On July 4^th, we have welcomed Prof. Howard Tarnoff of Health Sciences University of Hokkaido to Medical English Practice class. Prof. Tarnoff gave a lecture titled “Understanding Patients’ Social Background” to our second year medical students. We have increasing number of patients from other cultures in Japan.　Understanding patients’ cultural background is critical to achieve their desired health goals. Prof. Tarnoff helped us learn the importance of cultural awareness.

The lecture was followed by the interactive session with students by Dr. Ichizo Tsujino of Hokkaido University Hospital and Prof. Tarnoff. In this session, they did doctor-patient role plays also used Clickers (student response systems) to learn medical terms and useful expressions in hospital or clinical settings.

In this large classroom of 100+ students, clickers provide real time feedback from students and display results immediately. Clickers are beneficial to both instructors and students. For example, students can express their opinions anonymously (without raising hands). Instructors can monitor students’ understanding and students can monitor their own understanding in real time.

Clickers can help creating the positive vibe of a class specially in Japan where many students are reserved and quiet.

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International relations office supports Medical English class to help students acquire practical English skills and cross-cultural communication skills needed in the medical environment.