This year, our school launched its own international exchange video contest. This is a project in which technical college students are paired with overseas students and jointly produce presentation videos using Teams and other means. From June to August, the students made several videos, including prep exercises, the last one of which was the theme of the contest, “What can we do for Sustainable Development?” I worked on it. The pair confronted novel topics head-on, and the pair shone with light-hearted exchanges between the two, suggesting that each pair worked on deepening communication and creating videos.
In August, the video was judged by a panel of judges including external people, and the top three pairs were awarded at the Toyota National College of Technology Principal’s Office. At that time, overseas partners and teachers participated in the award ceremony online, overcoming the time difference and distance, and it was held simultaneously in a total of four countries. Although it was my first attempt, I was able to have a very good time with the participants, both online and offline.
The second international exchange video contest will start in October. This time, high school students from Toyota City will also participate. As the world is divided by the spread of the new coronavirus infection, this is an attempt to explore the ideal way to be in the post-corona era together with overseas students. We believe that working on “what we can do now” in the midst of various restrictions will feed our students for the future.
Finally, we will post the comments of the winning pairs of the first video contest. In the future, we hope that many students will take advantage of this video contest to become interested in international exchange and improve their communication skills in English.
Leticia, who won this contest, will be invited to a seminar at our school in March. (It depends on the corona situation.) Hope it can be realized! ）
Grand Prize: Team J
Kohei Yamaguchi (4th year, Department of Environmental and Urban Engineering)
First of all, I am honored to receive this award. Thank you.
We believe that this contest will be a major step forward in promoting a sustainable society. This time, our pair made a video with a focus on gender equality, with themes of health and education.
The more I learned about it, the more I realized the seriousness of the issues that are taken up in the SDGs. I would like to use this video contest as an opportunity to constantly think about what I can do in the future and contribute to the formation of a sustainable society. Thank you very much.
Miss. Leticia Conte Zulian, Brazil
Kohei invited me to this project because it was completely unexpected and I was very surprised, but I am honored to have such a wonderful opportunity. We learned a lot from each other in the course of the project. We chose a very sensitive topic, but as we thought and discussed it together, we were able to work on the video without feeling intimidated. Thank you very much for this opportunity.
2nd place：Team E
Soichiro Hirata (last year’s graduate, currently Nagoya University)
Together with my partner, I was given a valuable opportunity. The two of us were busy spending time discussing the composition, creating each other’s parts, and so on. Still, thanks to my enthusiastic and serious partner, I have come this far. I am grateful. I would like to thank the judges for their frequent and careful evaluations.
Mr. NGUYỄN QUANG HIẾU (Vietnam)
Thank you for inviting me to the online awards ceremony.
I am grateful that I was able to make friends and work on the project through this opportunity. Soichiro is my first Japan friend. It’s a bit disappointing that we didn’t win, but we learned a lot. In the context of the global pandemic, it is very meaningful to be able to participate in such a contest. Thank you very much.
3rd place：Team H
Yuzuki Ueda (3rd year, Department of Architecture)
I’m really happy that many people were able to see the video that the two of us made together. Above all, I was reminded that we can stay connected even if we are far away from each other.
Miss. Camilla Bischoff, Germany
I am very honored. I can’t think of words. I don’t know what to say, but I’m glad that I was able to participate in this opportunity and spend time with my partner Yuzuki. Thank you very much.
< comments from overseas students are translations and summaries of the comments and messages received at the award ceremony. >
