2025 (Current Year) Faculty Courses Liberal arts and basic science courses Entrepreneurship courses
Intercultural Exchange Workshop
- Academic unit or major
- Entrepreneurship courses
- Instructor(s)
- Kumiko Kiuchi / Kayoko Nohara / Rie Murakami
- Class Format
- Exercise
- Media-enhanced courses
- -
- Day of week/Period
(Classrooms) - Class
- -
- Course Code
- ENT.G257
- Number of credits
- 020
- Course offered
- 2025
- Offered quarter
- 2Q
- Syllabus updated
- Mar 14, 2025
- Language
- English
※ Courses with parentheses in the course number have different subject codes depending on the student's year of admission.
Syllabus
Course overview and goals
A collaborative project with students learning Japanese at the Language Center of the Technical University of Munich. The primary language of instruction is English, but there will also be opportunities to engage in simple Japanese conversations with students learning Japanese. The course consists of online discussions (four sessions in June) and an in-person group project conducted as an intensive one-week seminar in September.
This is a practical course where participants exchange opinions on a wide range of topics, from everyday matters to social issues and specialized subjects, working with members who have different native languages, common knowledge, and cultural backgrounds. The goal is to identify shared challenges, develop an action plan for fieldwork, and implement it together. The course aims to foster leadership in multicultural societies and develop the ability to collaborate others with different cultural background to complete a project.
Course description and aims
1) Developing Intercultural Communication Skills
Through experiences in intercultural communication, students will cultivate the ability to elicit unknown knowledge and effectively convey, recognize, and understand cultural differences.
2) Fostering Interdisciplinary Curiosity and Exploration
By collaborating with students from different countries and academic fields, students will nurture interdisciplinary curiosity and a spirit of inquiry, broadening their own perspectives.
3) Enhancing Goal-Oriented Planning and Action Skills
Through self-directed group activities, students will acquire the ability to set concrete plans and take action to achieve their goals.
Keywords
intercultural understanding, intercultural adaptation, language exchange, collaborative learning, cultural identity
Competencies
- Specialist skills
- Intercultural skills
- Communication skills
- Critical thinking skills
- Practical and/or problem-solving skills
Class flow
Until the fourth week, the course will be conducted via Zoom, connecting Tokyo and Munich online. From the seventh week onward, it will transition to an in-person, intensive summer seminar with face-to-face interactions.
Course schedule/Objectives
| Course schedule | Objectives | |
|---|---|---|
| Class 1 | (June 12) Orientation Virtual tour of locations in Tokyo and Munich Places related to student life Public facilities, architecture, and areas around the university | Students will get to know each other. They will discuss and share their thoughts on familiar places in Tokyo and Munich. |
| Class 2 | Asynchronous Interaction | Students will write and exchange questions about each other's countries, cities, societies, and cultures. From these questions, they will select one theme and prepare a brief presentation. |
| Class 3 | Society and Culture | Students will share their knowledge and impressions of Japan and Germany, discuss the social and cultural differences between the two countries, and deepen their understanding. |
| Class 4 | Environment, Civil Engineering and Technology | Students will discuss and deepen their understanding of the differences in perspectives on environmental issues, civil engineering, and energy policies in Tokyo and Munich, as well as in Japan and Germany. |
| Class 5 | Group activities | Students will form groups for the in-person summer project. They will strengthen their interactions with group members and decide on a project theme. |
| Class 6 | Asynchronous Interaction | The groups will finalize their activity plans for the project. |
| Class 7 | Onsite orientation (starting at 10am) | Students will introduce themselves in person, review their action plans, and participate in an orientation session. |
| Class 8 | Group activities (500 mins in total) | Students will introduce themselves in person, review their action plans, and participate in an orientation session. |
| Class 9 | Group activities (500 mins in total) | Each group will conduct fieldwork for their project and create a video and poster. |
| Class 10 | Group activities (500 mins in total) | Each group will conduct fieldwork for their project and create a video and poster. |
| Class 11 | Group activities (500 mins in total) | Each group will conduct fieldwork for their project and create a video and poster. |
| Class 12 | Group activities (500 mins in total) | Each group will conduct fieldwork for their project and create a video and poster. |
| Class 13 | 5 Sep Final presentation (starting at 15:00) | Students will reflect on and summarize their group activities. They will also share their outcomes with other groups. |
| Class 14 | 5 Sep Final presentation (starting at 15:00) | Students will reflect on and summarize their group activities. They will also share their outcomes with other groups. |
Study advice (preparation and review)
To enhance effective learning, students are encouraged to spend approximately 100 minutes preparing for class and another 100 minutes reviewing class content afterwards (including assignments) for each class.
They should do so by referring to textbooks and other course material.
Textbook(s)
Handouts
Reference books, course materials, etc.
Kleeman, Karin, ed. (2020), Ecopolis München 2019: environmental stories of discovery. Rachel Carson Center for Society and Environment. (https://rccve.ub.uni-muenchen.de/rccve/article/view/23/49)
Evaluation methods and criteria
1) Group Presentation (40%)
Format: Video and Poster
2) Individual Report (40%)
The report may be written in both Japanese and English.
Length requirement:
At least 2,500 Japanese characters if you are writing in Japanese
At least 1,250 words if you are writing in English
At least half of the report must be written in English.
The content should address several questions, including:
A summary of your presentation
A report on how tasks were divided among group members
Reflections on what you learned or noticed through the intercultural experience
3) Reflection Sheet (20%)
Related courses
- ENT.G457 ： Intercultural Exchange Workshop Advanced
Prerequisites
Students are expected to have the English skills equivalent of B1 in the CEFR (this is not a requirement). We welcome students who are able to have everyday conversation and willing to improve their communication skills.
Other
If the number of applicants exceeds the capacity, a separate selection process will be conducted.