In this post, we take a look at some of the highlights from our EMI training course at Waseda University, Tokyo earlier this summer.

The Oxford EMI team were honoured to be invited back for a third year in a row to deliver a face-to-face training courseat Waseda university in September. This brought together up-to-date research on EMI globally and in Japan, and explored practical classroom techniques, based on solid pedagogical theories, for lecturers to use in their EMI classes to support learning and achieve better student outcomes.

Course participants

A key highlight for the Oxford EMI team was meeting the course participants. Following the trend of previous Oxford EMI courses at Waseda, this was a multinational, multilingual course, with teachers from Poland, China, South Korea and Japan. They also teach a range of subjects, including sports science, law, finance, literature, economics, dance, art, philosophy, and peace studies, making this an interesting and diverse group of lecturers.

While some had undertaken all their education in Japan, other course participants had studied in English-speaking countries like the UK and the USA, and one participant had recently completed their doctorate through an EMI programme in Germany. 

This meant the course participants had a variety of learning and teaching experiences to share during group work and open class discussion with their Oxford EMI trainers, Tom and Simon. This is exactly the sort of collaboration we encourage among course participants during, and beyond, our courses.

Guest speaker

We were delighted that Dr. Ikuya Aizawa could join us at Waseda to present some of his research findings on EMI in Japan. This included comparing the outcomes of similar EMI and Japanese Medium Instruction (JMI) courses, and highlighting that EMI students are able to achieve similar results to those studying through JMI, though they may need to work harder in some respects.

Having such an inspiring and thought provoking talk about EMI research in Japan engaged the course participants and provided the opportunity for them to discuss their ideas with a leading researcher Dr. Aizawa well into the break. This reinforced the need for EMI teachers to understand their courses from the perspective of their students, and to consider what changes they can make as they plan and deliver courses that ensure that all students can understand and be actively engaged during EMI classes.

Microteaching sessions

As with all Oxford EMI face-to-face courses, course participants worked in small groups to plan, design and deliver a microteaching session to fellow course participants. This allowed them to put the skills and ideas explored on the course into practice in a safe environment, and receive detailed peer and expert trainer constructive feedback.

Topics of the sessions this year included an exploration of international carbon taxes, the role of sport and diet in shaping well-being, immigrant experiences in living in Shinjuku through the lenses of law, language and art, and how to apply the concept of “scaffolding” in a classroom. Each microteaching session was linked to at least one of the United Nations’ SDGs (See our Sustainability in EMI blog post for more information on this).

As is always the case with this part of the course, the course participants did an extremely impressive job. All microteaching sessions were well put together, and the feedback sessions provided lots of opportunity to highlight great classroom practice, as well as explore potential future improvements.

Course engagement

All course participants were fully engaged throughout the 5-day course. They asked some excellent questions and raised very valid points as we made our way through the five days. This openness and peer teaching helped ensure the course was context-relevant, and once more encouraged peer interaction, hopefully leading to an ongoing, inter-departmental EMI Teacher Community of Practice.

Certificate ceremony

We finished the course with a certificate ceremony, where we were honoured to be joined by Professor Hidetoshi Nakamura, Associate Director, Center for Higher Education Studies at Waseda.

Congratulations and thank you again to all the course participants for your hard work over the 5-day course.

Working with Waseda

A huge thanks, once again, from the whole Oxford EMI team to everyone at Waseda who helped organise this course. We look forward to continuing our collaboration and forming part of the continuing professional development programme at Waseda that helps teachers better support their EMI students.

If you’d like to know more about how Oxford EMI’s courses support EMI teachers working in universities across Japan, including Waseda, Keio, International Christian University (ICU), and Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University (APU), please get in touch. 

Blog subject

Waseda University, founded in 1882, is a research-intensive institution university located in Shinjuku, Tokyo. Waseda offers EMI courses both to Japanese students and to international students through the Global Leadership Fellows Program (GFLP).