Approaches to Cross-cultural Understanding Through ICT in Early Childhood Education: The Effects of ICT Exchange Experiences on Teacher Professional Development

摘要

保育現場で外国人の子どもと日本人の子どもが接触する際に、相手の言葉や文化を尊重する姿勢は重要である。子どもが他国の文化に理解を示し、受け入れる姿勢を持つためには、保育者自身が異なる文化を理解する姿勢を持っていなければ、それは実現できない。 　本稿では、保育者養成の言葉に関わる授業の中で行った、ICTの活用と併せた自文化・異文化の理解と尊重の姿勢を養うことを目標とした取り組みについて報告する。 　具体的な活動としては、ルーマニアのブカレスト大学の日本語学習者と本学の子ども福祉専攻の学生が、日本語による年賀状の交換と併せて伝統行事や年始年末の生活を紹介し、後日テレビ電話システムを用いてグループによる質疑応答の交流を行った。交流後のアンケートによれば、日本人学生は海外の日本語学習者の日本語力の高さに驚くと同時に、日本語で自文化を伝える喜び、外国人が日本語や日本文化に興味を持ってくれる嬉しさを感じ、同時に異文化への興味関心が増していた。 　本取り組み例は、保育者養成機関である大学が、ICTを利用して海外で日本語を学ぶ同世代の学生と交流する場を提供することにより、保育者を目指す日本人学生に自文化・異文化への深い理解と尊重の姿勢を培っていく一過程となることを示している。Attitudes of respect for the words and culture of others are important when Japanese nursery school children interact with children from other countries. However, in order for small children to understand and accept other cultures, it is imperative that their childcare instructors themselves possess a positive attitude toward multicultural awareness as well as the ability to interact positively with groups other than their own. This paper reports on a program in which Matsuyama Shinonome College teacher-trainees use ICT to interact with Japanese language learners at Bucharest University in Romania. As a concrete activity, students first exchanged New Year's greeting cards and MSC students introduced Japanese traditional events of the year-end/beginning. The preliminary interaction was followed by a question-and-answer session via Videophone system. Questionnaire results after the exchange indicate that the MSC students were surprised by the high level of Japanese language skill of the Romanian Japanese language learners, and they felt joy at communicating about their own culture in Japanese with the students interested in Japanese language and culture. Additionally, MSC students’ interest in different cultures increased. This exchange illustrates the potential for ICT to facilitate interactions between Japanese students in an Early Childhood Education program with same-generation Japanese learners abroad. Additionally, the ITC exchange provides opportunities for future childcare providers to cultivate an understanding of and respect for cultural differences.