Exchange Your Views about Canadian Literature
The language center held a conference about Canadian literature on November 16th. Three Canadian writers came to Chi Nan University and shared their opinion about Canadian literature.
Rita Wong grew up in Calgary and currently lives in Vancouver, where she is a doctoral student. She has a B.A. with Honors in English from the University of Calgary, a M.A. in English from the University of Alberta, and a M.A.S. from the University of British Columbia. She has taught overseas and has worked as a writer, an archivist, and an activist in Canada. Her book of poems " Monkeypuzzle" was published by Press Gang in 1998.
Garry Gottfriedson was born, raised and lives in Kamloops, B.C. He is from the Secwepemc Nation. He is a self-employed rancher. He holds a Masters Degree in Education from Simon Fraser University. He is the author of "In Honor of Our Grandmothers: Imprints of Cultural Survival" (Thetas Books 1994); "100 Years of Contact" (Secwepemc Cultural Education Society 1990); and "Glass Tepee"nominated for the First People's Publishing Award, 2004 (Thistledown Press, 2002). He is just finishing up his first novel, and another book of poetry. His first children's book "The Painted Pony" was recently published and sold out in weeks.
Roy Miki is the author of two important books on the Japanese Canadian redress movement: "Justice in Our Time" (co-authored with Cassandra Kobayashi) (1991), and "Redress: Inside the Japanese Canadian Call for Justice" (Raincoast 2004). He has published three books of poems, "Saving Face" (1991), "Random Access File"(1995), and the 2001 Governor General's Award for Poetry, "Surrender". He has also published a collection of critical essays, "Broken Entries: Race, Subjectivity, and Writing" (1998). He's edited numerous books, including "Pacific Windows: Collected Poems of Roy K. Kiyooka" (1997), which won the 1997 Poetry Award from the Association of Asian American Studies, and, more recently, "Meanwhile: The Critical Writings of bpNichol" (2002).
The three Canadian writers told about the history and the unfair treatment they have been through and how this became the passion of their writing. "We write because we need to write, not have to", Miki said in the small banquet before the conference. Gary said that he has the mission to let the world know what his people have been suffered in the past. In the Q. and A. time, one of the students asked about the difference between the famous Canadian novel and their works? And which is more Canadian? The writers said their works are not mainstream like "Anne of Green Gables",and they can't define which is more Canadian themselves because Canadian literature is a literature containing all kind of factors. Created at the intersection of culture, ethnicity, and history; contemporary Canadian literature is vibrant, unique and cutting-edge. At the end of the conference, the language center prepared a birthday surprise for Gary Gottfriedson's fiftieth birthday. Gary wished he can come to Taiwan again and hopes their work can get more publicity.
Talking With Masters--Canadian Writers at NCNU
On November 17th, three burgeoning Canadian writers gave speeches to share their opinion about Canadian Literature in English Corner. The speeches started with the introduction of Canadian Literature by Rita Wong and Roy Miki.
In the beginning, they brought up the topic of race discrimination by the Canadian government in the early twentieth century. The word "Asian" surely has negative meaning to these Asian-Canadian immigrants at that time. The intensity of push out these Asians can also be seen in the historical cartoons of the Canadian newspapers."Yellow Peril", they called it. Then one of the writers, Garry Gottfriedson who is an Indian, shared the story of the brutal treatment his sister received from the hands of the Canadian government.
Each event showed how the Canadian government treated those they called "second-rate Canadian". But as time goes by, these marginal people decided to fight for their rights by writing and telling the story which was not be told before. Rita Wong quotes a sentence from a famous book and it says, "When sorry is not enough, then you have to do something". This expresses how she feels about unbearable history. Finally, the seminar ended by letting students ask questions.
Striving for Excellence in Education Program Conference
NCNU held a conference promoting university teaching and learning quality on November 18. In the beginning President Chang Jin-Fu made a speech to share his expectations about the conference. There were many professors and students from everywhere participating in the conference. Some teachers of NCNU shared their educational ideas as well.
Wu Jing-Ling, one of the professors in NCNU, said that there are many impersonal norms in education. The learning environment such as the classroom, facilities, even the learning culture can affect the way students learn. She also emphasized the importance of quality teaching, that a good teacher should always keeps students in his mind.
Chen Hei-Yo laid emphasis on combining technology with English learning. Cooperating with ICRT, Voice of America, and VOD, the students in NCNU can practice listening and speaking English. "English Corner" is established not only to provide a space to practice speaking English but also an opportunity to communicate with foreign teachers about learning different cultures. He introduces "Mountain Media"at last and shared the achievements with the audience.
Luo Chang-Long announced his paper for the first time, he talked about QFD(Quality Function Deployment), and he was a little bit nervous. He said that the quality and quantity of education becomes unbalanced because there are too many universities being built nowadays. He uses QFD to measure whether students' needs are fulfilled or not.
At the end of the conference, Dean Sui Yu-Long represented the president to thank every presenter for taking part in the conference and said that he hopes that our educational system will be better in the coming future.
Teaching Contribution Prizes Awarded
To raise the teaching quality, NCNU set up Teaching Contribution Prizes years ago to encourage the teachers to be devoted to teaching. The teachers who are full-time and have taught for two years can be proposed as a candidate for the prize.
This year, eight professors are awarded the prize for their enthusiasm in teaching, four in the Humanities College, two in the Management College, and two in the Science and Technology College. The award ceremony was held near by the Round Theater on Nov. 17th. As usual, President Cheng Jing-fu gave a brief speech to all of the teachers present, encouraging them to be devoted to their academic research and teaching.
The master of ceremonies offered delicious dishes after the speech. Meanwhile, a Guitar Club student played songs to create the right ambience for the ceremony. Ten minutes later, the President awarded the prize to the eight and took pictures with them. The ceremony was ended by the great performance of the Hip Dance Club and the Social Dance Club.
NCNU Has a Tea Reception with IBM and Media
In an attempt to reduce the digital learning gap, IBM has provided many digital resources to disadvantaged children to help them learn more about information science and technology. IBM has been carrying out the project —Little Explorer - continuously for five years in Taiwan. The project is about providing computers and software to let children from rural areas learn "the digital way". Thousands of children are currently benefiting from the project .
NCNU recently cooperated with IBM to hold an activity: "Little Explorer Camp, Museum in the Mountains". Combining academia and enterprise, the hope was to reduce the gap between cities and the countryside by promoting the IT education of the more remote regions. About 40 children attended the camp. They learned computer skills through playing games online and had a joyful weekend at NCNU.
According to IBM's management, "Education is one -hundred year project. IBM deeply believes in education's importance and influence on our social development." In addition to expanding IBM's enterprise principle—'putting people in the center'- they also institute many educational activities over a long period of time. IBM started the project of in 1994, and they hope to combine IT, local talent and their worldwide resources to inspire innovation in education.
The Fourth Forum for Innovation at NCNU
The Fourth Forum for Innovation was held at NCNU on November 24 and 25. At the first, the Vice-Comissioner of the National Science Council 廖俊臣 made a brief report of the major affairs of the National Science Council. The report can be divided into three parts: to adjust the special research project subsidization policies, to loosen the standards of the special research projects, and to remind the adminstrative institutes involved to cooperate.
Then, Dr. 張峰源 in the Technology Department of the Ministry of Economic Affairs reported the opinion and reaction of four professors including 李家同's propositional topic: "Developing Common Basic Techniques to Promote the Level of Our Country's Industries." The Vice-Director of the Technology Department of the Council of Agriculture 陳君如 explained that agriculture technology cooperation plans that are promoted by the Council of Agriculture. He introduced the background, the cooperation regulations, the current situation and future expectations and actions.
Then, the Counselor of the Education Department 陳南鳴 made a short report of the reward programs for the innovation of universities and colleges. 李世光, one of the directors of the National Science Council, delivered a speech on two-way reaction and two-way investiment. This is about the innovation and cooperation of industry and academy within humanistic technology. The president of NCCU 羅仁權 reported the mission, development difficulties and expectation of the Incubation Center.
The next day the co-host of NTUIIC 范光照 introduced the concepts and new modes of innovation and incubation and shared the experiences. The executive of NTUST 唐永新's report included the process of cooperation, the tactic tools, the operating system and the time, principles, spirit, goals and perspectives, frames and contents of the index.
Prof. 佘日新 reported the management of developed achievements and topics about how to operate them. There were four panel sessions which discussed the topics. These included intermediate-range school business development projects, international cooperation, humanistic and social area's innovation, and different research projects. A comprehensive session was held at the end, and then the two-day forum was victoriously ended.
Review of Elite
NCNU offers a plan for students to study abroad and experience the learning environments in different nations. Supported by the Teaching Excellence Project this year, the selected elite students went to eight universities in various countries: University of Penn State, University of Brighton, University of London, University of Nancy II(France), School of Juridicial Person Osaka Sangyo University, Huachiew Chalermprakiet University (Thailand), University of Social sciences and Humanities(Vietnam), and New Era College(Malaysia).
The Elite Hundred team held a conference for the exchange students on August 26th, and a welfare party on September 19th. The students received the blessings of university President Chang before they left.
The exchange students are having many interesting and exciting experiences overseas. One of the students mentioned : "I've realized profoundly the diversity of teaching methods in England. Professors' lectures are not too hard to assimilate, and the classes last one hour, precisely. Lecturers give us handouts and a reading list at the beginning of the semester. The reading list is long, sometimes longer than one A4 paper, covering the textbooks thoroughly, related web pages and documents, and other books and texts. British education emphasizes spontaneity, so professors don't examine us through quizzes. Instead, students have assignments to do. In England, it is the students' responsibility to study by themselves, so teachers won't inspect their preparation for lessons. Furthermore, the interaction between professors and students is fast; when professors throw out a question, British students respond right away. The speed of questioning and answering shocks me a lot. My first impressions of students here are that they are confident, swift thinking, and good at expressing themselves. "
Another exchange student wrote down his experience in France: "People go to school by taking the tram, by bus, or by walking. Two weeks ago, there was a tram strike, so people had to get up earlier than usual and go to school by changing buses once or twice. But trams are more convenient, so I hope there won't be another tram strike. In classes, teachers use slide shows in English. Although they have French accents, we can still understand somehow. For us, it's a great chance to improve our English. Besides, lecturers ask us to do some exercises and presentations in English at the blackboard. We have classes in Computing/Internet, Database, and Research. The teaching process is systematical, introducing the fundamental structures and theories first. Professors also ask us to search documents by ourselves. It's very interesting to learn about the Internet in this way.
In our free time, we study and look for data in other libraries, which are scattered over Nancy. Unlike Taiwan, there are many libraries in France. There are eight libraries in Nancy, and you can find them easily. It's very convenienct to get information in them, and the average knowledge level of local residents is high."
Exchange students have many thoughts on, and experiences about, different races, peoples, and cultures. One of the students in England said: "On first arriving in Brighton, we saw that many things are different from Taiwan. There are more trees and grass over here, and better roads, which are more narrow but less crowded than Taiwan. Almost all residents take the bus or drive cars, so it's rare to see motorcycles or scooters. It's comfortable to have clean and neat streets.
We visited Cambridge University, and saw some impressively majestic buildings. There are some charitable shops selling second-hand clothes in England. People donate clothes, and then the shops gather them, sort them, sell them and contribute to organizations to help people in need. That gets great feedback among students.
There are also buskers, often standing in a motionless state or performing on the corners of streets. In France, street-performing is popular and easy to find. Some bands recompose songs with a great variety of musical instruments. Those performances attract locals and foreigners like us to stop and listen. Actually, there are many scenes that would never be seen in Taiwan.
There are also broad sidewalks and bicycle paths on streets and lanes, and sometimes I skate on them to school or to go shopping. One interesting experience is being asked direction by the locals. The only response we can give is "I can't speak French." I think they are interested in us very much, enjoying chatting with us, even in gestures. French are enthusiastic, which I realized after a tram ride; an old madam started teaching me immediately after finding out that I can't speak French, when we were waiting for the tram. That incident encouraged me to learn French, and made me like the place and people here more."
The cost of living is double that of Taiwan and there are difficulties in language, customs, and food, but we will keep trying to adapt to living and studying here."
Jumping Percussion Group Shakes Your Mind
A group of students averaging 20 years old and representing youth used their mallets to drum out a dream for the world. Jumping Percussion Group is the first junior group nurtured by the Ju Percussion Group. They have been promoting percussion music for over ten years, and they're a cradle to cultivate percussion talent. They played a lot of wonderful and powerful music in the corcert including "Voyage", "No.1 Waltz", "Jumping Score Stand", "Orbit", "Volume Pig". "Wave", "Mr. Bonham", "Prinalinda", and two encores, "Brazil Streetdance" and "Cumbia Dancer." Combining xylophones, kettledrums, cymbals, L-irons, woodblocks, bass drums, tambourines, jazz drums and so on, they lead every audience into the fascinating percussion music world. The audience will be surprised and touched by those young musicians' passion and energy!
NCNU Halloween Party
In order to celebrate Halloween, English Corner held a costume party last Friday night to let people from downtown Puli and students in NCNU to experience the ghastly atmosphere of this festival.
The party started with a kids costume show. They were disguised as different characters and animals to attend this activity. Some looked like bees and some ladybugs. The boy who dressed up as Ultrapostman won the best costume award.
After the kids show, the adults took over the party. Two girls from FLLD dressed up as characters from the Adam's Family. One of them looked like the vampire mother and the other one pretended to be the daughter, Wednesday. There were also some people dressed up like witches and wizards, and one of the students even brought her own broom. The hostess first introduced the origin of Halloween and then led everyone to "Trick or treat". Then each of them had to pass a sword following along with DJ's music and when the music stopped the person who had the sword was punished by choosing tell a "Truth" or perfrom a "Dare". A student from the Department of Economics was punished by having to give a kiss to another guy in the game that he didn't know.
The party ended at 10 p. m. with the participants choosing the Party Queen and King. 
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