Homestay Program of Taiwanese High School Students

Thirty three Taiwanese students of National Hualien Commercial Vocational High School       visited Abiko City as part of their education program in Japan, in accordance with Chiba Prefectural Office’s request to Abiko City. Answering to the request, AIRA accepted 1 night-2days homestay program.

Date: Monday, Dec. 19 through Tuesday, Dec.20, 2016

Host Family: 17 families (13 AIRA members’ families and 4 Abiko High School students’ families)

They arrived at Narita New International Airport on Dec. 18 and visited Abiko City on Dec. 19. Abiko Prefectural High School held a one-day communication program with them.

Receiving ceremony was held at the gymnastic hall of the high school at 16:30. Mayor Junichiro Hoshino, Principal Kimio Nakayama extended greetings to them, and AIRA Vice Chairman, Fumiko Kitajima’s greeting was followed by. She said in the greeting, “Winter of Japan is colder than Taiwan. So please take care of yourself not to catch a cold here. We hope the experiences during you stay at host families’ houses of Japan would become an important memory in your life.”

In this homestay program, each host family received 2 students, accepting the Taiwanese high school’s request. The students met each of the receiving host families and headed for each of the families. The students who were welcomed by host families of Abiko High School students went to the families together with the high school students of host families by bus or so, after the communication program at the high school.

Some of the students can speak English and Japanese, but most of them speak Chinese, only. Aural communication was difficult for the most of the host families, but automatic translation function of PC, or writing Chinese characters helped them talk with the students.

One family went shopping together with the students for buying food material for dinner. Menu and recipe were shown to them with photo pictures and internet (“Cook Pad”) to let them cook themselves. They enjoyed cooking and eating Chirashi Zushi (vinegared rice bowl topped with raw fish), Oden (hodgepodge stew of vegetables and fish dumplings), Sukiyaki (thinly sliced beef and vegetables with soy based sauce grilled in a pan), fried chickens and so on. Some of them experienced Kotatsu (a low, quilt-covered frame with a heat source inside). In Taiwan, heating system is not required. So, we think this experience was so valuable to them.

On the next day, Dec. 20, the students and host families got together at the parking lot of Abiko City Museum of Birds for the farewell ceremony. At 8:15, Vice-principal Shizue Ono of Abiko High School made a speech of gratitude to host families, and Principal Lin Ming Shan of National Hualien Commercial Vocational High School in Taiwan extended an appreciation to the whole relevant people of the program in Abiko City. The Taiwanese students said good-bye to host families and left the city by bus for the next destination.

For your information, they are coming back to their country on Dec. 24, after completing other itineraries such as skiing in Sugadaira, visiting Tokyo Disney Resort and sightseeing in Tokyo and so on.

(No.16-29 Translated by T. Yoshida)