英米　１年
Thank you very much for the presentations. I really agree that the currency in a culture is not money, but trust. When I was in the third grade I moved to the U.S. because of my dad’s job. I was really nervous because everything was different from where I was living before and I couldn’t even write the alphabet. However, my classmates were so kind and everybody helped me a lot. So, I think it doesn’t matter what language they speak or what they wear or eat. Language barriers and cultural barriers will not exist if we trust each other. All we have to do is trust people and have kindness.

英米　１年
Listening to your presentation, I was extremely surprised at how global your family is. Half of my family live in Virginia, and the other half live here, in Japan. I thought I had a confusing family tree but I was wrong! Yours goes all around the world. From your family experiences, I can clearly see how “The currency in culture is not money, but trust” is connected to not everyone being an “other”, but being an “us”. Thank you for your beautiful story.

英米　４年
I really enjoyed and was very inspired by Ms. Andrea’s presentation for the following two points. First, her family and relatives are so international. I was very surprised because they lived in Sweden, America, England, Finland, China, Mexico…etc! I think it’s hard to communicate together but I also guess that it’s so interesting to talk with each other. Second, she told us the words ‘...the currency in culture is not money, but trust.’ I really like this sentence. I agree with this opinion. I think it’s very important to trust other people and to try to understand each other.

フランス　１年
Thank you for your great presentations. Through your two presentations I was very inspired. Andrea introduced the words, ‘Culture opens our hearts to one another.’ I think that is true. In my opinion, it is most important to understand about each culture. In fact, I have some different cultural traits compared with friends at APU. They speak Japanese, but their dialect is a little different from mine, because I am from Hyogo. At first I had a hard time to understand the meaning of their speech. However, as I talked with them I became able to understand what they mean and make myself understood. For these experiences, I think that the attitude to try to understand other people is necessary when people from different cultures communicate.

フランス　１年
Introducing Hope in My Heart
Thank you for your presentations. Chris’ speech is very exciting because I want to go on a trip abroad. Good cultures, good places, good foods, all these things attract me. Someday I want to go abroad. I want to talk to native speakers, learn their cultures and try new foods.Next, Andrea’s speech is very, very interesting. My family is all Japanese and live in Japan. So, such an international family (what they speak, where they live, etc) is very fresh for me. Someday I want to make human connections all around the world and to experience ‘trust is the currency.’Finally, I can’t speak and listen to English well, so this time I couldn’t understand everything well. This experience will promote my English learning. Thank you.

スペイン　１年
I really enjoyed both introductions. Actually, I have experienced kind of similar things. My parents are Japanese, but they have open minds about foreign people, culture and diversity. My dad used to live in France, and he speaks Japanese, English and French. My mom loves foreign countries, people, cultures and learning foreign languages. She speaks Japanese, Spanish, English, Portuguese, and Korean. She makes foreign food for our meals, so I have become used to different tastes. My parents have lots of foreign friends, so I have been in touch with foreign people since I was born. Actually, I can speak Japanese, English and Korean, and am learning Spanish and Chinese, and have friends from more than 25 countries. It is a rare thing for Japanese people, but I love this way and me.

中国　１年
Before joining this class, I was really nervous because I thought that it would be hard for me to understand, but actually it was really fun! I really had a great time listening to the talks by both of the teachers. And I was really surprised about myself that I could talk with people who I don’t know in English. In the talk given by Andrea, she showed us words from a musician which are, “Good things happen when we meet strangers”, and I really thought that it was true! It’s still a little hard for me to be active, but now I know that it’s very fun so I thought that I want to to be an active person.

中国　１年
It was a precious opportunity to listen to two teachers’ talks at one time. Listening to both talks, I found two points in your talks. First, you know a great deal about your backgrounds and relatives’ circumstances. I’m Japanese, but it’s important to know more about my family members are from and they are actually doing since we are family. I thought it’s not a big problem even though I don’t know much about what my relatives are doing. But I found it’s important to know more about them from your talks. Second, your talks attracted all of us so I hope to be able to talk in front of the public like you. Andrea mentioned that, “I prepared last night”, so preparation is the key to giving a good talk. Anyway, thank for offering us wonderful talks. I’m looking forward to talks by many people.

看護　１年
Today, I listened to two teachers’ presentations. From these talks, I learned something about ‘family style’. These days, ‘LGBT’ is regarded as a social issue, and I’m interested in this topic. Until today, however, there have not been such acquaintances around me. So, I didn’t know the real thoughts, feelings, and so on of LGBT people. But, by listening to Andrea’s speech, I found out that transgender individuals’ families are proud of their sons and daughters. I felt that was very wonderful.

留学生
This talk was as I expected. Andrea and Chris seem to be wise people and I am happy I have the pleasure to meet them and to be in this class. I was shocked because of their global relatives, they have families all over the world and yet they are just like us with their hobbies, favorite music and foods. Thanks to this class I can see international life as it really is, because before this I used to think that working abroad was only for experts in a language. They introduced themselves and I appreciate that. I also think as the musician that Andrea introduced to us, Yo Yo Ma, with his quote: ‘Good things happen when you meet strangers.’ It was awesome how well they talked about their hometowns. I think we all should feel really proud of it. Thank you!