29. Final Stage

The participants of MTEC (Theory and Practice on Public Enlightenment Using Multimedia Course 2006) have been working on their final subject; Final Production.

They are using Adobe Director as an authoring tool.After the design phase, now they are making a proto type to present on coming Friday for the Formative Evaluation.
If you remember your time of the Final Production, please leave your comment to cheer them up!!

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)

18. Promoting "Gender Free" society

In a subject "Printed Media", we've got a request to creat a poster to promote "Gender Free". Of course, it was a tough mission for us all. The instructors had prepared very carefully before conducting this subject.
In order to let the participant clarify what she/he want to express as the keyword, we had a group session.
Then after one and half days, everyone had the first version of the poster for the presentation.

17. We will miss you for sure...

After more than twenty years service, he decided to leave this organization this month. Jun Chinen san, aka Mr. Video, has been working for the world since he was a college student, I heard.
We will miss you, your knowledge and skills, and information-abundant talks.
Well, though we are not informed of his future plan, we would like to wish the best for him.

16. By the way, let me talk about MTEC Alumni Association

This blog targets all MTEC family, i.e., our previous & current participants, and staffs.
Do you have any idea how many participants we have met so far?
Since our start in 1984, MTEC has met 709 (including 7 who has participated more than once) participants from 83 countries.

At the moment, we are working on our 70th group training titled "Theory and Practice on Public Enlightenment Using Multimedia".
To conduct it, we have six instructors, one assistant and one training coordinator. The below shows all of them. Do you find your familiar faces?

Photo copyrighted to Mr. Victor Jose Olivero Diaz from Dominican Republic.

15. Surely you are not nervous, are you, Nervious san?

Digital video production - it is nice to have this subject in sunny days, because we can comfortably go out for swimming...oops, shooting.
After designing and script writing, each participant started shooting or recordning.Even though the person is a fluent speaker of English, she/he becomes nervous when entering a recording booth.
Nervious san, from Zambia, fought with the feeling... I guess.

Uramoto san, as a recording engineer, sending que to Nervious san.
Good job!

14. Weaving dreams not by World Cup 2006, but by Dreamweaver

Such sleepless nights.
We are mostly blessed with health, but such sleepy days. Needless to say, it is due to the timelag between here (Okinawa, Japan) and Germany.
Unintentionally, people start to nod, nod, zzzzz...

Anyway, we have started the class of Website production. Based on their own design, the participants start to produce their web pages.
Sayed san, from Egypt, is deep in his production.
It is the very first website for most of the participants, so I hope it will be an exciting experience for them.
Good luck on you!

13. MTEC instructor lecturing to JICA Fiji

Bula! This is a greeting in Fiji.
Now, at this very moment (2:30pm, June 16, 2006JST), Uramoto san, one of MTEC instructors is lecturing to JICA Fiji office. The lecture is being transmitted through JICA-Net, the leased line network between JICA's offices in the world.
Today, Uramoto san is presenting on "Presentation Method". The audience in Fiji are the staffs at Fiji JICA office.


After continuous rainy days, we have a good weather today.
The right is the view from Nirai Hall Bldg., where Uramoto san is lecturing.
Do you remember the OIC swimming pool? I am sure that many participants will enjoy swmimming today after 5pm.
Have a nice weekend!

12. Authoring by Director

Since last Friday (June 9), MTEC participants have been learning Authoring by Director.
They are making their own products.
As the last day approaching, each participant has an evaluation with the instructors.
On the photo left, Luis san from Mexico, is discussing with Nisimura san.



I also took the photo on the right, but Nishimura san, a professional photographer, suggested me not to use this one since this is not a natural photo. But because I like this one too, I post this with a smaller size.

11. Special Day for the Philippines!

Today, June 12, we see our trainee from the Philippines in celebrative costume.
It is the Independence Day of the Repblic of the Philippines. Congratulations!!

Fortunately, we have Minda san (left) in our training course, so we are honored to have her picture on our blog.
Together with Minda san, we have two friends of her.

In the dinig hall of our institute, there is a special meal from the Philippines.
Bon Appetite!

10. Tokumura san, a Gifted Instructor

Our institute offerred Okinawan traditional performing art session as a welfare program to our trainees.
Tokumura san, one of our instructors and gifted with music, was in our performers.


There was a big audience with cameras and videos.We hope they could touch Okinawan spirit of music and dance.

9. Outing, everyone!

First class outing on last Friday!
To celebrate a weekend (whatever...!), the class and staffs had outings to a hotel buffet.

We could select from different kinds of foods and drinks.
It is nice to have an outing like this, isn't it?

8. Digital Photography Production

We spent two days on Digital Photography Production.
Each participant created a digital photo montage with the pictures they had taken. Adobe Photoshop was the tool.
On the right, Guo san from China is designing layout of his montage. I will upload all products shortly.

7. Video Edit

Last day (4th day) of Digital Video Basics.
Each participant has an assignment to shoot and edit to produce 3 min. product.
Victor san from Dominican Republic, as shown on the left, is serious on edit.
Actually, at this current moment, we are having presentation.
Presentation is always enjoyable, isn't it?