English Camp: International Education Exchange of Yunlin and Ibaraki

Lesson Plan
Taiwanese students and their Japanese counterparts had fun getting to know each other and learning about the beauty of Yunlin County

By request of TKJH in Yunlin County, I provided an English class aiming at not only creating an authentic environment to use the language but also introducing the beauty of my hometown, Yunlin County.  With three tasks regarding self-introduction, most students were actively engaged and willing to give it a try. On top of that, students got to experience the world-renowned Taiwanese puppet show culture with an English dubbing activity. Overall, I think I delivered a successful camp-like course this afternoon.

The ice-breaking activities worked well and elicited much laughter. It clearly helped lead in to the main task, getting to know more about each other. Of course, all the activity instructions, guidance, and feedback were conducted only in English. By rotating group members, students can pick up the skills effectively through repetition.

The second half of the class included some Japanese legacy left during the colonial period. The main idea is to create a bond between the younger generations of both countries. Following that, their Yunlin experience would not be complete with a taste of the Taiwanese puppet show. With the Japanese dubbed footage of Thunderbolt Fantasy, students worked collaboratively rehearsing their lines and then recorded the English dubbing.

Of course, we can't expect that much because they only practiced in such a short period of time. Just like the readers' theater, the purpose of this activity is to use their voice to bring the characters alive. It would take a lot of intensive practice to pull this off. Though their performance has lot's of room for improvement, I still enjoyed watching them work hard during rehearsal.

I learned a lot with the dubbing activity, too. I downloaded the footage, translated it to English, removed the vocals with Audacity, assigned each of the students some lines, had them practice in Expert Groups. Due to time constraints, they rehearsed for less than 10 minutes. I believe they absolutely have the potential to do a much better job with sufficient practice.