして食欲も増し、一気にピザを4ピース食べる学生もいました。フィリップ先生は5ピース食べたそうです。

　この日は雪に恵まれ、2年生はふわふわの雪の上を全力で走り回り、隙があれば雪玉を投げ合い、全員が授業を楽しんでいる姿が印象的でした。

2nd Year Students

 On Wednesday, January 24th, 2024, the strongest cold wave of the season had hit Japan starting on the previous day, and Ishikawa Prefecture was hit with heavy snow with about 1 meter of snow falling on the Hakusanroku campus.

 First, students built a snowman. The courtyard was covered with powdery snow, and the students seemed to have a hard time making snowballs as the snow did not pack easily. After a few minutes, they completed a huge 3-tiered snowman about 3 meters high. After that, the original snow rugby tournament took place! Students and faculty were divided into two teams with the student holding the rugby ball being tackled by the other team and falling in the fluffy snow. Both teams, despite having a hard time running in the snow, used their athleticism to run around on the snow as fast as they could and compete in a serious game. 
 Then, as a reward for the 2nd year students who had put their all into their Health and Physical Education classes for the past two years, Akihiro Takimoto sensei and Philip Cadzow sensei provided three kinds of pizza. However, Philip sensei did not simply give pizza to the team that lost the snow rugby game. The team that lost the snow rugby game had to eat a large wheat biscuit called "Weetabix," a famous breakfast cereal that Philip sensei used to eat in New Zealand. The losing team had to eat a Weetabix without water before eating the pizza. Weetabix take away all the moisture of your mouth, so the members of the losing team were saying, “My mouth is so dry! I want some water!" or "I can't wait to eat pizza!!"
 The team that won the game did not have to eat Weetabix and proudly ate the pizzas one after another. After eating their Weetabix, the losing team could eat pizza as well. The students were so active that some of them ate four pieces of pizzas. Philip sensei ate five.

 Unlike Monday, this day had lots of snow, and the 2nd year students ran around on the powdery snow as fast as they could, throwing snowballs at each other whenever they had the chance, and enjoying the class.

@ictkanazawa

保健体育IIB（2年生）の授業では、雪だるま作りやオリジナルの雪上ラグビーが行われました☃️白山麓キャンパス周辺は雪がたくさん積もっています☃️ #国際高専 #白山麓キャンパス #3年次にはニュージーランド留学 #高専 #ボーディングスクール #寮生活 #国際理工学科 #STEM #snow #snowman #snowballfight #winter #TikTok #雪景色 #雪国 #ラグビー #rugby

♬ BLK Skinhead - kwestloverlover

間加田 侑里
Yuri Makada

　こんにちは、白山麓高専事務室の間加田 侑里です。今回は後学期開講の1年生の科目「イノベーション基礎」についてお話します。

 Hello, this is Yuri Makada from the Hakusanroku office. This time, I would like to write about "Fundamentals of Innovation," a class for 1st year students offered in the second semester.

　 SRI Internationalが開発したイノベーション創出・価値提案のノウハウを取り入れた本科目「イノベーション基礎」では、さまざまな顧客ニーズ、価値の源泉、競合他社、効果的なチームワーク等について学びます。学生たちは何度も自分たちのアイデアについてディスカッション、発表、フィードバック、改善のサイクルを反復することにより、価値提案を改善する方法を学びます。

 In this class, using the innovation and value proposition know-how developed by SRI International, students learn about customer needs, sources of value, competitors, effective teamwork, and more. Students learn how to improve their value propositions through an iterative cycle of discussion, presentation, feedback, and improvement of their ideas.

　2023年12月14日（木）の授業では、自分たちのアイデアを顧客視点で捉え、他者から評価されることで、より価値の高いアイデアに改善することを目的として、別科目の「エンジニアリングデザインIB」で製作しているモノのテーマやアイデアを各チームが発表し、他のグループからの知識やアイデア、その他のフィードバックを取り入れました。
　発表を聞いている学生たちには、あらかじめ役割を与え、緑色の帽子を被った学生は、発表を聞いたうえで肯定的なコメントを出し、赤色の帽子を被った学生は建設的で改善すべき点を指摘しました。

 In class on Thursday, December 14th, 2023, each team of students presented the theme and idea of the object they were making in Engineering Design IB. The aim of these presentations was to make their ideas more valuable by having them evaluated by others and including a customer perspective. The students were then able to incorporate knowledge, ideas, and other feedback from the audience.
 Audience members were assigned roles in advance: those wearing green hats listened to the presentations and provided positive comments, while those wearing red hats gave constructive criticism and pointed out areas for improvement.

各グループが製作しているモノの価値を提案・発表している様子
Each group presenting their proposed products and their value.

発表に対して各役割でフィードバックをしている様子
Giving feedback on the presentations.

　2024年1月18日（木）の授業では、12月14日の授業で得たフィードバックをもとに、２回目の発表を行いました。事前の準備として、学生たちは前回の自分たちの発表を録画で振り返りながら他のチームからの詳細かつ建設的なフィードバックを整理し、その中から改善・向上に効果的だと思う内容を自分たちの判断で選択し、新たな価値提案を発表しました。顧客役の学生はモノや発表に対して肯定的なコメントや建設的で改善すべき点を指摘し、CEO役の学生はそのモノを「買う/買わない」を伝え、その理由を述べました。

 On Thursday, January 18th, 2024, students gave a second presentation to the class based on the feedback they received in the December 14th class. In preparation, students reviewed a recording of their previous presentation and organized detailed and constructive feedback received from other teams. They selected what they thought would be effective in improving and enhancing their presentations, and presented their new value propositions. Each team made a presentation about their proposed product to another team. This 2nd team had 3 jobs. The first 2 jobs were to offer positive and constructive feedback about the product. The 3^rd job was for a student to act as a CEO and make a buy/not buy decision along with the reasons for this decision.

新たな提案の発表とフィードバックをしている様子
Students presenting new proposals and giving feedback

　授業を担当している松下先生と津田先生は「どのチームも１回目より大きな向上が見え、フィードバックとその繰り返しの重要さを理解できていました」とコメントしました。
　今後、さまざまな授業の中で、価値提案や改善方法が役に立つことでしょう。

 Matsushita sensei and Tsuda sensei, who are in charge of the class, commented, "All teams showed significant improvement over the first round, and were able to understand the importance of feedback and repetition."
 The value propositions and improvement methods will be useful in various classes in the future.

間加田 侑里
Yuri Makada

「英語上級」の授業の様子

　こんにちは、白山麓高専事務室の間加田 侑里です。今回は、「英語上級」の授業で行われた最終発表についてお話します。

　キース・イコマ先生が担当する1年生の「英語上級」は、後学期に開講される英語科目で3名の学生が受講しています。この授業では、ある話題に関する本を読んだり、各分野の専門家や著名人がスピーチする「Ted Talks」を通して世界の話題について学んだり考えたりします。そして、その話題について30分間ほどディスカッションし、学生たちは短いエッセイを書きます。これまでの話題は、ボディアート、フードロス、音楽、気候変動、スポーツ、タレントなどがありました。学生たちは予想以上にディスカッションが盛り上がり、１時間以上も話し合うこともありました。

　最終発表では、これまでに学んだスキルを活かし、自由なテーマで、TED Talks スタイルの発表を行いました。2名の学生の発表を紹介します。どうぞご覧ください！

 Hello, this is Yuri Makada from the Hakusanroku office. I would like to write about presentations given in Advanced English class.

 Keith Ikoma sensei’s class "Advanced English" for 1st year students is an English class offered in the 2nd semester, and three students are taking it. In this class, students read about topics, learn about topics through "Ted Talks" in which experts and celebrities in various fields give speeches, or used other activities to think about a topic. They then discuss the topic for about 30 minutes, and then write a short essay. Topics so far have included body art, food loss, music, climate change, sports, and personalities. The students found the discussions livelier than expected, so sometimes the discussion lasted more than an hour.

 For their final presentation, they gave TED Talks style presentations on topics of their choice, utilizing the skills they have learned so far. Please take a look.

発表後の様子

　発表後、キース先生は「3名ともユニークで興味深いテーマでした。発表の内容は、10代の学生にとって大変重要なメッセージが含まれていたので、クラスメイト全員の前で発表できればよかったなと思います。また、それぞれの個性や興味もよく表れていました。この授業で学んだ重要な話題に関するディスカッションや発表を通して、英語上級クラスの学生たちが今後もさまざまな話題について自信を持って話せるようになるといいですね。」とコメントしました。

 After reviewing the presentations, Keith sensei commented, “All three presentations were on unique and interesting topics. I wish that we could have done it as a presentation in front of all of their classmates because the presentations were interesting and had important messages for teenager. They also showed each individual’s personality and interests. I hope that the students in Advanced English class will feel more confident talking about a variety of topics because of the discussions we had in class and the presentations they gave on topics that were important to them.”

間加田 侑里
Yuri Makada