This poster presentation describes how young learners improve their intercultural communicative competence (ICC), gain motivation and responsibility in the global project in the small private school. The Japanese students (n=12) aged 12-15 engaged in the project from 2022 to 2024, inviting the students in Ukraine, Norway, and Sweden. This project aims for students to raise awareness of foreign cultures, increase interest in language learning, and develop their ICC, therefore, the two-year-long research was launched. The exchange of hand-writing letters, and questions on the Padlet are the tools for them to expand their curiosities toward the different cultures, popular movies, and fashions by comparing their lifestyles to their counterparts. The students' Foreign Language Anxiety Scales (FLAS) were analyzed to examine their feelings and an interview was conducted to learn about their specific interests in the project. As a result, most students increased their ICC and gained motivation and responsibilities in the project, showing positive comments and expanding their curiosities about foreign countries. The research results and students' works are shown on this poster and implicate why the students-students virtual exchange is important.
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Yoko Takano has been teaching English to local students (3-18 yrs old) in her own private school for 27 years. She is an adjunct lecturer in NUFS Meijo and Nanzan university and a program chair in Nagoya & Gifu JALT. Her research interests are SLA and Global Language.