Management of L-café

Abstract

The L-café provides a social learning space where Japanese and international students can come together to learn foreign languages and about other cultures through social interaction. In this narrative, the current manager of the L-café discusses the challenges she faced in taking over from the previous manager and the changes she implemented. Based on several months of observation and questionnaire results, she felt she needed to change the direction of the facility in order to create a more open and inclusive environment. To attract more students to the L-café and facilitate their entry into the environment, she took steps to provide more structured learning activities and more clearly delineated job descriptions for the student workers emphasizing their role as service providers.