During shimbokukai sessions, after a warmup game with the entire group, we use Breakout Session in Zoom to stimulate conversation. During a breakout session, Sensei divides students into small groups, who can convene in a separate chat room to talk among themselves. As there are fewer people per group (3-4), we all get more opportunity to speak and can talk more freely and naturally. It might also be less intimidating for more reserved students than speaking in a large group.
These sessions are very helpful to practice natural conversation patterns, especially as every group contains a native speaker of Japanese. The students can ask this native speaker questions and have a real conversation while learning more about Japan. Sensei might choose a topic for each group to discuss to practice specific vocabulary, or we can talk freely. We can also change groups multiple times during each shimbokukai, so there is a lot of interesting conversation to be had. Sensei can control the various breakout rooms, send messages to each one, and switch up the groups. This way, we use all the advantages of Zoom to get the most out of each session. – Maya
ブレイクアウト・ルームは、大人数のグループを、少人数グループに分け、それぞれの少人数グループに各一部屋を割り当てる機能です。親睦会では、最初にレベルが異なる学習者が一同に集まり、その後、レベルごとに、日本人の（担当）アシスタントと一緒に少人数で会話が楽しめます。各部屋のメンバーの入れ替えは、何回でもできますので、単位時間（例えば２０分）ごとに、他のアシスタントの方との会話が可能です。ブレイクアウト・ルーム・セッションの後は、最初の大人数グループに戻り、親睦会お開きとして終了できます。