02 April 2009

IPC Farewells the IPU Exchange Students

Translated by Shirley Ghozalli.

IPU exchange students with their Certificates of Completion

An IPU student Yusaku Mukai presented a card full of words of gratitude to IPC lecturer Kathy Corner

On Friday, 26th March, the exchange students from International Pacific University (IPU) departed from IPC after completing a six-week exchange here. Students and staff members were there to see them off.

The day before they went, the IPC staff members and students who had been involved in the program gathered with the IPU students in the Senior Common Room to celebrate their achievements during the exchange program and share a special morning tea.

First of all, a DVD put together by one of the IPC staff lecturers was played. It contained a selection of videos and photos taken during the six weeks. Next, the IPU students sang a song for the IPC students and staff. After that, to show how much they had learnt over the 6-week period, each IPU student expressed her/his feelings in English.

Among them was Hiroki Satou, who told everyone that he felt very grateful for the outside class experiences he had had in New Zealand. He expressed his ambition to be a nursery school teacher and then to return here again some day. Another student, Mai Hasegawa thanked all the lecturers and staff members for the care and kindness she had received in the short period. All in all, the students conveyed that they wanted to return to IPC and promised the lecturers that they would keep studying English even when they were back in Japan.

As a farewell gift, the IPU students gave each lecturer a big card, created by the students and filled with words of gratitude as well as many photos of the IPU students.

At the end, a photo slideshow made by the IPU students was played. Seeing the pictures brought back the memories of the last 6 weeks and sparked a lot of laughter and more conversations between the students and the lecturers.

Finally, the Certificates of Completion were given out by Peter Finch, and all of the IPC students and staff wished the IPU students well and hoped to meet them again in the future.

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