Go Global Gateway 2020 Column 6
Learning languages online
2020/07/14     

Sho Shimoyamada
Project Assistant Professor
Graduate School and College of Arts and Sciences

What is frequently described in Go Global Statements, which you submit to sign up for the Go Global Gateway (GGG) programme, is a desire to improve your proficiency in English and other languages throughout your student years. You may have planned to study abroad to improve your language competence during this summer vacation and have given up due to the COVID-19 crisis. As an alternative to study-abroad experience, let me suggest a couple of ways in which you can learn English and other languages online.

UTokyo bears the tuition fee of online English conversation lessons provided by a private company this summer. Students who have already registered for the GGG programme are eligible and we will accept up to 200 applications. In the online lessons, which are tailored to your English proficiency level, you can talk to qualified tutors person-to-person to practice English conversation. Application for this programme will be available in mid-July. Please keep your eyes on the GGG website.

If you would like to study grammar and new phrases, MOOCs are an ideal medium. The acronym ‘MOOC’ stands for Massive Open Online Course, and it refers to free online courses provided by universities around the world. For example, there are 79 language courses available on a well-known MOOC platform called edX (https://www.edx.org/). edX is not the only option and there are other MOOC platforms that offer language courses (as listed below).

Platforms Links
Coursera https://www.coursera.org/
Futurelearn https://www.futurelearn.com/
iversity https://iversity.org/
xuetangX https://next.xuetangx.com/

If you are interested in a research career, UTokyo English Academia (https://utokyo-ea.com/), an online course provided by UTokyo, is my recommendation. The course gives you the basics of academic communication and English phrases that are needed in different contexts such as discussions in lab-meetings, presentations at conferences or teaching in classrooms. The course offers a variety of visual aids and video materials to motivate your learning. You can study the content and obtain a certificate of completion free of charge. I hope you will make use of it.

Even if you cannot go abroad, you can develop your foreign language proficiency or, more broadly, your global competence. There is a wide variety of online learning opportunities and you will discover courses on subjects other than languages as well. I have introduced free online courses, but it is also possible for you to pay tuition fees to take courses of high quality. To prepare for your future overseas experience, why don’t you improve your language proficiency online this summer?