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To facilitate the interaction between local and international students in NTNU, the Office of International Affairs, Foreign Language Division of Common Core Education Committee, and Mandarin Training Center (MTC) have coordinated two major activities for “Let’s Flip! Global Village Eng the Class”. (For the report about the first activity on March 27, 2020, please go to the following link: http://pr.ntnu.edu.tw/news/index.php?mode=data&id=19174)
From April 27 to May 15 came the second activity, “Classroom Activity”. Around 370 local and international students in NTNU, including 17 international degree students and 32 students from MTC, participated in 12 classroom activities. Many of them signed up for more than one class.
Due to the outbreak of COVID-19, most of the classes were conducted online. Despite this, a lot of students said they enjoyed the exchange. It was the first time for many students to interact with international friends online. Some students said that it felt like video chatting with their friends, which made them realize how fun it could be to exchange experiences with others. Another perk that comes with online teaching/learning is that it makes possible more persified interactions. In one case, in sharing popular songs in Taiwan, Morris, from the department of Geography, and his roommates did an impromptu performance singing ‘Babe’ and accompanying themselves on a guitar.
For international students, the exchange was enjoyable, too. They learned more about Taiwan from the discussions and were impressed with how attentive and engaged the NTNU students were in the sharing. Besides, they enjoyed listening to the sharing from other international students as well.
International students' passionate and well-prepared sharing also inspired NTNU students. Some of them reported they were especially touched by the international students’ strong sense of identity and belonging to their own culture. Another key takeaway, according to some NTNU students, was the courage to step out of one’s comfort zone― it could be very worthwhile to go with one’s heart.
Last but not least, the instructors were happy to see the activities spicing up the classes in the midst of Covid-19 pandemic. Not only did it boost NTNU students’ confidence in speaking English, but it also provided a platform for them to interact with outstanding students from around the world. Both the instructors and the students said they looked forward to having other chances like this in the future.(Source: Office of International Affairs)