On the last day of this year’s Tamagawa International Conference, the theme of which was “Know the World,” the workshop “GAKKO Meets TAMAGAWA” was held by “GAKKO,” an organization operated by students at Ivy League universities.
Participating students, wearing a uniform of the conference, introduced themselves and played “physical wire puzzle” to warm up. After the space got all warmed up, GAKKO’s members appeared, adding an international flavor, and the space was filled with an uplifting feeling. The participants greatly enjoyed a break the ice exercise in rhythm to the members’ call, and all became relaxed at once.
After divided into groups and exchanging greetings, the participants started activities, communicating in English. Each group worked on a mission—keep the position of a piece of marshmallow as high as possible—with scotch tape, scissors, strings, spaghetti and marshmallows.
Discussion among group members, building a high tower through trial and error, the measurement of the height, and the result presentation—from first to last, the space was filled with laughter. To think and work together built a strong sense of camaraderie, and the look-back meeting was very lively.
During lunch time, all seated around pizza and sushi that the committee arranged, and deepened exchanges, talking about oneself and student life in university.
In the afternoon the participants moved to the atrium and did various activities. each activity required gestures and words to communicate, and as doing the activities, they showed more natural expressions and faces. Taking enough time to discuss and look back, they talked about their thoughts again and again.
To end the workshop, A GAKKO’s member who went abroad from Japan told its purpose that was based on his own experience, and expected that it would be useful for younger students. “When I was in Japan, I had no practice opportunity to express my thoughts. But, in other countries, I have a lot of occasions to express my opinions. So, I’ve realized that it is important to develop self-expression ability, and I encouraged you to practice a lot expressing yourselves.”
The last activity was to take each group photos. They expressed themselves with various compositions, poses and faces, and spent their last minutes, exchanging messages and addresses.
After totally finishing the three days program, led by the Round Square Committee, the participants looked back on all the activities during the Tamagawa International Conference.
“I could build and deepen a relationship with many others, and I’m really happy I could plan the program.” “I’m glad that all the students could work together. This conference was accomplished by all.
A student from another school, Hosei University Girls’ High School, gave feedback, “All of Tamagawa students are friendly, and it was easy to work with them. I learned a lot.”
For about seven months, the students had been preparing for the conference on their own initiative. Based on the achievements of two previous conferences, they tried new initiatives, and have marked an important step toward the next conference. The participants got a lot of opportunities to improve themselves—language skills to communicate in English, the skills to organize and express thoughts, and the skills to find and understand one’s own self—and derived “priceless relationships” from the meeting and interchange with those who came from outside school.