News in Focus

Tunghai University has joined hands with National Sun Yat-sen University to nurture international volunteers and embark on a service-learning mission in Japan. During their visit, they promoted Taiwan's unique culture and folk traditions through events at local universities, high schools, and community lectures, adding a new dimension to the students' service-learning experiences.

Tunghai University collaborates with National Sun Yat-sen University to nurture international volunteers and undertake a service-learning mission in Japan, promoting Taiwan’s unique culture and traditions locally.

The Japanese Language and Culture Department of Tunghai University, in collaboration with the Si Wan College of National Sun Yat-sen University, designed an international volunteer service-learning course. The program included a 12-day service-learning trip to Nayoro City in Japan. According to Tunghai University, for six months leading up to the trip, the university hosted weekly online meetings. These meetings connected students with Professor Wu Yi-Shin’s "Japanese International Volunteer Service-Learning" course at Sun Yat-sen University, introducing them to the basics of service-learning and the specific service environment in Nayoro, Hokkaido. Additionally, they connected online with students from Nayoro City University in Japan to collaboratively plan local activities.

Professor Chang Yu-San, the Director of the Japanese Language and Culture Department at Tunghai University, mentioned that Tunghai and Sun Yat-sen formed mixed-school groups to create Japanese and English presentations on topics like "Taiwanese Breakfast Culture," "Taiwanese Temple Culture," and "Taiwanese Night Market Culture." During the service-learning trip, they engaged in cultural exchange activities with high school students in Nayoro City and surrounding towns. The students also organized traditional Taiwanese games like bamboo gun and poke-a-luck for children at a local welfare center’s toy park. Tunghai and Sun Yat-sen prepared lectures for the community on topics such as writing and pasting Spring Festival couplets and a one-day Taichung city tour during the lunar New Year.

Tunghai and Sun Yat-sen formed mixed-school groups to create Japanese and English presentations on Taiwanese breakfast, temple, and night market culture, engaging in cultural exchange activities with high school students in Nayoro City and surrounding towns during their service-learning trip.

Chang Yu-San also pointed out that, with the strong support of the Exchange Promotion Section of the Nayoro City Hall, the 12-day service-learning trip included interactions with Nayoro City University, three high schools, general residents at community lectures, and children at the toy park. The program also featured exchanges with young farmers in Nayoro, stargazing at a local observatory, exploring the northern landscape's natural and cultural heritage at the Northern Museum, learning curling from the Hsinchu County Curling Association during their training in Japan, and participating in unique winter activities like snow hiking, skiing, and snowmobiling with the support of the Nayoro Japan-Taiwan Friendship Association and the Tourist Association. This provided the students with a rare and enriching service-learning experience.

The participating students noted that service-learning was different from what they had imagined, requiring more intellectual effort than physical labor. Through the process, they realized that they didn’t need to make drastic changes to the community; simply bringing vitality and curiosity as outsiders fostered dialogue and injected new energy into the area. The Japanese Language and Culture Department of Tunghai University stated that besides cultivating competencies, the students also played the role of translators, connecting Sun Yat-sen students with local residents. They also assisted the Nayoro City Tourist Association by translating their guidebooks into Chinese. The department hopes to further enhance the students' Japanese language skills and help them develop interdisciplinary professional abilities in the future.