Wednesday, March 13, 2024

My Trip to Senegal, West Africa, Dec 2023

 Senegal: Gateway to West Africa

15 places on My Google Maps:
My last trip was at the end of 2023 (Nov 29 - Dec 27, I traveled to Senegal on the West coast of Africa for a short visit (Dec 1-5);. I flew there from Spain's Canary Island (Gran Canaria) and had been attempting for travel there since before the coronavirus pandemic of 2020 - 2022. Although my stay was short, it seems that I accomplished the aims of my trip:
1) to have a 'real' African safari experience and
2) to visit the site in Dakar, the capital city called the Island of Goree, where hundreds of thousands of African men and women were brought as slaves before being sent on ships to the New World.
The visit to Goree Island was a very moving experience as it is stated that only one-fifth of the captured people were able to live long enough to actually be sent into slavery. Also, the animals in the Bandia Reserve were mostly not native species, but were brought to the Bandia Reserve in order to protect them and educate visitors about the plight of many animal species.


















Friday, August 18, 2023

Is it time for a 'radical' change? Maybe not.

by 

David Lewis Brooks

Photo taken June 2023 on the steps of Hostal Casa de Huespedes San Fernando, Playa del Ingles, Gran Canaria (Canary Islands), Spain

PREFACE:  This article was written over several weeks from August 18 until September 20, 2023, after I returned from my second overseas trip this summer. 


    When one comes to end of his/her professional career, it is not always easy to decide what to do or where or how to find an avocation or a new vocation to keep oneself occupied productively in the last Third of One's (Current) Lifespan.  Over the approximately three and a half years since I officially retired from work (university teaching and research job), I have dabbled a bit in several possible Third Life career moves, but none of them has panned out into any satisfying work or job offers.  

Basically, I am staying at home and being the wise, but quite, granddad to the Brooks-Yamaguchi family. Our older son, also an Associate Professor at Asia University (not too far from our home) lives with his Japanese wife and two daughters, aged 7 and 4 (almost 5).  His wife, Yuki, works as a student affairs officer (foreign student admissions) at KUFS (Kanda University of Foreign Studies), located a short bicycle ride from our homes. I say 'homes' since we live just a block away from our son's and his family's residence. 

I had first joined the teaching staff at Kitasato’s Sagamihara campus in April, 1996, as an emergency teacher recruited by Prof. Yukio Seya in March of that year to fill a sudden part-time English teacher vacancy.  I was subsequently employed as a full-time teacher member of 




Photo taken August 2023 at the circular road in Tama Bochi Cemetery, Fuchu, Tokyo. These are crepe myrtle trees in full bloom from July to October annually. It's a bit rare to have two large crepe myrtle growing side-by-side in the cemetery, so they are a favorite sight on our daily dog walkings into the Tama Bochi (cemetery). 


the English Language Unit a month into  the school following year, and has continued in the position of Associate Professor until my mandatory retirement in March 2019. Why a month later start? Actually, I was a part-time teacher with 6 weekly classes, which was the same as a full-time teacher's workload. By then asking that I be made a full-timer (once I was already employed), then they didn't have to open the 'new' position up to public applications from both presently employed part-timers as well as outsider. It was a strategic political employment move. I continue for three years as a contract (full-time) employee, before being made full-fledged faculty member (Assistant Professor), and eventually attained Associate Professorship in approximately 10 years further.  I never considered even asking to be a Full Professor because I considered that my Japanese language skills were not sufficient to complete all of the duties required a full professor.  However, I will never actually know if I was considered qualified to seek that promotion or not, because my own Department Head retired and I had several other colleagues that I would have had to compete with to become Professor Brooks.  More money, but more work and many ore headaches (if you ask me). Therefore, I happily remained an Associate Professor until I retired in March 2019.  Retirement became mandatory at the age of 65 year-of-age for all, but esteemed Professor Emeritus, of which there were one appointed every couple of years. 


After my official retirement, I was asked to teach one further year as an Adjunct Professor under a part-time teacher's salary for five courses on three days a week (Mondays - one class, Tuesday - 2 classes and Thursday - 2 classes). This arrangement, by the way, was how I started teaching part-time at Kitasato University first in the 1996-97 academic year.  


Photo taken at sunset in August 2022 Diamond Head Beach, Honolulu, Hawaii

  
                After his retirement,  David L. Brooks had intended to remain as an adjunct professor at Kitasato University for one or two days a week,  he'd likely be teaching part-time as well at Aoyama Gakuin University for two graduate or undergraduate courses, and may also be working on a volunteer basis in the part-time position at the University’s Office of International Affairs from April, 2019, until the 2024.  In addition, Mr. Brooks would be managing director of a new travel company based in Hawaii that specializes in edutrekking, travel expeditions for small teams that combine travel with eco-tourism and humanitarian endeavors for potential customers in Japan, the USA, and Europe.   


The LAST PLANS in the above paragraph DID NOT actually  MATERIALIZE, and when COVID-19 hit the world, my Third Life Career is was now put on hold and is, therefore, being reconsidered.
That is purpose of this entry: To review those three years of dormancy (rather like hibernation) would probably be a helpful move at this juncture of my existence.   


Part I

January 2020 - June 2021



Photo taken February 2022 at the Diamond Head Road leading into Kapiolani Park, Honolulu, Hawaii

A)      From January 2020 until June 2021, I was involved in the Harvard Kennedy School of Government's Public Leadership Credential, where I completed six different six-week long graduate courses in an online coursework format that included weekly group work (for one of weeks of each course I was the group leader and completing a personally focused individualized weekly assignment, plus completing a challenging final written exam. 

Along the way, I had three very distinguished, challenging, and interesting professors and got to work in detail with dozens of highly qualified and tenacious graduate students, who were also pursuing the same Harvard graduate credential.



Photo taken May 2022 at the Tama River side park, not far from Tokyo Parkway Bridge at Inagi, Fuchu, Tokyo

 

          To be honest, taking the coursework (actually 3/5ths of a Master's Degree in Public Administration from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government) was a the fulfillment of a personal challenge that I had envisioned pursuing more than a decade ago. At the time, after designating Harvard KSG as my first choice for a graduate institution at the time of taking the GRE, I received a letter of invitation from Harvard Kennedy School asking me to complete the necessary steps to apply for admission. Probably the main reason was because I had scored a perfect 6 on the then newly instigated GRE Writing Test, which had only just begun the very year that I had re-taken the GRE.

There is no doubt that I found the six courses in the Public Leadership Credential at Harvard KSG to be academically challenging, but they were not impossible and I found the course content, the professors, and working with my fellow course-mates to be interesting, rewarding and a great learning experience (almost without exception). However, I believe that I came to realize that simply cooperating and competing with my other Harvard online classmates was not the activity that really excited my intellectual interests or challenged my internal soul-searching to find a meaningful post-retirement career.


Most of my own personally-meaningful assignments for those six courses were related to my current passion at the time: Finding or creating an organization (or group) that can assist impoverished families in Hawaii, particularly those living under stark economic realities of today's world (who can absolutely be categorized a 'poor' families and individuals who are economically disadvantaged, to find affordable housing (either by buying, renting, or sharing a portion of a group-owned lodging).





Eating at a nice (and expensive) restaurant near the Beach Boardwalk at Sitges, Spain in June, 2023

Being seated at Jackie O's Restaurant / Bar, located at the Super Paradise Beach, Mykonos Island, Greece in June 2023.


        Actually, that leads me to my July 2021 - January 2023 phase, which involved trying to set up both a non-profit, called Philantropical.org, and a for-profit travel-related business, called Rainbow Travel Network, Inc., both of which I have now closed.  


Let me explain more in the next section.



Part II

July 2021 - January 2023

B)  My Entrepreneurial Phase -- Starting Two Business that I closed even before they could actually start. 


Part II-A   From January 2021 through January 2023, I was busy trying to set up both a non-profit, called Philantropical.org, and also a for-profit travel-related business, called Rainbow Travel Network, Inc., both of which I subsequently have now closed. 


Photo taken June 2023 at the Old Windmills Strand located near the main port / harbor on Mykonos Island, Greece

Setting up Philantropical.org (a non-profit organization) was not too difficult. In fact, inside the State of Hawaii, it was painless and virtually easy-peasy-Japanesy (as we often say in the Brooks household). Even when I decided to make the non-profit be recognized nationwide (in the US), it was not very difficult to secure the paperwork and to get registered and verified as a US nationwide non-profit organization by the United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The difficulty arose when it came to the actual details of the non-profit tax designation and assigned levels of tax compliance as a non-profit organization.  While it was still recognized as a non-profit, for tax purposes, it was designated as a XXXXXX non-taxed organization and the paperwork and tax forms required were just too laborious and time-consuming to be acceptable (at least for me alone).  


I quickly realized that I could not sustain that level of complicated book-keeping and convoluted tax reporting that such a designation required. I subsequently decided to dissolve the non-profit organization, thus appearing to 'officially' abandon its mission:  helping disadvantaged and underprivileged families to cope with the regulations and restrictions needed in order to live in a house on the Big Island of Hawaii. 


To be continued.....


Part II-B Rainbow Travel Network, Inc.



Photo taken March 2012 at the Marine Park located near _____ on the island of Gran Canaria, The Canary Islands, Spain (my own underwater photography with my own camera)


The second part of my plan was to establish a travel services company that acted as an 'arranger' for travel services to be provided to small (3-7) or  medium-sized (8-24) people.  The 'trips' are not actually solely for the purpose of travel, but have the ultimate goal of providing 'free' assistance to people, organizations (such as non-profits and public corporations), to help animal and plant life in a specific region, and (or) to improve the environmental conditions in a specific locale in order to reach their fullest (and highest) potentials. The eco-trips or 'edutreking' sojourns would be in my current home country (Japan) or abroad; they could be free (if a sponsor will pay expenses) or their costs could be reduced by donations and payments from  the beneficiary groups, or they could be totally self-supported (paid for my the volunteers own monetary contributions). 


                Examples of such 'trips' could include any or a combination of the following eco-trips  or 'edutreking' experiences:


a) Volunteer to teach life-skill English conversation to home healthcare workers who are assisting disaster relief for an Australian state;

 b)Lead a workshop on polish one's job search and employer attractiveness skills for low-level, poorly educated individuals seeking jobs as migrant workers in a South American country; 
 

c) Conduct an environmental clean-up workday in specific area needing human labor of volunteers (in Florida after the last major hurricane damage), 


and 

d - z) there are countless more examples, etc... But hopefully, you get the idea:  human volunteers helping our planet and its environment, its peoples and the animal & plant livelihoods.



Photo taken  February 2022 at the Beach 67 not far from Spencer Beach, near Kawaihae, Big Island, Hawaii



Part III

February 2023 - September 2023

C)   My own travels overseas



Photos were taken August 2023 at the Hellabrunn Zoo outside Munich, Germany. Of course, there are hundreds of species of birds, fish, reptiles, and other animals at the zoo, but the birds and fish are easiest to photograph because you're allowed to be so close to them in an enclosed cage  (bird cage in huge) or space (the aquarium). 


From January 2023 until the present (Sept 2023), I was mostly at my home in Tokyo, helping with the chores of grand-child minding, cooking and cleaning house.  I did find the time and resources (money) to travel abroad twice during that time. Both times,  I visited Europe; actually, I visited Spain and Germany twice as my favorite European cities are Munich and Barcelona. 


Tuesday, October 19, 2021

Harvard Kennedy School, Public Leadership Credential, Certificate of Course Completion, August 20, 2021

       In June 2021, I completed the online coursework, group work and the final exam

 for the Public Leadership Credential at the Harvard Kennedy School. 

     I began the coursework (six different six-week long courses) in January 2020 and 

completed successfully a total of six graduate courses, leading the final exam project 

evaluation in June 2021, whereby I earned the Public Leadership Credential from  HKS 

(Harvard Kennedy School). 

     Along the way, I had three very distinguished, challenging, and interesting professors 

and got to work in details with dozens of highly qualified and tenacious graduate students 

who were also pursuing the same credential.  




Saturday, January 25, 2020

Self-Introduction Video for Initial Assignment for Public Leadership Credential (PLC) Online Course, Jan 2020

As required for the initial self-introduction to the other online course members for the Public Leadership Credential (PLC) Orientation, Jan 23-28, 2020 at Harvard Kennedy School, here is my video self-introduction. (approx 4 min) in length.


Wednesday, September 12, 2018

How literacy makes us more human



How literacy makes us more human

David Lewis Brooks, Retiring Associate Professor, English Language Unit

College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Kitasato University 

Article for October 2018 Kitasato Library News
















[ The photo collage above is a composite of various old family photographs from the family picture albums of the author's parents: Jerry and Rebecca Brooks]



  Mr. Brooks first joined the teaching staff at Kitasato’s Sagamihara campus in April, 1996, as a emergency teacher recruited by Prof. Yukio Seya in March of that year to fill a sudden part-time English teacher vacancy.  Mr. Brooks was subsequently employed as a full-time teacher member of the English Language Unit  the following year, and has continued in the position of Associate Professor until his mandatory retirement in March 2019.

  After his retirement,  he will remain as an adjunct professor at Kitasato University one or two days a week,  he'll likely be teaching part-time as well at Aoyama Gakuin University for two graduate or undergraduate courses, and may also be working on a volunteer basis in the part-time position at the University’s Office of International Affairs from April, 2019, until the 2024.  In addition, Mr. Brooks will be managing director of a new travel company based in Hawaii that specializes in edutrekking, travel expeditions for small teams that combine travel with eco-tourism and humanitarian endeavors.   
(LAST PLANS in the above paragraph DID NOT MATERIALIZE, and then COVID-19 hit the world. Third Life Career is now on hold and being reconsidered.)
     
         The role that books have the power to play in and on one’s life can be as varied as the influences that he or she gains from the people one knows and meet throughout, as impressive as the places where a person has lived or traveled, or as significant as the experiences that a person encounters throughout the span of his or her lifetime.  I should say ‘can play’ because it really depends on what relationship literacy plays in a person’s life. As best as we know, humans appear to be the only animal species on our planet that encodes and records thoughts and stories in order to communicate across time and space what it means to be a human, and to express both his or her awe for the natural world, including for human civilization itself, and to be able record for the edification of fellow citizens of this planet the impact that human activity has on these domains.

      Without any permanent way to leave a decipherable record of their thoughts or experiences, animals simply exist in all their glory and then die anonymously. But humans can leave a written record of their own or collective histories, and also their unique personal philosophies which can inspire both present and future generations.


        With this definition in mind, I would like to take this opportunity to recall how reading and writing have impacted my own life, and to hopefully stimulate my fellow humans:  the students, teachers, and staff at this institution, to become advocates and practitioners of effective literary communication. Just as learning to ride a bicycle is only useful as a physical skill if:

  1. The person actually has a bicycle that he or she can ride when they need it.
  2. The person knows how to ride the bicycle to actually go some place that he or she wants or needs to go.
  3. The  person knows exactly or approximately where they want to go on the bike.
  4. And lastly, the person described above actually rides the bicycle somewhere from time to time.

    Reading and writing are literacy skills that function similarly to the cognitive, physical and affective skills necessary for riding a bicycle. Let me explain this analogy in more detail, as it may not be obvious how the two behaviors relate.

          The literacy skills of reading and writing are highly interrelated to the total human communication skills encompassed in language acquisition, whether it’s with your own native tongue, or with a highly utilitarian international language, of which English is the single, most striking example in human history, or with one of  the many major and minor world languages that are learned by people around the globe,  the most popular ones being Spanish, Chinese, French, German, or Russian. If learning a language is a tool, as well as a skill — like riding a bike, then we first need to know that language in order to communicate what we need and want, and to understand what it is others are asking us to know, say, and do. That’s just basic communication.

         Further, like a bicycle, simply owning or possessing a set of foreign language vocabulary and being able to string them together in a reasonably correct way in order to make meaningful and effective sentences is inadequate if a person doesn’t actually do that. That would be like being a “paper driver” for a bicycle. We don’t need a driver’s license to ride a bike in any country because basic mobility on a two-wheeled vehicle is a fundamental human capacity. So too are the skills of reading and writing in any language. You simply don’t need a license to communicate—it is as fundamental to human existence as breathing, eating or walking. Learning to use a language like English should be as fun, as natural, and as uncomplicated as learning to swim, to ride a bike, or to play a musical instrument.

      Instead, in Japan’s fundamentally antiquated educational system, learning English has long been turned into a difficult mentally-challenging endurance competition and a social marathon race, whose ultimate prize is attaining admission to the hallowed halls of revered academic institutions. The negative effects of this educational institution rat race, which many students barely survive as independent, strong-willed participants, has far-reaching effects on the Japanese psyche.


         To prevent this essay from concluding its premise by sounding like the bitter murmurings of a disgruntled and unfulfilled language educator, let’s return to its central goal: 

Write it down.  Keep a diary. Let your words and ideas remain in print -- even after you're gone or have moved away because the goal is: 

      To challenge everyone to give meaning to their lives by sharing, through reading and writing in English and in Japanese, in the joys and sorrows of the human condition, to gain valuable insights and wisdom in dealing with life through the recorded experiences and thoughts of our fellow human beings, and to add one’s own voice to the stream of billions of other human voices. 

            In so doing, we enrich our own lives and add something of value to the legacy of the human experience.        

リテラシー:読み解く力、文章で表現する能力がいかに「人間らしさ」を育むか


リテラシー:読み解く力、文章で表現する能力がいかに
「人間らしさ」を育むか

 

ブルックス・ディビット、准教授

David L. Brooks,

一般教育部 英語単位

 

Translated into Japanese by Mikio A. Brooks

 

本との出会いは、我々の人生で出会う人々の様に千差万別であり、我々が一生で訪れる場所や経験してゆくことと同等に我々を感化する上で大変重要な役割を担うことがあるかもしれない。なぜ「かもしれない」と表現したかと言うと、それは最終的に我々がリテラシー(つまり文章やニュース、情報や数値などの意味合いを正しく読み解き、理解する力、そしてなんらかの情報や自分の意志をうまく人に読み書きを介して伝達する能力、あるいは行動につなげる力)を、自分や他者のためにうまく活用できるかによって、その「本」、「出会い」または「経験」の質が左右されるからである。我々人間は時間や空間を超えて、自然界に対する驚きや自分たちの物語、過去の栄光や培った知識、そして未来の人々に向けた英知や志、そして警鐘などを記録して保存する唯一の地球上の生物だと言えるだろう。あらゆる考えや思考を文献などとして残せる能力は後世の手本や道しるべとなるものであり、人類の偉大なる特色の一つと言えるだろう。

 

人間以外の生き物は自分達の考えや経験を判別可能な形で記録し、残すことが出来ないが故に燃え尽きるかの如く、その一瞬、一瞬を単純に生き、その栄光や名を残すこと無く息絶える運命にある。しかしながら、人類とは自分達や集団的な歴史や経験、そして生き様や信念を形どった記録として残すことができる。それらは、今を共に生きる現世の人々に伝え、そして後世の人々に継承してゆくことが出来るはずである。

 

さて、この定義を念頭に置き、私は自分の人生において読み書きの能力が私自身の人生にどの様な影響を及ぼしたかについて皆さんと振り返りながら、それをきっかけに皆さんがそれぞれ大学生、大学教職員として、改めて効果的なリテラシー・コミュニケーション能力についてより深く考え、それらを高めていくきっかけになってくれることを真摯に願う。ここで「リテラシーや言語の習得」を「自転車を乗りこなして目標地点まで移動する」ことに例え、より深く掘り下げて説明してみたい。自転車を乗りこなすスキルを習得する事は役立つことだが、その効果を存分に発揮させるには以下の様な条件を揃える必要がある。

1)まず、必要な時に乗れる自転車を実際に所有していなければいけない。

2)自転車を所有し、且つ自転車の乗り方をすでに体得していなければいけない。

3)自転車で向かいたい、大まかな、あるいは明確な目標地点を持たなければいけない。

4)最後に上記の条件を整えた自転車の所有者が時折、実際に自転車に乗り、いざ行きたい場所が生じた際の予行演習や訓練を前もっておかなければいけない。

 

読み書きの能力、つまりリテラシー・スキルは自転車を乗りこなす、すなわち人生の中で自分の目標に向かって、自分の考え、自分の言葉や行動を活用しつつ、突き進む行為に相当し、「自転車」をうまく乗りこなすには、周りの状況を識別・把握する能力、つまり「認知能力」、物事の核心や善悪を冷静に判断し、行動を動機づける「感情や心」、そして前に進むための推進力を生み出す「身体的な能力」が求められる。これら読み書きのリテラシー能力は総括的に、自分の母国語のみならず、人類の歴史上、他に類をみない国際公用語となっている英語の習得、又は国際的観点から人気のあるスペイン語、中国語、フランス語、ドイツ語、アラビア語やロシア語などの言語や、それらと同様に重要だがよりマイナーな第二言語の習得、そしてそれぞれの言語におけるより高度な領域でのコミュニケーション能力の育みや習得するプロセスにも密接に関わっている。道具やスキルとしての言語習得をする場合、まず「自転車」を自分の物にすること、つまり基礎的な語彙やコミュニケーション能力に必要な言語のルールを学習し、自分の一部として「所有」しなければいけない。そして「自転車」をうまく乗りこなす様に、自分の意志や考えを伝達する上で、又は他人の言っていることを理解し、要求などに応えてゆく上で、その言語をうまく操れる様に「習得・体得」しなければいけない。これによってまず、基本的なコミュニケーションが成立する。ただし、外国語や第二言語の単語や正しい文法を知っている(自分のものとして「所有」)状態だけでは言語を効果的に「操縦・活用」しているとは言い難い。まるでそれは自転車の「ペーパー・ドライバー」の様である。自転車の基礎的な乗り方を覚えるのは比較的容易であるため、世界中どの国においても普通の自転車を動かすためには「免許」は必要ない。読み書きの能力の習得も同じことが言えるだろう。基礎的な部分では習得することは容易であり、人は自分の意志を伝達することや、コミュニケーションを図る場合には「免許」を必要としない。なぜなら、呼吸をすること、食事をとること、歩くことと同様、人間の生きてゆく上での基本的な行為であるためである。英語の様な言語を習得することは楽器の演奏、泳ぎ、そして自転車の乗り方を学んだり、体験していく様に本来ごく自然で、楽しく、単純な事であるべきである。

日本に長年住み続けている、アメリカ出身の一個人の大学教員として日本社会、日本の大学教育などに対して言いたいことはたくさんある。特に残念なのは、日本の受験制度、日本の型にはまった英語教育の概念、そして現代の競争社会ゆえに生まれる多忙さによって本来あるべき、第二言語の習得や活用の根本的な楽しさや面白みが失われ、そして学生が自分の習得した言語を(母国語も含め)活用した上での自己の意志表明、あるいは自分の本当の目標の設定やゴールに向かって突き進むことが大変困難であり、この現状がとても嘆かわしい。しかしながら、本文の中心的なメッセージに話を戻すと、私が伝えたいことは皆さんが自分の母国語・第二言語の「自転車」をうまく乗りこなしてもらい、その上で読み書き(リテラシー・スキルや能力)を駆使して自分の経験や知識、自己の気持ちや意志を英語などの第二言語、そして自分の母国語である日本語でも積極的に発信してゆき、同時に他者から発信されるメッセージや情報を上手く読み解いて相互理解やコミュニケーションを熱心に図ってもらいたいということである。そうすることで、結果的に自分の目標がより明確になり、進みたい道がおのずと見えてくるだろう。それと同時に自分の気持ちや意志を言葉に込めて記録してゆくことは、この地球上に存在する何億人もの他者にとっても有益となる情報、動機付け、そして道しるべと成りえるだろう。リテラシーという概念を上手く「乗りこなし」、是非とも皆さんには自分の「人間らしさ」、そして何より「自分らしさ」を育んでいただきたい。

 

Thursday, February 08, 2018

Clute Institute International Conference on Education, San Francisco, August 5-9, 2018






Clute International Conference on Education

Hyatt Centric Fisherman's Wharf, San Francisco, CA USA

 August 5-9, 2018

Fostering Commitment to International Development Through Volunteer Work Programs for Students and Teachers

 Presentation by David L. Brooks


About the Clue Institute International Conference on Education

The 2018 Clute International Conferences San Francisco will be held from Sunday, August 5, 2018 to Wednesday, August 8, 2018 at Hyatt Centric Fisherman’s Wharf San Francisco. Our conferences aim to bring together faculty and administration from all levels of education across the world. We encourage a cross-disciplinary exchange of thoughts, ideas and innovation through a variety of teaching methods and perspectives. The conferences provide a platform to enhance your knowledge and professional skills throug
The 2018 Clute International Conferences San Francisco will be held from Sunday, August 5, 2018 to Wednesday, August 8, 2018 at Hyatt Centric Fisherman’s Wharf San Francisco. Our conferences aim to bring together faculty and administration from all levels of education across the world. We encourage a cross-disciplinary exchange of thoughts, ideas and innovation through a variety of teaching methods and perspectives. The conferences provide a platform to enhance your knowledge and professional skills through interaction with colleagues and peers from different nationalities and backgrounds. This year the conferences include: The Clute International Academic Conference on Business (IACB), the Clute International Conference on Education (ICE), the Clute International Conference on Technology in Education (ICTE) and the Clute International Science Education Conference (ISCE)  

IMPORTANT DATES
  • Conference Dates: August 5-9, 2018
  • Welcome Reception: August 5, 2018
  • Presentation Dates: June 6-8, 2018
  • Early Registration: $575 USD (Expires on July 13, 2018)
  • Registration Fee: $650 USD
  • Submission Deadline, Final Abstracts/Papers Due: June 22, 2018 (Contact us if you miss a deadline)
  • Optional Tour: August 9, 2018 (Not included in registration fee)
  • Hotel room cutoff: July 20, 2018 (After this date rooms may no longer be available)





Fostering Commitment to International Development Through
Volunteer Work Programs for Students and Teachers
                                               
David L. Brooks, Associate Professor
Kitasato University, Sagamihara, Japan

One way to achieve optimal use of development aid is to capitalize on the low-cost human resources through the humanitarian spirit found among student and teacher volunteers in developed nations. Effective programs that employ volunteer teacher trainers, student workers, and health care volunteers can bolster professional development of teacher and student work experience in local communities; thereby meeting part of people's basic needs in developing countries. Such low-cost, cooperative efforts can energize the professional and international work expertise of both the local native people and the visiting volunteers.

This presentation describes how three such programs had and are having a positive effect on developing education, health, and language programs by supporting three international development programs:  1) an in-service teacher training program in English language in rural Thailand, 2) building a community health service in rural West Africa, and 3) constructing homes for the economically disadvantaged in The Philippines. A short summary of the goals and logistics involved for the volunteers in three international development programs will be made. Guidelines for planning such programs, recruiting volunteers, and implementing a volunteer training program are outlined. Finally, ways to assist government offices, community welfare organizations, and schools to meet their manpower needs through cooperation with foreign education ministries, teacher training institutions, professional education organizations, and in tandem with committed individuals from developed countries are proposed.  

 223 words
SUBMITTED online:  The Clute International Conference on Education (ICE), August 5-9, 2018   San Francisco, CA   Sunday, August 5, 2018 to Wednesday, August 8, 2018
at Hyatt Centric Fisherman’s Wharf San Francisco.