On January 13 and February 10, my capstone project had successfully held two orientations (which lasted for 3 hours in total) for students and chaperones leaving for Taiwan. We had covered topics such as greetings, food, online communication, transportation, currency, appearance, toilets, classroom culture…etc. The students had all benefited from the information I introduced to them, and they had unforgettable 3 weeks in Taiwan despite the change of flight before they departed. They were assigned a “passport”- like a journal, to document during their trip. Even though they didn’t get to complete the passports due to the oblivion of their chaperones to give them the link. On April 7, when we gathered the students again to discuss and share their passports and experiences in Taiwan, the feedback was overflowing (which lasted for 1.5 hours). The students shared what they’ve seen, heard, felt, tried and thought about Taiwan, ranging from food, host school, host family, people, scenery to the activities they’ve attended to. They had such a great time that some of them even decided to come back to Taiwan this summer or talked about studying in Taiwan in the future!
Overall, they rated my orientations were effective and the information I gave them was true to what they’ve experienced. And if there’s another chance for them to visit Taiwan again, they’d like me to cover language topics such as ordering food, and the fact that most grandparents there speak Taiwanese rather than Mandarin. The bond between DCI and WenHua High (sister school) continues, and soon in late February in 2024, there will be another group of students visiting Taiwan again. My capstone project will then serve as wonderful resource for DCI chaperons and administrators to navigate student trip to Taiwan!
