28. Our memorable umbrella!

The MTEC staffs have been hearing the stories during the observation tour last week, such that it had kept raining through the schedule, and that there were so many busy people in Tokyo. They tell us many stories, but they never fail to admire Kaneshiro san.

Kaneshiro san is our training coordinator, aka Brandy san. I will take other opportunity to write about him, but I must tell his efforts made the observation tour safe and successful. He held up his umbrella high when the group was walking in the crowd, lest participants missed him.

This week, the participants started thinking to appreciate Kaneshiro san's great job, then an idea came about. An umbrella was brought, and each participant put his/her message on it to express the gratitude, as you can see.

It should have been a surprise to Kaneshiro san when a small ceremory started after the class yesterday. On behalf of the group, Daniella san made a speech and presented the umbrella to Kaneshiro san.

Here are Kaneshiro san and all tpm06 participants!
We are all lucky and happy to have you as our coordinator!

27. They are DANCERS too!

Our participants come to Okinawa, Japan, to learn technology. But at the same time, they are expected to be a bridge between Okinawa and their respective countries. The Homestay and/or Home Visit program is one of good opportunities for that, and here is another one. Our participants at this time of the year (July) are previledged to learn and perform one of the traditional dances of Okinawa, "Eisa".

Urasoe City, where OIC is, hosted the 29th Tedako Festival on 23rd of July. OIC participants danced Eisa there.

From MTEC, five participants (Daniella san from Brazil, Minda san from Philippines, Nervious san from Zambia, Jose san from Honduras and Victor san from Dominican Republic) signed up. They practiced it for nine times.


As the last practice, they had a rehearsal on OIC soccer field. It was pity that MTEC participants had missed one practice due to the observation tour. But don't they look great?


Wow!
They really look fantastic, don't they? I hope they cherish this experience and memory.

By the way, more details about "Eisa", click here to wikipedia.
Big thanks go to Mio for her wonderful photo work.

26. Typhoon #5

Don't misunderstand this blog is Meteorological one :P

Sorry, everyone. According to the weather chart, you are having another rainy day, aren't you?

I found the typhoon #5(Kaemi) on the chart. I hope it will not approach here, expecially on coming weekends.

25. Tokyo! Tokyo!

According to the schedule, our participants moved from Osaka to Tokyo today, then visited NHK (Japan's Public Broadcast Organization).
Unfortunately, the weatherchart today shows very pitiful forecast.

Is it raining there??
In Okinawa, we have a beautiful weather with blue sky, but miss you so much.

Anyway, apart from your training, I know each of you has special plans in Tokyo such as shopping, visiting Asakusa, or meeting your friends. Have a nice stay in Tokyo.

24. How is Osaka?

Today in the morning, the MTEC participants, their Coordinator, and Course Leader left Okinawa for mainland Japan.
First, they flew to Osaka. They are staying at Osaka International Center (OSIC) to visit two organizations in Osaka and Kyoto.
Secondly, they move to Tokyo. They will stay at Tokyo International Center (TIC) to visit three organizations before coming back to Okinawa on Friday.

I hope they will have a nice stay there!

23. Before you leave for mainland Japan...

We got to know there was another typhoon (#4 Bilis) approaching to Okinawa area, even before the privious one was still nearby. Fortunately, it did not hit here either.

Now, the interest of our participants goes to "Observation Tour to Mainland Japan"! The are supposed to leave here on Monday morning. We heartily wish no typhoon floows them next week. (In this mornng, Mr. Kaneshiro, the training coordinator, asked Minda san from the Philippines, and Geoff san from Papua New Guinea not to produce any during the tour...)

Instructors never forget the training, even when the participants are so excited with the idea of travelling :P
Today's topic is "Introduction to Media Utilization (Case Study)" with Uramoto san.
Group discussion, then individual practice to describe the Logical Framework. Obviously, it is impossible to descrive all in a few hours, but we hope it became a good opportunity.

Then.....now, I hope you all have a fruitful and enjoyable tour! Bon Voyage!!

22. They are active on typhoon day!

The typhoon did not hit Okinawa Island!
Some of the participants missed their very first encounter with it :P.
And some others were happy with the miss, because they had a plan of Home Visit.

The participants here are proposed to join Homestay or Home Visit programs. Homestay means staying one or two days with the host family, while Home Visit means coming back to the dormitory in the same day.

July 8th(Sat.) Minda (Philippines) san, Nervious (Zambia) san, and Sayed (Egypt) san joined the program. They were invited together.

July 9th(Sun.) was Daniella (Brazil) san's turn.








I hope they all had an unforgetable moment.

21 A Typhoon on a weekend

It was recordmaking hot yesterday, and the sky was very beautiful. The temperature rose to 35.0C yesterday afternoon in Naha, one of our neighbouring cities. And the temperature is regarded the third highest since 1927, when the weather observation started in Okinawa.

But in fact, a typhoon "Ewiniar" has been approaching here. The sky is like this now. It will be closest to Okinawa from tomorrow night through the day after, which means weekend. If she (he?) proceeds as forecasted, our weekend will be spoilt.


Weather chart by Yahoo! Japan tells it will pass near our island on Sunday afternoon.

(quated from http://typhoon.yahoo.co.jp/weather/jp/typhoon/typhe.html)

20. Observation Tour

MTEC participants had one day obervation on Okinawa Island. They visited IT Education Center and Industrial Technical Training Education Center in Okinawa Prefectural General Education Center.

The Center has been functioning as the training center for the teachers in Okinawa Prefecture.

Firstly, at IT Education Center, they had an overview of the center, then were introduced to web-based learning sytems developed by the teacher trainees there.

All participants were exposed to the ways of training teachers on IT, developing sharable educational materials, etc.

19. Gender Free Society - Participants' products

Here uploaded are the posters produced by our participants. I think it necessary to comment as follows:
1) only 2 days were allocated for the subject, and 0.5 (out of 2) days were spent on lecture and discussion.
2) the products are at version one.
3) the products are introduced by the alphabetical order of the participant's country.

Please see if those can promote "Gender Free" Society.
We welcome your comments.

By Daniella (Brazil)

By Daniella (Brazil)
Daniella's another version.

By Guo Jun (China)

By Carlos (Colombia)

By Victor (Dominican Republic)

By Sayed (Egypt)

By Jose (Honduras)

By Luis (Mexico)

By Minda (Philippines)

By Geoff (Papua New Guinea)

By Nervious (Zambia)