High school debuts new program to welcome new immigrants

By The China Post, Taiwan/ Taiwan Immigrants' Global News Network

【Taiwan Immigrants' Global News Network】According to The China Post, National Erh-lin Industrial and Commercial Vocational High School (國立二林工商) recently hosted a new program, inviting students from Southeast Asia currently studying at Mingdao University (明道大學) to share their cultures, languages, and food.

The program was coordinated to attract more second-generation Taiwanese and new immigrants alike to embrace their identities and appreciate the advantages it brings for them.

Mothers of the 30 attendees at the event had traveled to Taiwan from Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, and Cambodia with 18 of the mothers from Vietnam.

Head of the student affairs department at Erh-lin High school, Sung Ju-lin (宋汝琳) said that the activity was initiated by new immigrant counselors and students at Mingdao University.

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High school debuts new program to welcome new immigrants. (Photo / Provided by the National Erh-lin Industrial and Commercial Vocational High School)

Through the sharing of language and cultures, they hoped that the second-generation Taiwanese in the school can find the opportunity to return to their mom’s home countries and identify and connect with their other roots.

According to Chinese-language media reports, one of the students at Erh-lin High school, Tsai Chi-chun (蔡琪君), shared her thoughts on the event explaining that through this activity, she was able to better connect with her mother’s mother tongue, Vietnamese.

In addition, she was also able to make her own Vietnamese cuisines, and the experience was extra special as the dishes made were the snacks and drinks her mother used to have in Vietnam when she was little.

Meanwhile, another student Wang Mao-chun (王茂鈞) whose mother is from Thailand also shared his experience of returning to his grandparent’s home in Thailand. He added that eating papaya salad, pigs’ skin, and Thai snacks at the event reminded him of home.

Thai student Kang Ta-peng (康大朋) also said during the event that he was very happy to share Thai food and culture with the high school students. He hopes that the epidemic will pass quickly so that he can go back to Thailand and visit his relatives.

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The mothers of more than 30 students in the National Erh-lin Industrial and Commercial Vocational High School are new immigrants, of which Vietnamese takes up the largest proportion. (Photo / Provided by the National Erh-lin Industrial and Commercial Vocational High School)

Another Vietnamese student Nguyen Wen-ming (阮文明) shared how happy he was to meet other second-generation Vietnamese children like himself, and added that Taiwan’s tolerance to other cultures and free spirit is its greatest strength on the international stage.

Erh-lin High school Principal Liu Ling-hui (劉玲慧) pointed out that on average, one out of every 11 students in Taiwan is second-generation Taiwanese.

Authorization of this article from【The China Post】By Vivian Hsiao