A French language learning youth camp co-held by the Association des Professeurs de Francais de Taiwan and Tamkang University took place from August 23rd to 28th, and joined by international students who majored in French from different nations in Asia.

These students are from Seoul National University, Korea, the University of Tokyo, Japan, Hanoi University, Vietnam, and three local universities, including Tamkang, Fu Jen, and National Central University. After five days of intensive theater and body-language courses, the camp staged a play in the French Training Center of National Taiwan Normal University on August 28th to serve as a demonstration for fruitful results of the five-day camp.

“The youth camp enables local students and their Asian counterparts to interact and communicate with each other in a French-speaking environment,” said Dr. Lee Pei-wha, former Chair of Department of French, TKU, “and this event can also serve as a great opportunity for cultural exchanges.”

To promote cross-nation exchanges in the French language and to better enhance participating students’ world view, the organizer of the youth camp had arranged unique courses, such as Tai Chi and body-language practice, and the French pronunciation practice in the style of theater art. The Tai Chi and body-language practice was meant to train students to use their body language to express themselves through the practice of Tai Chi or acting. The group also visited some famous historical sites in Taiwan such as the National Palace Museum and Lungshan Temple to have a closer contact with Taiwanese culture.

“One of the most difficult parts of learning French is that we don’t know how to express ourselves,” said Tseng Chun-jung, a sophomore of French department, TKU, “ but I had learned a lot after having interactions with foreign students in the activities of the youth camp.” Another senior student of French department, Chi Ting-wei said with the body language practices in the camp, she has learned to express herself. She also benefited from the camp with the improvement of her French language skill while at the same time meeting some new foreign friends. ( ~Yeh Yun-kai )