Dyu newsletter 12

The Newsletter, Da-Yeh University, Volume 1, Issue 12 Page 1

THE NEWSLETTER Teaching English in Nepal

Monday, 13 January, 2014

Outside their classroom.

Inside their classroom.

Praynka - wearing a colourful white t-shirt painted by her students - in a classroom with some of her students in the photo on the left.

The decorated Back wall of another classroom.

Praynka 林家瑋, a first year student of Cultural Creative Industries at DYU, tells us about her working holiday as a volunteer English teacher in Nepal.

I had a very special experience during my last holiday. I went to Nepal to be a volunteer. Amongst the many things that I gained from this experience was my Nepalese name Praynka.

Walking up a mountain near the school.

Almost ten days of the two weeks that I spent in Nepal was at an elementary school which was on a mountain top in Pokhara.

Before I went to Nepal, my English was not really all that good, but I nevertheless tried my best during this teaching experience, and I could detect that my English improved a lot through teaching it to children in Nepal.

However, my learning was not limited to improving my English since I also learnt a lot about life in Nepal. The Nepalese people, both adults and children, were very kind and generous to us. They even shared their food with us.

I’m glad that I had this experience, I will never forget this trip! Now, I more fully appreciate what is truly important in life. ________________

On another trip up the mountain.

The Newsletter, Da-Yeh University, Volume 1, Issue 12 Page 2

Taipei Eric 許詠翔, a first year student of Cultural and Creative Industries, shares with us one of his Taipei trip photos.

I recently invited a group of DYU international students from Malaysia to my family home in Taipei. They really enjoyed exploring Taipei’s day and night life with me. ________________

Eric with his mum and dad entertain a group of DYU international students from Malaysia outside their family home in Taipei.

JACK 劉冠聖, a first year DYU student of Molecular Biotechnology, tells us a few things about Miaoli.

Miaoli

This is a mountain in Miaoli. It is called Snow mountain 雪山.

You can see many animals and plants here.

Snow Mountain is one of Taiwan's five major mountains.

Precious landscapes like these should be preserved. The fish here are very precious. They have even been called living fossils.

I am from Miaoli County.

Miaoli is perhaps best known for its beautiful mountains.

Miaoli is coloured red in the map above.

Miaoli is my hometown. ________________

Terence 汪佑霖, a second year student of Architecture and Interior Design, tells us a few things about his home county.

Snow Mountain, Miaoli.

Miaoli strawberry patch in photo above.

These fish are “Living Fossils” and are found near Snow Mountain.

Winter is a great time to visit Miaoli. You can pick strawberries. Of course you can also eat fresh strawberries or even some of the many dishes made from strawberries such as strawberry puffs. There are also many other local foods to try such as Miaoli’s meatballs. ________________

The Newsletter, Da-Yeh University, Volume 1, Issue 12 Page 3

Basketball Brian 陳彥儒, a first year student of English at DYU, introduces us to the English Department’s Basketball team.

I like to play basketball.

It’s my favourite sport.

The first year English major students’ class monitor asked us if any boys wanted to join the DYU English Department’s basketball team.

About 8 first year students joined the team including me. We play basketball together once or twice a week. ________________

Some of the first year English Department Basketball team playing in green tops that they borrowed from third year students.

Special education in Changhua Vivian 陳怡璇, a second year student from DYU’s Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, tells us about her experience teaching students at a special education centre in Changhua.

Our class visited a special education centre in Changhua (聖母聖心啟智中心).

This school educates students with special educational needs. The youngest students were in kindergarten. They were so cute. We liked them very much.

Soon after we arrived it was club time. A group of DYU students helped run the club. For instance, we helped them walk around the classroom. At first, we felt nervous. However, after a while, the special needs students started to communicate with us in one way or another. Most of them could not talk, so we could not easily understand what they wanted. Their teacher very patiently made a real effort and took the time to work out what they were trying to communicate. Their teacher helped us and taught us a lot. In the future, we hope to help the centre sell products in order to raise money to help their special education students. It was a really valuable experience for us all. ________________

The Newsletter, Da-Yeh University, Volume 1, Issue 12 Page 4

Malaysian food Fam Han Yeng 范涵穎, a second year student of Architecture and Interior Design, tells us about her favourite Malaysian food.

My friends always like to ask me whether I prefer Taiwanese or Malaysian food. Well, my answer is that I always prefer Malaysian food. Maybe you might think that this is just because I am Malaysian. While of course this could be one of the reasons why I prefer Malaysian food but I think it is more to do with the fact that Malaysia is a multiracial community so it has a wide variety of delicious foods.

Let me introduce you to one of my favourite foods, Char Kuey Teow. Penang Island is famous for it. My family once went for a two or three day trip to Penang. In the end, my mum and I both ate Char Kuey Teow almost every day for every meal because we had fallen in love with it!

Char Kuey Teow is made from flat noodles, stir-fried with soy sauce, bean sprouts and prawns. When you get a chance to go to Malaysia, you MUST try it. It isn’t expensive and can be found commonly in your nearest hawker centre.

One year has now passed since I last went home to Malaysia so I am now craving for it.

http://langcntr.dyu.edu.tw/ newsletter

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Call for newsletter contributions from students and staff Submissions should be original, include original photographs and be e-mailed to 馬丁老師 Martin Murray, editor (主編) of this newsletter and ILC English teacher :

DAYEH UNIVERSITY INTERNATIONAL LANGUAGE CENTRE Room J314 Foreign Languages Building, Dayeh University, 168 University Road, Dacun, Changhua, 51591, TAIWAN (R.O.C.) Phone: +886-4-8511888 Fax: +886-4-8511666

martin@mail.dyu.edu.tw Many thanks!