Dr. Wakabayashi visited Rattaphumwittaya School in Songkhla and met with the Director, Deputy Directors, English teachers, and students who participated in the SMILE Project in 2025. Following greetings from Director Malinee and Dr. Wakabayashi, Mr. Muhammadheesam Mayuroh, Project Coordinator and English Department teacher, presented a report on the activities and achievements of the SMILE Project,…
On the evening of August 25, 2026, the “Thai SMILE Evening 2026” event was held at Thammasat University in Bangkok. The event brought together Thai teachers participating in the SMILE project to share updates on this year’s activities and to foster closer relationships. The event began with a video message from Professor Spakorn of Thammasat…
![[Contributed Article] Connecting the Classroom to the World](https://www.kotoba-kobo.jp/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/スクリーンショット-2026-08-22-10.02.11-768x491.png)
English Education Research Born from an Encounter with SMILE Project Kanako Tabuchi, Full-time Foreign Language Instructor, Kansai University When teaching English, I often find myself wishing there were more opportunities for students to actually use the language they have worked so hard to learn. I have previously taught English at public junior high and high…
The online information session on the SMILE project will be held on 18 September 2026, from 18:30 to 20:00. Feel free to join us if you are interested in this project. Contact us using the form on this website or by email. Please see the flyer. Note: The session will be provided in Japanese.
The online information session on the SMILE project will be held on 10 July 2026, from 18:30 to 20:00. Feel free to join us if you are interested in this project. Contact us using the form on this website or by email. Please see the flyer. Note: The session will be provided in Japanese.
The SMILE Project generally charges a participation fee of approximately 3,000 yen per person. We asked Gemini to assess whether this price is reasonable for the services provided. Below are Gemini’s analysis results. Based on the available materials, we will present an analysis of the SMILE Project’s pricing relative to typical online educational exchange services…
On 17th April 2026, Jun Iio, the director of WILL, gave a talk entitled “The SMILE Project and the Dialogbook: Building and Deploying a Web-Based Learning Support System” at China University of Geosciences (CUG). He explained the SMILE project concept and the use of Dialogbook. Furthermore, the Web apps developed in his laboratory and their…
From 15th to 18th March, Prof. Waka and Prof. Jun visited several institutes in Taiwan to discuss preparations for the next SPICE and I-WIT 2027. On the 16th morning, they visited Mingdao High School in Taichung, then, in the afternoon of the same day, they had a meeting with Prof. Stano Kong of Tunghai University….
On 18th February, Prof. Jun Iio provided his lecture on developing and operating the Dialogbook system at Chiang Mai University. He gave his talk to sophomore students studying software engineering at the university’s Courage of Art, Media, and Technology (CAMT). He gave an overview of the SMILE project, how the dialogbook supported it, and its…
On 21st March 2026, WILL will hold an online briefing session on the SMILE project for Japanese schools interested in participating in Academic Year 2026. If you would like to join the event, do not hesitate to fill in the form. WILL will send an invitation message to the registered user. The briefing session will…
