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1. What prompted you decide to participate in the "JSPS Science Dialogue" program?
It is an excellent program to facilitate face-to-face communication, and cultural exchange. Besides, I served as 30th nagoya good-will ambassador at Nagoya International Center in 2002-2003. As part of my job, I delivered several lectures for the public and organized big cultural events in Nagoya and Aichi Prefecture. The personal contact with Japanese people from various age group, their attendance and active participation in events gave me the feed back that such opportunities are extremely important for exchanging and deepening our cultural understanding.
2. To what did you give greatest attention in preparing and giving the lecture?
I wanted to appeal to the students' interests, emotions to get and keep their attention. So, I emphasized informative style, visual approach through power point presentation, demonstrating national costume, introducing Hungarian music representing national character, as well as ordering colored pamphlets (English, Japanese) from the Hungarian Embassy to represent the main features of Hungarian culture in key words.
3. Did you find it difficult to give a lecture in English to Japanese students? Could you give some advice to future lecturers on how to facilitate communication with Japanese students?
I did not find it difficult to prepare my lecture however, I found it challenging to pay attention to use adjusted level of English choosing carefully the vocabulary without using many technical terms. I think the lecturer should follow his/her own best-suited presentation style, however it is a good idea to involve the students actively (active participation) in many ways during the lecture. My suggestion would be that the students could prepare some questions in advance (as a group or individually) in order to lower the stress level when they want to ask questions.
4. Could you give your impression with regard to participating in this program?
My impression is that the lecture was extremely useful and very well organized on both sides of JSPS and Tezukayama High School. This opportunity really provides a great experience for both the students and the foreign lecturers. I believe it has a positive influence on the personal development of students as well as gives an interesting, valuable experience for the foreign lecturers too.
5. Was it meaningful in terms of your fellowship activities?
Yes, I found it meaningful. Such an opportunity gives us a chance to learn better communication and better cultural understanding with Japanese. It can help adapting to Japanese environment much faster and easier.
6. In what ways do you think the students benefited from the program?
I believe the students benefited from the program in various ways: Such opportunities expose them to foreign researchers, their foreign culture as well as to their research subject. These lecture series can give them the chance to deepen their understanding about the importance of mastering foreign languages, to raise their interest, make them think and express themselves about the world around them.
7. Could you give some overall advice or comments to future participants in the program?
Active participation of the students would make the atmosphere livelier. Japanese students are generally shy, thus this character should be understood in advance and prepare the lecture accordingly to be able to challenge them. (Eg. if students are rather quiet with no feedback at all, it does not necessarily mean that they do not have any opinion or the lecture was boring, it is rather that they are shy to express themselves in front of the class in a foreign language.)
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