VOICES
ACE2025秋受入学生
Ms. Hwang Chaewon
Learning Beyond the Classroom: My Exchange Experience
From August 2025 to February of this year, I spent approximately six months at Rikkyo University as an exchange student in the ACE Program. During the semester, I took a variety of courses covering topics such as language learning and motivation, nonverbal communication, Japanese society and culture, and badminton and so on. Through these courses, I was able to explore in depth several areas that I had long been curious about.
In particular, there were many opportunities to engage in discussions and team projects with international students in a foreign language. Through these experiences, I believe I was able to personally experience and better understand the meaning of “ intercultural communication.” Overall, I greatly appreciated the opportunity to participate in classes such as field trips and English camps, which are not commonly experienced in Korea for me.
I also had the opportunity to take two courses within the Cubic Curriculum. First, I enrolled in Motivation in Language Learning. This course was conducted in English and primarily focused on the concept of motivation and how it is defined and applied in language learning contexts. As I have had limited experience discussing academic topics in English, I initially found it very challenging to participate in discussions with the professor and many native English-speaking classmates. As a result, I struggled to feel engaged in the class or to participate actively at the beginning. However, with the support of my classmates and my own continued efforts, I gradually developed greater interest and confidence. Through this course, I was able to organize my thoughts on the topic of learning motivation—an issue closely related to myself—and broaden my perspective by sharing opinions with others. In addition, I took a course titled Service Learning C. This class involved planning and implementing English camps for Japanese elementary and junior high school students. Students were responsible for preparing three online English camps and one in-person camp, and we led the camps as team leaders. Through this course, I was able to experience the unique opportunity of planning and leading an English camp as a mentor, rather than participating simply as a mentee as I had done in the past. Communicating directly with Japanese elementary and junior high school students and studying English together were both refreshing and deeply rewarding. Furthermore, as a fellow learner of English, I was able to reflect more deeply on English learning and education.
Beyond academics, by participating in various school events, I was able to build friendships with students from diverse national backgrounds and continue interacting with them inside and outside of campus. Living and studying alongside international students, and exchanging ideas about our languages and cultures, were also an invaluable learning experience. With the support of many students and staff members, I was able to adapt smoothly to life in Japan without major difficulties. Through this opportunity, I believe I have grown not only academically but also personally. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to everyone I met in Japan and to the ACE Program for providing me with such a meaningful experience.