Recalling his time as an exchange student in Taiwan, Singapore’s deputy representative to Taiwan Wang Zonghan (王宗翰) said that Taiwanese people are what impressed him most about the experience.
Wang in a recent media interview spoke highly of the family that hosted him when he participated in the Taiwan-Singapore high-school exchange program in 1994.
The program, launched in 1983, is now in its 40th year. This year, the program saw Taiwanese students going to Singapore in July, and Singaporean students coming to Taipei in November.
Photo: CNA
For Singaporean students, participating in the program is about getting the full Taiwan experience, Wang said.
One of the things Wang felt everyone in the program should do is to take the bus to classes to experience commuting as a student, he said.
“Once I fell asleep on the bus and missed my stop, so I decided to go for chicken cutlets before getting the bus back home,” he said.
Initially, the program was envisioned as a way for Singaporean students to study Mandarin in an effective learning environment.
The experience allowed students to experience the language in an appropriate cultural environment, rather than just studying it in a classroom in Singapore, he said.
“It really is an effective approach, some students made miraculous progress in learning Chinese,” he said.
In addition to learning Mandarin, the program also includes extracurricular activities such as calligraphy classes, cooking and other cultural content, he said.
Every year, five high-schools in Taipei are chosen to hold exchanges with five junior colleges in Singapore. The Singaporean schools include Victoria Junior College, Raffles Institution, Hwa Chong Junior College, Temasek Junior College and National Junior College.
“The homestay was an opportunity for me to truly immerse myself in Taiwanese society,” he said.
“While friends of mine stayed in the middle of Taipei, I was in the suburbs, but I felt that gave me a greater emotional connection with my surroundings.”
Wang’s homestay was located in New Taipei City’s Sanchong District (三重) — formerly, Sanchong City in Taipei County, he said. When the homestay family suddenly had to leave the city and visit southern Taiwan to attend a funeral, they first made arrangements for him and ensured he was taken care of in their absence, he said, adding that he remains in touch with the family today.
“Singapore and Taiwan have many exchanges in the fields of economy, trade and culture, but student exchanges are the best way to deepen bilateral relations in the long term,” he said.
“As a diplomat, I will promote such exchanges for future generations of students.”
Foreign tourists who purchase a seven-day Taiwan Pass are to get a second one free of charge as part of a government bid to boost tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. A pair of Taiwan Passes is priced at NT$5,000 (US$156.44), an agency staff member said, adding that the passes can be used separately. The pass can be used in many of Taiwan’s major cities and to travel to several tourist resorts. It expires seven days after it is first used. The pass is a three-in-one package covering the high-speed rail system, mass rapid transport (MRT) services and the Taiwan Tourist Shuttle services,
Drinking a lot of water or milk would not help a person who has ingested terbufos, a toxic chemical that has been identified as the likely cause of three deaths, a health expert said yesterday. An 83-year-old woman surnamed Tseng (曾) and two others died this week after eating millet dumplings with snails that Tseng had made. Tseng died on Tuesday and others ate the leftovers when they went to her home to mourn her death that evening. Twelve people became ill after eating the dumplings following Tseng’s death. Their symptoms included vomiting and convulsions. Six were hospitalized, with two of them
DIVA-READY: The city’s deadline for the repairs is one day before pop star Jody Chiang is to perform at the Taipei Dome for the city’s Double Ten National Day celebrations The Taipei City Government has asked Farglory Group (遠雄集團) to repair serious water leaks in the Taipei Dome before Friday next week, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said yesterday, following complaints that many areas at the stadium were leaking during two baseball games over the weekend. The dome on Saturday and Sunday hosted two games in tribute to CTBC Brothers’ star Chou Szu-chi (周思齊) ahead of his retirement from the CPBL. The games each attracted about 40,000 people, filling the stadium to capacity. However, amid heavy rain, many people reported water leaking on some seats, at the entrance and exit areas, and the
BIG collection: The herbarium holds more than 560,000 specimens, from the Japanese colonial period to the present, including the Wulai azalea, which is now extinct in the wild The largest collection of plant specimens in Taiwan, the Taipei Botanical Garden’s herbarium, is celebrating its 100th anniversary with an exhibition that opened on Friday. The herbarium provides critical historical documents for botanists and is the first of its kind in Taiwan, Taiwan Forestry Research Institute director Tseng Yen-hsueh (曾彥學) said. It is housed in a two-story red brick building, which opened during 1924. At the time, it stored 30,000 plant specimens from almost 6,000 species, including Taiwanese plant samples collected by Tomitaro Makino, the “father of Japanese botany,” Tseng said. The herbarium collection has grown in the century since its