[Thai Cafe]
At lunchtime, the Surugadai Campus was buzzing with Thai, Finnish, and Korean. In the fall semester, World Cafe, an event where international students act as lecturers was held at the Surugadai International Exchange Lounge on the theme of these three languages that Meiji University students are interested in.
The first session was Thai Cafe on November 26. In the session, Nicolò (forth-year student in the School of Political Science and Economics), an international student from Srinakharinwirot University, a partner university in Thailand, and ARITOSHI Tomoya (forth-year student in the School of Political Science and Economics), who studied at Srinakharinwirot University until last summer, acted as facilitators.
Students with an interest in Thailand and Southeast Asia, as well as other international students from Thailand, gathered to enjoy Thai sweets and tea while learning Thai greetings and writing in a friendly manner. At the end of the session, an exchange event to be organized by the Nippon Thai Circle, a circle recently established by Nicolò, ARITOSHI, and others, was announced, and the participants promised to meet again.
Comment from Nicolò
Everyone seemed to be having a great time and they were very friendly, and I had a great time. I’m looking forward to the second event.
[Finnish Cafe]
On the following week, December 3, Finnish Cafe was held. Three persons, Emi and Tatu, both exchange students from Finland, and Samuel, a last year’s exchange student who happened to be in Japan on vacation, acted as facilitators.
First, Samuel taught Finnish greetings, and then the participants were divided into small groups to learn Finnish.
Students who have studied in Scandinavian countries and those who have an interest in Scandinavian countries gathered at the venue and enjoyed pronouncing Finnish words and eagerly asked questions.
Comments from three facilitators
I was happy to be able to talk about the Finnish language and Finnish culture through topics of language and music and connect with many students. I hope they will visit Finland in the future.
[Korean Cafe]
Then, Korean Cafe was held on December 10. BAE Kwanwoo (fourth-year student in the School of Law) served as the facilitator and introduced Korean culture, such as food, and then taught expressions that are often used in Korea. After that, the participants were divided into small groups and tried to practice conversation, with the help of WOO Yeonseo (first-year student in the School of Information and Communication) and other support staff members. Many students were studying Korean and enjoyed communicating in Korean.
Comment from BAE
It was rewarding because everyone enjoyed it very much.
In the sessions during the World Cafe event, many participants smiled and said, “It was good to sit down and talk with international students. It was fun,” and some even exchanged contact information.
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Japanese version≫
