US High School Students Come to TCU to Learn Chinese and Serve the Local Community

Text/photo: Chia-Yi Lee

On June 6, ten students from La Lumiere High School in the United States came to Yi-Chang Junior High School to teach English. The Dragon Boat Festival was coming, thus Yi-Chang students taught their US friends to say “Dragon Boat Race,” “Rice dumplings,” and other words in Chinese, and wished the American students would enjoy their ever first Dragon Boat Festival in Taiwan. In turn, the La Lumiere students played songs, and then asked the Taiwanese students to find the right order of the lyrics. The American students also employed interesting ways for carrying out Chinese and English conversations. The students of both schools enjoyed the session, and they learned many useful expressions.

美國拉盧米埃爾高中(La Lumiere)十位學生6月6日到花蓮宜昌國中教英文，宜昌國中學生也精心設計了許多活動，包括教美國高中生認識端午節相關中文字彙”龍舟” “粽子”等等，讓他們在接下來的端午節可以馬上入境隨俗，拉盧米埃爾高中也準備了英語歌曲教唱句子重組的遊戲，以遊戲和交朋友的方式進行英文和中文的對談和練習，兩校學生都玩得很開心，也多學了好多日常用語的中英文。

Last year La Lumiere students came to TCU to learn Chinese. This year two La Lumiere teachers, Chriss Ciambarella and Chad Perney, came to Taiwan with 10 students. They stayed here from June 2 through June 21, to learn Chinese and serve the local community. Chriss mentioned that La Lumiere is a Catholic school, yet the school asks its students to be acquainted and respect other religious faiths, and invites students to serve their communities and assist the needy around the world. Tzu Chi schools do quite similarly. Last year, meeting with Yi-Chang students was quite unforgettable, and serving at Tzu Chi’s recycling station was the first time for the American students, and they were pretty impressed.

美國拉盧米埃爾高中自去年到慈大學習中文後，今年由Chriss Ciambarella和Chad Perney老師帶領十位同學再次來訪，6/2至6/21在花蓮慈大學習華語和體驗志工活動。拉盧米埃爾高中是天主教學校，Chriss老師表示，拉盧米埃爾高中雖然是一所天主教學校，但很鼓勵學生接觸不同的信仰並學習尊重，拉盧米埃爾高中教育學生在課餘時間要投入社區服務、國際志工，跟慈濟的教育宗旨很類似。去年同學來台灣印象最深刻的就是志工活動，尤其是與宜昌國中的交流，同學非常喜歡，還有就是到回收站學習資源回收，都是第一次經驗。

The Center for Language Studies arranged Chinese classes in the mornings, and let students serve communities in the afternoons. While increasing their Chinese comprehension, the American students also enriched their lives by serving as English volunteers, working at the recycling station, and experiencing flower arrangement firsthand.

慈大語言教學中心每天安排早上華語課程，下午志工活動，讓同學們邊學邊做，豐富華語體驗，包括有英文志工、環保站體驗、插花等活動。

This morning seventh, eighth and ninth graders at Yi-Chang Junior High were very excited about the coming of the La Lumiere students. Days before, they came up with various programs for the American students, and wished to know what the La Lumiere students looked like beforehand. When the La Lumiere students arrived, the Yi-Chang students greeted them with “Hi” and “Welcome,” and the La Lumiere students gave 15 minutes of self-introductions. The American students endured the high temperatures in Taiwan, yet they also felt the warmth of the Taiwanese. The Taiwanese perceived room for improving their English, and the Americans felt their Chinese had a long way to go. Both made firmed commitments to enhance their English or Chinese, respectively.

今天拉盧米埃爾高中到宜昌國中交流，宜昌國中參加的7、8、9年級同學都非常興奮，早在幾天前就開始設計活動，還希望能夠提早知道他們長甚麼樣子。拉盧米埃爾高中學生一進到交流中心，馬上受到台灣學生熱烈歡迎，｢HI！｣｢WELCOME！｣首先進行十五分鐘的自我介紹，年輕學子在一起,大家從各自學校聊到天氣，拉盧米埃爾高中覺得台灣很熱，但是人很熱情。一方說我中文不好，另一方說我英文不好，兩方也呼相約定把彼此語言都學好。

Yi-Chang principal Yu-Ming Chen said that it was very good for students of different nationalities to interact with each other, and learn about different customs and cultures. June 9 would be the Dragon Boat Festival, and it was a good opportunity for the Taiwanese students to present this festival to the Americans in English.

宜昌國中校長陳玉明表示，不同國籍的青少年之間能夠透過彼此交流，了解不同國家的民俗風情，是非常好的，正好過幾天就是端午節，台灣學生也可以趁機練習如何用英文介紹端午節。

Word cards and oral expressions were employed by the Yi-Chang students to teach the Americans to say “Dragon Boat Race” and “rice dumpling” in Chinese. These Americans were not familiar with Chinese tones, yet they tried very hard to pronounce them right. As for the Taiwanese students, in order to describe animals like giraffe, penguin, or lion in English, they used all the English words they knew.

活動進行由同學以字卡和口頭介紹的方式介紹端午節，包括｢rice dumpling粽子｣｢dragon boat race划龍舟｣但是外國人對於二聲的發音很不會，只看到台灣學生比手劃腳，讓他們學習如何發出上揚音。同時為了訓練學生的英文口語能力，也設計由台灣同學用英文形容一種動物，讓大家猜，台灣學生為了得分，絞盡腦汁想出自己所有能用的英文字，來形容長頸鹿，企鵝，獅子等。

Most of the Taiwanese students were afraid to speak English. Yet, one Yi-Chang student Zhao-Yi Li, met with the La Lumiere students last year, and he was very happy to talk to the foreign visitors in English. Last year he was able to get across his ideas in English to the Americans, and thus he felt confident about his English. Since meeting the La Lumiere students, he felt motivated to learn more English.

台灣學生多數害怕說英文，宜昌國中李昭儀去年就有參加活動，他表示，很難得有機會可以和外國人用英文聊天，對方聽的懂自己的英文就覺得很有信心，去年活動結束後，也增加了學英文的動機。

The La Lumiere students used English songs to improve the Yi-Chang students’ listening comprehension. After playing a song, they asked the Taiwanese students to find the right order of the lyrics. They also shared grammar and taught English words, that truly caught the attention of the Taiwanese students.

拉盧米埃爾高中也以英文歌曲，訓練同學的聽力，聽英文歌，找出所有句子的先後順序，並講解歌曲的文法和字彙，讓學習英文變得非常有趣。