International Virtual Exchange with Akita, Japan

Enjoying Japanese snacks and introducing Taiwanese desserts, complete with the culture guessing and word chain creating game

The ICE club students and I had a fun virtual exchange session with the Japanese students from Senboku Shiritsu Jindai Junior High School. Thanks to the international education alliance led by HWSH, we got to meet those lively and energetic teenagers at a Zoom meeting. With the help of the Taiwanese coordinator, Miss Huang Min, the whole exchange session went well with the following interactive activities:

 

Self-introduction

Students from both sides took turns doing a simple self-introduction in English. They exchanged their hobbies, school life, and favorite K-Pop idols.

 

Word Chain Game

Students have to think of a word beginning with the final letter of the previous one and create a word chain, like cat-tea-apple-elephant, and so on.

 

Culture Guessing Game

Students present a question with pictures on a PowerPoint slide regarding cultural significance, such as "Which city is the capital city of Taiwan, Taipei or Taichung?" or "Where was the bubble milk tea invented, Taichung or Tainan?" Then, after giving it a thought, the other side shouts out the answer after a brief discussion. Sometimes, it would be a wild guess when nobody seems to have a clue, such as "What is this Japanese snack, Kiritampo,  made of?"

 

Getting it correct or not, we liked this game because it was engaging and interactive. On top of that, I was proud of the two boys who did a good job presenting and explaining in English.  

 

Snack Exchange

The long-awaited part of this exchange was tasting each other's snacks. We mailed a parcel of Taiwanese pineapple cakes, chocolate puff, pea crackers, and so on to Jindai, with the Japanese school doing the same. We then unboxed the package and sampled a variety of snacks from Japan to top off the exchange session.

 

Students from both sides rotated a simple introduction to the snacks with content including the name, looks, ingredients, flavor, texture, and how they liked it.

 

Due to COVID prevention measures in Japan, we postponed this exchange twice and finally made it happen today. These Japanese students were not only responsive to my students' self-introduction and presentations but waving Taiwan's national flag as soon as we kicked off the meeting. I felt so sorry not to do the same, so I asked a favor from an expert to put Japan's national flag in our group photo through postediting. 

 

The ICE club students and I enjoyed the exchange so much that we'd be looking forward to doing it again soon.