Ukrainian and TUFS Students Hold Three Online Exchange Events
July 5, 2022
On May 29 (Sun.), June 11 (Sat.), and June 26 (Sun.), 2022, three online exchange events between TUFS students and Ukrainian students were held as part of TUFS’ support for Ukraine. This event was jointly organized by the TUFS student international exchange group TUFCOMMU and LET’S, another TUFS student group that provides tandem learning opportunities.
A Japanese language teacher in Ukraine commented, “This is a very meaningful program for students who are unable to leave their home country, and it is a wonderful opportunity for them to study Japanese and interact with Japanese students while in Ukraine.”
The details of each session are as follows
- May 29 (Sunday): Ukraine Day 1
The participants from Ukraine included 45 students from Ivan Franko Memorial Lviv National University (Lviv National University), which has an agreement with TUFS, Oles Honchar Dnipro National University in the southern city of Dnipro, and Borys Grinchenko Kyiv University and Kyiv National Linguistic University, in the capital city of Kyiv, enjoyed exchanges through plenary sessions, small group sessions, and presentations on Japanese anime culture.
- June 11 (Saturday): Ukraine Day 2
A total of 33 participants from TUFS and five Ukrainian universities took part in the second exchange meeting. This time, instead of Oles Honchar Dnipro National University, which had participated in the previous event, Lviv National Technical University also took part. The coordinator of the Global Japan Office Ukraine (located in Lviv National University while the local office is closed) also participated in the planning of the event. There was lively and friendly exchange in small group sessions, as the Ukrainian students talked about their motivations for learning Japanese, introduced Ukrainian cuisine and recent events in Japanese, and encouraged the TUFS students who sought to demonstrate their grasp of the Ukrainian language.
- June 26 (Sunday): Ukraine Day 3
Due to the exam period, the number of participants was smaller than the first and second sessions, with 10 people, 4 from Ukraine and 6 from Japan. Two of the six Japanese participants were students of Shibuya Junior and Senior High School. At first, a presentation on Japanese food was given by a TUFS student, using photos of Japanese food. After that, the students were divided into groups for a session. This time, they talked about movies, anime, tourist spots in Tokyo, how they spend their holidays, where Ukrainian students plan to study, the Kansai dialect, etc., in English and in a friendly atmosphere. Finally, two high school students from Shibuya Junior and Senior High School introduced an upcoming exchange event with Ukrainian students, “Ukraine x Japan Junior and Senior High School Student Forum,” to be held on July 30 (Saturday). After a commemorative photo, the event was closed.
We received the following feedback from the Ukrainian students who participated in the events.
"It’s really amazing experience of communicating. Ukrainians are very grateful for Japan`s support and help. どうもありがとうございました！"
"It's so amazing event for me. I have learned more interesting information about Japan. I am very grateful to TUFS and all the organizers of this event."
"It was really fun. I had an interesting experience of meeting new people and practicing Japanese language with native speakers. Also it was quite difficult at first to come up with what can we speak about, but at the end we all had so much fun."
Although the exchange event ended with the three sessions, there will be more opportunities for tandem learning between Ukrainian students and TUFS students in the future, led by LET’S, a TUFS student organization that provides tandem learning programs.
