The students taking the Understanding Cross-Cultural Communication course at Kansai University collaborated in a multilateral COIL project with the students taking the Cross-Cultural Communication course and the Language, Culture, and Society course at Davao Oriental State University (the Philippines), between the 10th of April and the 4^th of June 2022.

As an icebreaker activity, the students recorded a self-introduction on Flipgrid and commented on two videos posted by students from the partner university. For the team-integration activity, the students met on Zoom for the first time. 4 international teams were created, and the teams competed against each other. The team that created the longest list of cultural similarities and differences between the two countries won.

 

 

Next, the students chose one or more local destinations and created in groups or individually vlogs introducing that place, with its practices and customs. The students were then asked to watch all the vlogs and post reaction videos to the ones they were most interested in. During the second meeting on Zoom, the students worked in groups again and discussed different cultural and social issues, and their expressions in the two countries, using the vlogs as a starting point. The COIL project ended with reflection videos posted on Flipgrid.

At the beginning of the project, the teachers provided a schedule with the overall structure and the deadlines for each activity. Throughout the project, the students were constantly reminded the deadlines and given farther detailed instructions for each activity, via Facebook and the email address incorporated in the LMS. The students were also required to provide quick feedback after each Zoom meeting, the only 1-hour time difference between Japan and the Philippines making it rather easy for the participants to react to the messages from their international partners.