Over the summer, I had the privilege and pleasure of participating in a faculty exchange with the University of Kitakyushu in Japan.  I spent about a week with a wonderful group of students in a class designed to introduce them to American Culture and Society.

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Every year, ODU sends a faculty member over to Kitakyushu (located near Fukuoka in southern Japan) to teach and intensive, week-long class entirely in English.  The challenge is to create a course that would appeal to a multidisciplinary student body whose first language isn’t English. I think the class was a success–some students remarked how much they enjoyed it, and how different the American education style is from what they’re used to (I believe their classes are made up largely of lectures without much interaction).  I’d love to participate in a longer exchange at some point in the future, perhaps on another Fulbright grant.