Speaker
Description
Nursing education curricula in Japan typically include only one compulsory general English course, with additional English-related subjects offered as electives. In response to globalization, some universities have begun introducing specialized nursing and medical English courses. The Model Core Curriculum for Nursing Education in Japan (MEXT) states that basic communication skills for working with foreign patients are necessary; however, it does not explicitly mandate the inclusion of English courses in the curriculum. General English courses are valuable, but they do not equip nursing students with the terminology used in clinical settings or the essential vocabulary and expressions needed to provide patient orientation when interacting with English speaking patients.
The purpose of this presentation is to describe the development of educational materials designed to support nursing students in providing care to English speaking patients encountered during their maternal nursing clinical practicum.
A Moodle platform is used to deliver Nursing English materials, which include short dialogues, videos, quizzes, and links to English-language resources developed by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare and various NPOs. These materials were created in collaboration with faculty members responsible for the maternal nursing clinical practicum, and the content is selected based on the activities students perform during their clinical training. All students can freely access the course and complete the assigned tasks. The materials are intended to foster students’ interest in English for specific purposes and to enhance their ability to communicate with non Japanese speaking patients.