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| National University Malaya Monument |
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| National University Malaya Monument |
| 丂In April 2004 , I was dispatched by the Ministry of Education , Culture
, Sports , Science , and Technology to the National University of Malaya
University as a member of "University Malaya Preparatory Education
Department Japanese Teachers Group". This year marks the 22th year
of the business. Malaysia has 9 national universities , 1 international
Islamic university , and 9 private universities. 丂I am a teacher who teaches mathematics at a prefectual high school . Like me , there are 9 high school teachers who were dispatched in the same period. 丂The term of office is two years , and when combined with the nine dispatched teachers in the second year , there will be 18. As for subjects , there are 6 mathematics , 6 physics and 6 chemistry. |
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| Garden on the Campus of the University Malaya |
| The University Malaya has a bank , a post office , and student dormitory on its premises , so it is very large. |
| 丂These 18 dispatched teachers are called Subject Teachers , and there is
also a Team Leader and 13 Japanese Language Department teachers who teach
Japanese. The leader and subject teachers are dispatched by the Ministry
of Education , Culture , Sports , Science and Technology , and Japanese
language teachers are dispatched by the Japan Foundation. 丂Malaysia has a "Look East Policy" adovocated by former Prime Minister Mahathir. It is to learn work ethics , work philosophy , and technology from Japan and South Korea , and accelerate the industrial moderization and development of Malaysia. 丂Our mission is to teach mathematics , physics , chemistry , Japanese , etc. to young Malaysian youths in the special course for studying in Japan in the preparatory education department of University Malaya , and to provide preparatory education for them to study at Japanese natunal universities. 丂They cannot study abroad unless they pass the Ministry of Education , Culture , Sports , Science and Technology exaamination for studying in Japan . In addition , it is necessary to have enough Japanese language skills to follow lectures in Japanese at Japanese universities while studying abroad. 丂Therefore , we give them guidance to equip them with the power to deal with them. 丂They will study for two years in a special course for studying in Japan at the University of Malaya's preparatory education department. Their ages is equivalent to that of a third year high school student and a first year university student in Japan. In the first year , students take Japanese classes and mathematics , physics , and chemistry classes taught in English , (Until 2004 , the mathematics , physics , and chemistry classes were taught in Malay). Then , they take an English class taught by a Malay teacher. In the second year , students take Japanese classes , mathematics , physics , chemistry , and Japanese affairs classes taught in Japanese , and English classes by a Malay teacher. We subject teachers teach second-year students. 丂The Special Course for studying in Japan at University Malaya's Preparatory Education Department is called "A.A.J.". This is the acronym for "Ambang Asuhan Jepun" in Malay , meaning "Gateway to Japan" . 丂The University Malaya has丂a huge building called "Examination Hall". The next picture shows the mid-term examination of mathematics. All of the A.A.J. 2nd year students are working on regular examinations in one of the large classrooms there. It is supervised by all six mathematics teachers. |
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| Appearance of Examination Hall |
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| Semester嘨Mid-Term Exam |
| In Examination Hall Wing B |
| 丂"There is nothing to learn from Japanese young people with brown
hear and piercings." 丂These are the words spoken by former Malaysian Prime Minister , who loved Japan , longed for Japan , and used Japan as a model for the development of Malaysia , at the "Look East Policy" 20th Anniversasary Symposium in 2002. 丂Now , I am in Malaysia. I am dispatched from Japan to Malaysia under the Look East Policy adopted by Mr. Mahathr. 丂The Look East Policy is to learn Japanese work ethics , economic philosophy , and technology , insted of looking to the West , in order to eccelerate Malaysian's industrial modernization development. 丂It aims to achive "Vision 2020" to join the ranks of developed countries in 2020. 丂I am teaching mathematics to Malaysian students in the Special Course for studying in Japan at the Preparatory Education Department of University Malaya. Malaysia has a 6 system consisting of 6 years of elementary school , 3 years of junior high school , 2 years of high school , 1 year of university preparatory education , and 4 years of university . The age of the students I teach is equivalent to first-year university students in Japan. After graduating from high school , they receive two years of preparatory education (usually one year of preparatory education) , and after passing the Japanese Ministry of Education , Culture , Sports , Science , and Technology exam , they can study at a Japanese national university. 丂They are dispatched from Malaysia to Japan under the Look East Policy to learn Japanese work ethics , economic philosophy and technology , and play a role in contributing to the development of Malaysia. There is Mahathir's idea that "Education is the pillar of the nation". 丂Their life pattern is the same for boarding. Every day , until around 2:00 am. they studies hard , dreaming of studying abroad in Japan. They are the elite from all over Malaysia , and they can both hear and speak Japanese after only one year and a few moments of pre-university education. And next year , they will listen to lectures at Japanese universities in Japanese. 丂However , as the words at the beginning of the sentence indicate , more than 20 years have passed since Mr. Mahathir adopted the Look East Policy , and Japan is no longer a role model due to Japan's long-term economic stagnation and declining morals. 丂"Japanese people , be proud of yourself , because you have the Japanese quality of being diligent" Mahathir said. 丂In Japan these days , we can even feel the trend that "Do your best" is uncool. 丂I strongly feel that Japan must become a place where I can confiderently say to Malaysian students studying in Japan , "Please come and learn a lot about Japanese work ethics , economic philosophy , and technology." 丂To that end , I am keenly aware that we must think hard about what is needed in Japanese education today and what Japanese teachers should do now. 丂Mr. Mahathir who loved and longed for Japan , says "Japanese people , stand up !" with his wish for Japan to become a role model (leader) again. 10/01/2004 written |
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| University Malaya 100th Aniversary Ceremony Opening |
| Welcome the King of Malaysia 乮6/16/2005 ) |
| 丂丂On March 30 , 2005 (Wednesday) , 30 representatives of highh school students
from all over Japan who paticipated in the "Japan's Next Generation
Leader Training School" visited the University Malaysia A.A.J. 丂After explanation of A.A.J.'s educational activities , a luncheon , and a speech by the former Vice Chanceller of University Malaya , they left the University Malaya to meet former Prime Minister Mahathir. 丂At that time , the person who led the high school students was Ms. Akiko Kato (Researcher at Keio University Grobal Security Research Institute) , the auther of "Stand up , Japanese". It was a great surprise and a grreat feeling for me to meet her here in Malaysia. |
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| Special Training Session for A.A.J. Staff 乮8/6/2004乯 |
| 丂The photo above shows a training session for A.A.J. staff held in the
A.A.J. conference room. The instructors are three people who graduated
from A.A.J. , studied abroad in Japan , and are currently active in Malaysia. 丂Listening to the stories of when they syudied in Jappan and suggestions for A.A.J. education , the workshop turned out to be very helpful. 丂"The way to success succeed in studying in Japan is to make Japanese friends. However , it is very difficult to make Japanese friends in Japan. " and "I want you to scold A.A.J. students more." These words left a strong impression on me. 丂9/1/2004 written |
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| A.A.J. Staff Workshop 8/5/2005 |
| Lecture by Former Malaysian Sharp President |
| Title: "Recruitment Policy for R & D Engineers" |
| 丂I belong to the Academic Affairs Department , and I am also a member of
the Liaison Committee (Planning Committee). Liaison Committees are held
in the leader's office every Friday during the 3rd period , and the contents
of the staff meeting held during the 6th period on Fridays are reviewed.
The Liaoson Committee consists of eight people , and in principle , the
agenda and communication items for staff meetings are discussed at the
Liaison Committee one week in advance. Subject teachers and Japanese language
teachers participate in the staff meeting , but after that , a subject
team member meeting is held with only subject teachers. 丂The first indivisual interviews for students were held from May 26th (Thursday) to June 11th (Friday). Not only the class teacher , but also the subject teacher of the class , we all share the work. It was a good opportunity to hear directly from the students about their daily lives. I often felt that they were students in the preparatory education department of University Malaya , the heighest educational institution in Malaysia. They all live in dorms. Some of them are far away from thier homes , some of which take 8 hours by car. With the hope of studying abroad in Japan , all the students study hard until 1:00 or 2:00 am. The students are living in a domitory in a four-person room , and they say "I get lazy at home , but I can study because I have friends in the domitory". 丂It has become clear that the dispatched staffs' ability to speak English is more essential than what we were told before we were dispatched. Not only outside the school but even within A.A.J. , there are many occations when I need to communicate with the office , negotiate , etc. , and I strongly feel the need for English conversation skills. 丂The photo below shows a training session held on May 10 , 2005 (Tuesday) for new faculty members who arrived in April of this year , with first-year Japanese language teachers as lectures. This is a training session on how to speak and points to note when teaching in Japanese to Malay students who are not yet proficient in Japanese. |
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| A.A.J. New Faculty Member Training 乮in the Conference Room乯 |
| 乣 For easy-to-understand lessons 乣 |
| 丂On june 7th (Monday) , 8th (Tuesday) and 9th (wednesday) , AAJ Class Observations
were held for three days. I was incharge of these class observations. 丂The purpose is to facilitate the achivement of the AAJ's establishment goals. All classes of mathematics (2nd grade) , physics (2nd grade ) , chemistry (2nd grade) , Japanese (1st and 2nd grade) , and Japanese affairs (2nd grade) will be open to the public. Subject teachers and Japanese language teachers observe each othere's classes and make full use of their experiences in future classes. 丂However , even if all classes are open to the public , there are classes that are not suitable for observation , such as unit tests. Therefore , first of all , we decided the time when each subject could be observed , and asked them to submit the contents of the lesson. Then , based on that , I created and distributed timetable for class obsevations and a list of class contents. 丂In last year's class tours , we conducted a survey of class observers , so that we could know in advance who would be observing which class at what time. However , among the opinions and impressions of last year's class obsevation tour , there were some opinions that if the classes to observe were decided in advance , they could not observe them freely. Therefore , we decided not to conduct a preliminary survey of class obsevers this time. Most of the impressions and opinions about the class tour this time were that it was good to be able to observe freely. It was a success not to conduct a preliminary survey of class observers. 丂In addition , the layout of A.A.J. classrooms is very complicated , and especially for those who are working from this year , it is not possible to grasp the location of the classrooms only by the names of the classrooms. Therefore , when we created and distributed a classroom layout map with the names of the classrooms and the names of the classes used on the map , it was very well received. 丂The A.A.J. staff room is divided into three rooms : subject teachers , first-year Japanese language teachers , and second-year Japanese language teachers. At events , etc. , it is necessary and important to coordinate the opinions and communications of these three staff members. In preparing for this class tour , I tried to coordinate opinions and communication between staff rooms as much as possible. In addition , we are planning to make use of the "impressions and opinions on the class observation tour" that were submitted this time in the next accademic year. 7/1/2004 written. |
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| At a Class Observation Tour (Chemistry Class) |
| 丂On june 18th (Friday) , a total of 16 people , including the delegation
leader , deputy delegation leader , subject head , subject teachers (9
people) and Japanese language teachers (4 people) dispatched to A.A.J.
from this year , paid a courtesy call. (The official residence of the Japanese
ambassador to Malaysia) 丂From the Embassy of Japan , the Ambassador , the Consular Director , the Secretary , the Director of Information and Cultural Affairs , and the Secretary welcomed us. There were two people from the Japan Foundation , the director and the head of the Japanese language department , and four people from the Asia Youth Fellowship , the director and a Japanese language teachers. 丂Light refreshments were served at the conference table , and in a relaxed atmosphere , all the participants introduced themselves , and were able to deepen their friendship while having conversation with each other. When we were on our way home , the ambassador personally saw us off in the outer courtyard. 丂7/1/2004 written |
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| At the Residence of the Japanese Ambasador to Malaysia |
| 丂On October 20 (Wednesday) , the first meeting of the Examination for Japanese
University Admissions Committee was held. There were eight people in attendance
: the first secretary from the Embassy of Japan in Malaysia , the delegation
leader , subject head , academic affairs chief , mathematics , physics
, and chemistry representatives from A.A.J. , and myself. 丂A.A.J. students can study at Japanese national universities after passing the Japanese Ministry of Education , Culture , Sports , Science and Technology exam after completing two years of preparatory education in the Special Course for studying in Japan at the University Malaya. However , other students must take the Examination for Japanese University Admission for International Students in order to study at a Japanese university. 丂It is no exaggeration to say that A.A.J. students are almost guaranteed admission to a Japanese national university when they enter the University of Malaysia Preparatory Education Department's Special Course for Studying in Japan. This is because the question of the "Ministry of Education , Culture , Sports , Science and Technology Examination" are based on the content taught in the Special Course for Japanese Syudying in Japan , Faculty of Preliminary Education , University Malaya."The scope of questions on the Ministry of Education , Culture , Sports , Science and Technology Examination is only about half of the scope of questions on the Examination for Japanese University Admission for International Students (EJU). 丂For this reason , I have heard that there is a clear difference in the academic ability of the former A.A.J. students and the latter "EJU" non-A.A.J. students. 丂Due to the independence of natural and public universities , there is a possibility that students who are judged not to have reached the level of Japanese national and public universities will not be accepted. 丂In November 2005 , they will take the "Examination for Japanese University Admission for International Students" on a trial basis , and in January , they will take the "Ministry of Education , Culture , Sports , Science and technology Examination". For this reason , changes in the curicurum are inevitably necessary , and preparations must be made for this change. 11/1/2004 written 丂The phote below shows a meeting between a local staff members in charge of mathematics for the first-year A.A.J. students and Japanese teachers in charge of mathematics for the second-year A.A.J. students. Sharing teaching materials between local staffs and Japanese teachers has become a hot topic as one of the measures to prepare for the Examination for Japanese University Admission for International Students. |
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| Meeting with Local Staff (5/4/2005) |
| Measures for Examination for Japanese University Admission for International Students , etc. are being discussed. |
| 丂Nine members of the faculty who were dispatched to Malaysia this year
have been taking Malay language casses every Wednesday sice May 23 (Thursday).
The place is A.A.J.'s room , the time is one hour from 16:00 to 17:00 ,
and the lecture is a malay teacher who is a teacher of A.A.J.'s Japanese
language department. 丂This course is open to new members every year. Aithough it is up to the indivisual to decide whether or not to take the course , at first I had the impression that it was semi-compulsory. In addition to having to aquire the ability to speak English , I felt it very difficult to learn Malay. 丂However , after two manthes of learnung Malay , I am really glad that I take part in the Malay language course. 丂Official documents in Malaysia are , of course , in Malay. Before I learned Malay , I never feel like looking at documents written in Malay. But now I feel like looking up in a dictionary and reading it . 丂Also , in Malaysia most people communicate in English. However , when I talk to a Malay pearson with the little malay language I have learned , there is something special about the results that come back. My broken Malay language plays a lubricating role in my relationships with my students. 8/1/2004 written. |
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| Valleyball Tournament for the Final Malay Language Course |
| Neighbers come to watch the games with their families and cheer them on. |
| 丂At the final session of the Malay language course , we was invited to
the home of the instructor of the Malay language course. A certificate
of completion was handed to each of us. In addition , we were treated to
Malay cuisine made by the instructor's wife. 丂After dinner , we enjoyed playing volleyball with the Malays at a nearby volleyball court. A heated match between Malaysia and Japan was unfolded. |
| 丂In Malaysia , there are five preparatory educational institutions for Japanese university faculties , technical colleges , graduate schools , etc. , just like the University Malaya Preparatory Education Department Special Course for Studying in Japan (A.A.J.) , which I belong to. A.A.J. , IBT (provides preparatory education for studying at a Japanese university undergraduate school) , PPKTJ (provides preparatory education for studying at a Japanese collage of technology) , JDA (provides a preparatory education for studying at a Japanese university undergraduate school) , and AYF (provides preparatory education for studying abroad at a Japanese graduate school) 丂On July 21st (Thursday) , the first Preparatory Education Institution Liaison Meeting was held. Attendances included the first secretary from the Embassy of Japan in Malaysia , the deputy director , the head of the subject , and the head of educational affair's department from A.A.J , the principal , the head of department , and chief coordinator from IBT , and the school affairs director and subject head , Japanese language chief from PPKTJ , representative , Japanese language chief , coordinator from JAD , coordinator and accademic affairs manager from AYF. 丂Until now , only A.A.J. students were eligible to take the Ministry of Education , Culture , Sports , Science and Technology exam. However , starting in January 2006 , the Ministry of Education , Culture ,Sports , Science and Technology (Next) examination will allow IBT students to take the examination as well. |
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| 2005 Ministory of Education , Culture , Sports , Science and Technology Exam Briefing (7/8/2005) |
| The Embassy of Japan , AAJ , and IBT are participating. |
| 丂In Malaysia , there is a natural disaster haze (smoke pollution). From
August 10th (Wednesday) to August 12th (Friday) , 2005 , a heavy haze that
made it difficult to breathe hit Kuala Lumpur , where we live and work. 丂It was a didaster that I had never experienced before in Japan , so I was at loss as to how to deal with it. Masks were a necessity. Sme of people living in Kuala Lumpur fled abroad. |
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| Haze Hit Kuala Lumpur |
| The Twin Towers are not able to be seen in haze. |