Approximately 200 students, teachers and school staff came together for the Osaka Kyoiku University Campus Guide University Experience, which welcomed high school students from 40 Osaka prefectural high schools that make up the Public High School Teaching Consortium on Saturday, November 11. University students guided the high school students around campus and showed them the facilities, and university faculty gave special lectures to give them an exciting university experience.
The event hosted a dynamic performance of “I Got Rhythm” (written by George Gershwin) by a combined brass ensemble made up of OKU students, consortium member Yuhigaoka High School students and Osaka Prefectural Education Center High School students. Shunta Yoshimura (third-year mathematics education major) and Shiori Minami (second-year mathematical science major) impersonated celebrities Sunshine Ikezaki and Chiemi Blouson as they introduced the university’s special characteristics, curriculum and student life. Next, the students divided their guests into groups to show them the facilities, including the classrooms, library and gym, and to have lunch together in the cafeteria.
In the afternoon, they divided into humanities and sciences groups to experience university lectures. Associate Professor of English Education, Yuko Hakozaki taught “Fundaments of pronunciation: pronouncing natural-sounding English” to the humanities group and Professor of Mathematical Sciences Yoshiro Machigashira taught “logic and mathematical principle puzzles” to the science group. Prof. Hakozaki explained the differences in rhythm in English and Japanese, teaching the students to pronounce English naturally using “jazz chants” that put English pronunciation to jazz rhythms. Prof. Machigashira taught logic concepts in his class, challenging the students with mathematical principle puzzles in which students could see others’ red and white cards and had to guess the color of their own card.
Afterward, an award ceremony was held for the essay contest “Teachers, dreams and emotion - into the future” in which 140 students from the participating high schools competed. Contest winner, Hinako Matsunaga from Takatsuki Kita Senior High School, read her essay about her hope to become a special needs teacher. University students also held a panel discussion on “Your image of a teacher,” and answered questions about OKU.
Some of the comments from participating students were: “There was so much, it was all interesting. I realized I would really like to be a teacher.” “All of the university students were cheerful and nice. I think I’d be really happy at a school with them.” “It was really helpful because they talked about their own experiences.”