University of Bucharest
FUKAZAWA Kaori

Due to the effects of COVID-19, we completely switched to online work in the 2020 academic year, and the online classes in the University of Bucharest, the educational institution that accepts Japanese-Language Specialists (hereinafter “Specialists”) who are dispatched to Romania, have continued for over a year. There is a lot of preparation for an online class, and I sometimes miss being able to hold classroom lessons and visiting regional areas. However, it is also a fact that moving online has allowed me to come to some new realizations.

Helping to Foster Teachers...

The context is slightly different for each grade, but at the University of Bucharest, I am mainly responsible for the conversation classes for undergraduate students. Normally, I provide opportunities for students to interact with each other by making use of the breakout room function on Zoom, but I also assign tasks that involve recording and handing in presentations and conversations created outside of class. The students seem to have become familiar with the new tools by limiting the tools that they use to a certain extent and developing patterns. I would like them to have confidence that there are things they can do now that they couldn’t do a year ago when it comes to not just their Japanese-language proficiency, but also their ICT skills.

A student presentation

There are also students that want to become Japanese-language teachers in the future. The move to online classes has been a new experience for these students as well as for the existing teachers. I’m not involved in the University’s teacher-training curriculum myself, but at some point I became aware that focusing on the actual implementation of classes that make use of the advantages of ICT will foster the teachers of the future. Plus, even if the students don't enter the teaching profession in the future, the ICT skills they gain through online classes will become more and more important for students who will live in the coming age.

“The Relationship Between Japan and Romania in 100 Years”

During the 2019 academic year, we cancelled the Japanese Presentation Contest (hereinafter the “Presentation Contest”) due to the effects of COVID-19; it was held online for the first time in the 2020 academic year. The Presentation Contest is jointly organized by the Asociatia Profesorilor de Limba Japoneza din Romania (the Romanian teachers association) and the Japanese Embassy in Romania, and the role of the Specialists is to help run it. We used the online speech contests held by other countries as references, and explored the way things are done in Romania and feasible methods through repeated discussions with the people involved. As 2021 was also the 100th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Romania and Japan, we decided on two themes: “Finding Japan in Romania” for group A and “The relationship between Japan and Romania in 100 years” for group B. I think this was a chance for the participants to look at their own connection to Japan and consider their future, and that of both countries.

I was involved in the running of the contest, and, thanks to the online format, it became possible for people living outside of Bucharest to participate; I let out a shriek of delight when we had 36 applications—around twice the number we have each year. (Unfortunately, the number of contestants is fixed and so this number was narrowed down to 20 final contestants through preliminary evaluations.) We allowed individuals to apply because we presumed that there are a certain number of independent learners in Romania (this had been planned from the 2019 academic year), and perhaps this led to the increase in participants. At a later date, a representative teacher told me that they had received multiple messages saying that, regardless of the results of the contest, all of the participants were thankful that it was held; it would be my greatest joy if participating in the Presentation Contest became the learners’ goal, meaning it has literally become an activity to encourage Japanese-language learners.

I don’t know what will happen in Romania’s local educational facilities in the future, but I hope that even if we go back to face-to-face classes and venues, people will make good use of their online experiences.

“Japan found in Romania”