Kyoko Nakayama, Faculty of Education Education, Department of Elementary Education
Guma'Famagu'on Tano' Yan i Tasi
Held "Teikyo Online International Exchange Festival 2020" at Hachioji Campus. By Korona-ka
As the event continues to be canceled, he wants to deepen his understanding of the SDGs and promote international exchange.
Based on my thoughts, I used the "Student Challenge System" on the Hachioji Campus.
Planning and planning projects that students want to challenge themselves, such as social contributions, community contributions, and efforts to achieve the SDGs. This is a system in which the university provides a subsidy to the projects adopted after the internal selection and supports the activities.
Guma, the organizer of the "Teikyo Online International Exchange Festival," is working to spread traditional culture through the dance of Chamorro, an indigenous people of Guam. He has also been focusing on local activities such as participating in events in Hachioji City (Tokyo) and Yamato City (Kanagawa Prefecture).
SDGs are an abbreviation for "Sustainable Development Goals". It refers to the 17 goals adopted by the United Nations Summit in 2015, such as poverty, climate change, and gender, which were set to be achieved by 2030. The main themes of this event are "14. Let's protect the richness of the sea" and "15. Let's protect the richness of the land" that are familiar to us in our daily lives.
We invited the official mascot character "Teebo" from the Hachioji Campus as a guest and gave a quiz about SDGs such as marine plastic garbage. By deepening their understanding of the SDGs, which they had never known before, they looked back on their actions and emphasized the importance of accumulating things from familiar things such as separating garbage.
Hachioji International Association, which conducts projects such as foreigner support and international exchange in Hachioji City, where about 13,000 foreign citizens live. Based on the current situation in Korona-ka, it was introduced that Japanese and foreigners are working toward a multicultural symbiotic society where they live together.
Yoko Tanaka, a director of the Hachioji International Association and a former principal of an elementary school, gave a speech on the theme of SDGs and education. Awareness of SDGs is increasing in the field of education, such as the inclusion of the phrase "leader of a sustainable society" in the new curriculum guidelines for elementary schools toward the goal of "4. High quality education for everyone". He said his expectations for the future.
Atifan Mary, who is studying abroad at Teikyo University from Malaysia, introduces SDGs cases in her home country. He covered the achievements of Goals 14 and 15, such as the establishment of marine protected areas, mangrove plantation programs, and the protection of iconic animals such as tigers and elephants.
Joe Kinata of The Guam Preservation Trust, a non-profit organization that protects Guam's historic sites and culture, participated from Guam using Zoom. While touching on coral reef conservation activities, he taught children the importance of protecting resources and conveyed the importance of connecting them to the future.
Interviews with people from the Philippines, Peru, who live in Hachioji, introduce a wide range of topics such as cooking, traditional events, and environmental issues in their home countries. It was also touched on the current situation where environmental problems are improving, such as the fact that the black sea has changed to transparent due to the decrease in garbage in the Philippines.
Members of Guma perform dynamic dances and songs of Chamorro, an indigenous people of Guam. The chamorro dance includes movements that express waves and trees, expressing the importance of living and protecting with the sea and creatures. At the end of the event, a student who is planning to take a teaching profession from 2021 said, "I was able to learn about the efforts to achieve the SDGs. I would like to make use of this experience in the field of education."
Students learn a lot by taking on challenges. This project was planned and realized by the students themselves, and I think it was a great fruit. I would like to continue to challenge new things with students!