ブックタイトルa-history-of-international-exchanges00

概要

a-history-of-international-exchanges00

Miyadai students to experience what they may not have considered apossibility.Soon, I found that I had become a sort of educational “nakodo”(a gobetween)between faculty members at a small number of American and NewZealand institutions and Miyadai. Dunedin College of Education in NewZealand and The Evergreen State College in Washington State in the US weredetermined to broaden the exchange to make it truly reciprocal. Thus beganthe more structured arrangements with signed agreements, a facultycommittee, an all-Miyazaki alumni support organization, annual meetings:the “whole nine yards” as we might say in English. I was always included atall stages of the processes in spite of my failed language ability, but theburden of responsibility and organization fell on a group of enthusiasticMiyadai faculty members, most of whom have already been mentioned in thetext, from any number of the departments of the university. One of themdiscovered how Miyadai could assist foreign students coming to spend a year;others were effective chairs of the committee; one other even found activitiesfor the companion of one of the New Zealand students that gave him a verypositive experience with the environment.Over the years, I saw our students off at the airport, welcomed the foreignstudents and attempted both to stay out of their way as much as possible andto offer whatever guidance for which I was asked. On trips back to the US, Ivisited TESC to “show the flag” (another English saying meaning to keep intouch) and looked informally for other exchange possibilities, none of whichbore fruit, alas.What Miyadai did have, fortuitously, was a member of the committee andEnglish Department teacher, Mr. Hirase, who seemed to have the energy andenthusiasm I lacked, the language ability to deal with just about everysituation, and the patience of the famous Biblical figure, Job. It was he whotook the great interest in the daily problems and activities of the foreignstudents who came to Miyadai. Deans, like Kawano-sensei, chairs likeKusano-sensei, members like Iwamoto-sensei and Takei-sensei, and anynumber of other faculty members, whose names have slipped through thesieve of my mind, never faltered, even in uncomfortable times, to work toprovide an important educational and cultural experience. And Miyadai hadcompanion faculty members at its sister schools performing the same sort ofdiligence for our students. No plan would ever perform flawlessly, but, in the