Five Bunkyo University students from the Faculty of Education led by Prof Teshima Masahiro were in UTM for the annual culture teacher training program at the Language Academy. They arrived on the 27th of January and were here till the 3o th January. This is the 5th year the exchange program is conducted, under the the supervision of our Japanese language lecturer, Mr. R. Kumaraguru.

The trainees are all future primary school teachers in Japan. Under this program they experienced the sharing the Japanese culture by using the English language. Language Academy had extended this cooperation with Bunkyo University by also collaborating with the Johor Bahru Education Office. On 28th January the trainees conducted lessons at SK Bukit Indah and SM Bukit Indah followed with SJKT Yahya Awal and SM Mohd Khalid the next day. The students in the respective schools had a good exposure to the Japanese culture and also an opportunity to interact with the Japanese students.

At Language Academy, the trainees shared knowledge about Japanese language onomatopoeia with our own Japanese language students. It was a informative session followed by free discussiosn and dinner with our students. Our students was given a  chance to utilise the Japanese language learned by having activities with the students from Bunkyo University. As for the Bunkyo students, this program gave them the opportunity to explore the use of English and learn about multicultural society in Malaysia. As teachers they are expected to prepare the future generation of Japanese to embrace multiculturalism in Japan. Bunkyo University is planning to expand this program with Language Academy, UTM by sending more trainees in the future. They only send their teacher trainees to Maryland America and UTM, Johor.