An overseas teaching session was held by the College of Hakka Studies for the first time, and UniversitiTunku Abdul Rahman was invited to allow their students to deeply understand Hakka Culture
Reported by Hsiang Yun Lin, journalist
The College of Hakka Studies of National Chiao Tung University cooperated with UniversitiTunku Abdul Rahman of Malaysia for planning a course called “Introduction to Taiwanese Hakka Society and Culture.” WunBin Wong, Vice President of the Institute of Chinese Studies of UniversitiTunku Abdul Rahman, led seven students majoring in Chinese to conduct a short 5-day overseas teaching trip in National Chiao Tung University from October 7th to 11th, 2016, and the opening ceremony was held on October 7th. Wen Pin Hung said that it is a new milestone for this overseas teaching session, and I expect this activity to allow our students to have a better understanding of Taiwanese Hakka Culture.
(The photo source / photographed by Hsiang Yun Lin)
The host in the course, Lieh Shin Lo, Associate Professor of the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Graduate Program of Ethnicity and Culture of National Chiao Tung University, explained that the concept, “overseas teaching”, is attached great importance by many professional subjects. For anthropology, it gets great help for theoretical training through having a true understanding of different cultures. In 2014 and 2015, several students of the College of Hakka Studies had been to UniversitiTunku Abdul Rahman for conducting a short-term interview and cooperation of overseas teaching, which also allowed UniversitiTunku Abdul Rahman to plan a similar way to allow their students to go to Taiwan for conducting overseas teaching.
The host in the course, Lieh Shin Lo, Associate Professor of Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Graduate Program of Ethnicity and Culture of National Chiao Tung University, said that we can have a true understanding of different cultures through overseas teaching. (The photo source / photographed by Hsiang Yun Lin)
The College of Hakka Studies still designed the overseas teaching as a credit course though it is a short time. Lieh Shin Lo said that it needs to take a certain time to prepare and think for UniversitiTunku Abdul Rahman to send their students to Taiwan for an overseas course, and this time, we only arranged a short overseas course. Now, UniversitiTunku Abdul Rahman is also taking a way, which is similar to the overseas course, to allow their students to obtain recognized course credit. Lieh Shin Lo emphasized that we will regard overseas teaching as a long-term effort direction which will be recognized as a formal course by UniversitiTunku Abdul Rahman in the future.
WunBin Wong said that we are going to face many problems while doing Hakka Studies in Malaysia, including not only passing down the traditional field of the Chinese culture to develop the next generation of Chinese, but understanding our ancestors’ history after their immigration. Moreover, we also need to learn how different ethnic groups integrated together to initiate a new culture. He also said that our students majoring in Chinese still have not mastered what they have learned even if they have dabbled in all of the ethnic groups’ cultures. He hoped that the students in Malaysia are able to learn how the Hakka Culture transformed into a cultural industry and brings economy benefit, which can be a reference for Malaysia in the future. Additionally, WunBin Wong also said that this overseas teaching is a new milestone because in the past years, the teachers and students of National Chiao Tung University went to UniversitiTunku Abdul Rahman for overseas teaching. However, this time, the students of UniversitiTunku Abdul Rahman can come to Taiwan because of mutual efforts, and he was so happy about this.
WunBin Wong, vice president of the Institute of Chinese Studies of UniversitiTunku Abdul Rahman, expected that the students in Malaysia will have a better understanding of Taiwanese Hakka Culture through this overseas teaching. (The photo source / photographed by Hsiang Yun Lin)
Wei An Chang, President of the College of Hakka Studies of National Chiao Tung University, who also attended the opening ceremony, said that the exchange between UniversitiTunku Abdul Rahman and National Chiao Tung University is good, and Taiwan has been curious about the social culture in Southeast Asia. The Hakka society and system in Taiwan may be attractive to the students of UniversitiTunku Abdul Rahman. He expected that this overseas teaching session is just a beginning, and there will be more opportunities to exchange each other’s knowledge about Hakka Culture in the future. He also hoped that there will also be some knowledge-curriculums to allow the students to know which places are for fun in Taiwan. Moreover, they can also have a better understanding of Taiwanese culture through those knowledge-curriculums.
Chia Ying Yen, one of seven students majoring in Chinese in UniversitiTunku Abdul Rahman during this overseas teaching, said “I hope to learn more about Taiwanese Hakka Culture, and know how to develop creativity through this overseas course”. Additionally, she also said that “the course arrangements in Taiwan are more concentrated; however, I feel more scattered about the courses in Malaysia because of their complication while learning”.
In curriculum design regarding the “Introduction to Taiwanese Hakka Society and Culture”, in order to cooperate with the international visit of the students of UniversitiTunku Abdul Rahman, the topics will include the introductions of Taiwanese Hakka Culture, the overview of Taiwanese Hakka Media, current Hakka issues, and cooperate with the field investigation and the forum for sharing results which allow the students in Malaysia to have initial understanding about Taiwan and Hakka Culture to lay a foundation for future intensive study and learning.
