National Taipei University of Business (Summer)
Participate in an exchange program
Faculty of Global Studies Akito Hatano
There were Chinese and English classes. There was also a traditional class using Chinese yo-yos and a class using paper clay. In the Chinese class, a Taiwanese person who could speak Japanese supported me. The Chinese class started with the basics. The teacher taught Chinese while using English, so it was very easy to understand. When I introduced myself at the beginning of the class, I said that I had been to Taiwan many times, but I was told that I should not use English and Japanese, and from then on I spoke with the teacher in Chinese. On days when we had consecutive Chinese classes, after the Chinese classes, we went shopping, made traditional Chinese things, and made Taiwanese food using the words and grammar we learned in class.
In English class, we learned about Taiwanese history, natural disasters, food and drink in English. In this class, we watched videos about Taiwanese history and made comments about them.
In the last Chinese class, we took a test covering what we had learned so far, and made a video in Chinese introducing various photos we had taken in Taiwan. In the last English class, we gave a 15-minute presentation in English about the things that impressed us and interested us about our visit to Taiwan.
On my day off, I went to Jiufen with my classmates. On the bus on the way there, I spoke to my Singaporean classmates in English. It was hard to communicate in English. I had been to Jiufen many times, so I walked around telling them about recommended places and places to take photos.
After class, we had free time every day. During free time, we could participate in events organized by our Taiwanese supporters, or we could go out on our own without participating. I participated in almost all of the events organized by my supporters. At the events organized by them, we were taken to Taipei 101, Xiangshan, and on the last day, a place called Yilan. We were able to climb to the top floor of Taipei 101, and the night view of Taipei was beautiful. Xiangshan is a mountain in Taipei. If you climb the mountain, you can get a panoramic view of Taipei. It was all stairs to climb the mountain. At night, the mountain is filled with tourists and local people. The view of Taipei at night was the most beautiful I have ever seen.
I gained a lot of experiences through this exchange program. During my last study abroad, I often spent time with Japanese people, but this time I spent more time alone and had more conversations in Chinese than during my last study abroad. I gained confidence when I was able to communicate in Chinese, and I now want to go to different places by myself and try out my Chinese. I was happy when my Chinese teacher and Taiwanese supporters told me that my Chinese was good. I would like to use the experiences I gained from this exchange program in my job search and when I next go to Taiwan or China.