Students usually need to spend a lot of money for studying abroad to experience the all-English language environment. Office of International Exchanges and International Education in cooperation with Excellent Teaching Projects, held a seven-day “English Camp on International Culture Issues” during the winter vacation. The all-English environment and the substantial programs made 162 participant students lead a fruitful winter vacation.

Throughout the camp, the courses, group discussing, concluding report, achievement competition, speech contest, and even the daily interaction were proceeded in English. The activities not only help to improves students’ English listening and speaking abilities but also provide access to global issues to broaden the students’ world view and strengthen their thinking ability.

The camp organizers invite many experts to explain and share their ideas on different themes, and help students to broaden their horizon through active discussions. Lin Fan-ju, sophomore of Dept. of Mass Communication, indicates, “I am impressed by the speech of Dr. Li Ta-chung about the UN issues. We are located in a globalizing world, and Dr. Li’s introduction leads us to think about the variable directions in this world.” Chen wen-hui, sophomore of Dept. of Economics, remarks, “ Dr. Chang Shuan-ying elucidates the global warming issues. After the group discussion, everyone starts to consider how to do our best to cherish the earth.”

In the achievement competition, every group figures out interesting ideas to perform, including a mimic show on politicians and Dr. Chen Hwei-Mei, Office of International Exchanges and International Education, a retelling of the story of Noah’s Ark with animal conversation on the horror and the significance of global warming. The leading role Noah, played by Bamboado Cebastien Tankoano, an exchanging students from Burkina Farso, African, and freshman of Dept. International Trade, draw the wide attentions. His group partner, Liang I-Chuang, senior of Dept. of Mechanical and Electro-Mechanical Engineering, praised that, “he plays the role of Noah vividly with his exotic atmosphere and special accent, which gain wide acclamations.” The creative performance earns joyful amusement and brings the activity to the high point.

Figure: Bamboado Cebastien Tankoano, an exchanging student from Africa (left first) gains acclamations in the achievement competition of English Camp on International Culture Issues. ( ~Shelley Tang )