Hello, my name is Zelin WANG, from Tohoku University. I am delighted that you are reading this message. This message is about the harvests I gained from AELC, and I hope this message helps you to know more about this fascinating and meaningful course.

The first harvest I gained in AELC was interacting with different fields in the education major, and these experiences enlarged my perspective. For example, in Professor Kozima's class, I learned about the difficulty that autistic children face when reading books. In Professor Robin's class, I learned that many students in developing countries still struggle to access school. They must climb the mountain and hitchhike to avoid being late. Knowing these cases helped me realize the importance of achieving educational equality. I will never know these children's difficulties. However, we live in the same world, and these classes led me to discuss the importance of achieving educational equality more deeply. Also, I learned quantitative methods from Professor Chen's class, which was very meaningful for me when reading research papers with quantitative methods.

The second harvest I gained in AELC was the experience of studying with students from different universities in Asian countries. As mentioned above, understanding the knowledge from different fields of education within a single course is very rare, and taking classes with such a diverse group of classmates is also rare and valuable. Unlike merely acquiring knowledge from different fields, studying with classmates allows me to understand different discipline's perspectives on the same issue, particularly in group discussions and presentations. For example, classmates from the Philippines and Guatemala have entirely different views on language learning and student motivation than our Chinese students. Meanwhile, students from Nanjing, majoring in educational psychology and early childhood education, provided cases and theories different from my focus on higher education, thereby deepening the quality of our group presentations. Furthermore, such a diverse student group greatly expands my future academic network. Through AELC, I made my first friends from Korea and Taiwan, and this friendship has continued beyond the course. We collaborate on research projects and attend forums.

Finally, communicating with my AELC classmates has helped me gain a more authentic understanding of the world. We sincerely share our experiences from our respective countries, helping each other break down incorrect stereotypes. The friendships are tangible proof that cross-cultural understanding and mutual respect are achievable, which is the most meaningful thing in AELC.