"English Circle of Friends" (ECF) is an informal lunch time gathering hosted by Gifu University Organization for Promotion of Glocalization (GU-GLOCAL) for all Japanese students, international students, administrative staff & faculty on campus. ECF is primarily about two things: (1) meeting new people and making friends on campus, and (2) improving your English communication skills as you converse with a hosts of members from different nationalities. Events are organized about twice a month and are held mostly on Wednesdays. ECF focuses on making events very easy going and super friendly for everyone regardless of your English skills! Feel free to drop in and even invite some of your friend to join. For more details about the week's conversation topics, dates/time, and venue, please check our ECF flyers posted around campus or on the university (events) homepage.

Due to the unexpected COVID-19 outbreak this year, we were not able to hold our pre-scheduled ECF events during the entire months of April to May. The first ECF, held on Wednesday, June 24 in the General Education Building, was joined by three Coordinators for International Relations (CIRs) who were invited as special guests from Gifu Prefectural Government office. Appropriate for a first meeting, the session focused on "Let's get to know each other" game. Four international students from Indonesia, Kenya, and Egypt were also invited to serve as "conversation partners" for Japanese participants. Participants broke out into small conversation groups to facilitate more intimate communication while observing "physical distance."

Here are comments from some of the participants (in their own words): "I am glad that I could talk to native speakers after a long while," "I learned a lot about the situations overseas through my conversation with other members," and "I picked up some practical English expressions."

The next ECF gathering will be held on June 8th (Wednesday) from 12:35 to13:05 in Learning Commons Room 1A. We are truly looking forward to meeting you!