In a year fraught with economic instability and financial crises, the ICLP Bulletin has flourished marvelously based on a simple ingredient: the dedication of both students and teachers alike. “I am extremely happy to declare ourselves one year old,” says the Director of ICLP, Dr. Yanwing Leung, during an interview this Monday (February 8, 2009). “I’d like to thank the Editor-in-Chief Huei-Feng Huang, all of the teachers’ dedication, and thank the students, for their contributions in making the ICLP Bulletin possible.”
“This hasn’t been an easy year, but we’ve made great progress. I’m proud to say that the ICLP Bulletin has not missed a single issue since its first release,” says the Administrative Director of ICLP, Li-Yuan Chen, during a separate interview this Wednesday (February 10, 2009). “There are not many successful Chinese Bulletins around, and I regard our bulletin as a successful one,” says Director Leung.
Both the Director Dr. Leung and Administrative Director Chen attributed the bulletin’s success and consistent quality to its dedicated and tireless editors – ICLP’s ever committed teachers and students. The teachers here are passionate about teaching at ICLP, and aid the students in expressing their thoughts and producing well written Chinese papers.
The ICLP Bulletin has served as a platform and tool for the students to voice their opinions and demonstrate to the outside world that foreign learners can use Chinese. The students write about a wide range of topics, allowing the bulletin to vary in its published contents. From tales of heart-pounding hikes up some of Taiwan’s tallest peaks to explorations of Taiwanese cuisines and even comparisons between cross-cultural differences, the students share both their academic and personal experiences in a way that makes the language come alive. “During the XueBa excursion, it was phenomenal watching the clouds rise, and bonding with my fellow students. The adventure was ‘epic’,” says Wesley Hsu. The ICLP Students can then use the bulletin to learn from the Chinese writings of their peers and fellow colleagues.
In a third interview with ICLP’s Special Advisor Meeiyuan Fann (Feb. 8, 2009), she believes that the bulletin encourages students to compose papers to the best of their abilities, and further serves as an excellent opportunity for students to practice compositions and apply vocabularies under practical situations. Director Leung comments that when ICLP teachers see their students improve and see their papers chosen for the bulletin, they feel a sense of achievement and fulfillment. “This kind of interdependent relationship between teachers and students, it’s hard to find another school newsletter that operates like we do.”
As for the future of the ICLP Student Bulletin, Administrative Director Chen has high hopes for further expansion and improvement. She encourages for even greater contribution amongst ICLP members. In addition, she hopes to begin incorporating video and audio recordings as an addition to the bulletin. Television and radios play a huge role in our everyday learning and information absorption. “I hope to make this technology a part of the bulletin, allowing our students greater access to Chinese learning materials. The ICLP Bulletin is one of the best tools ICLP has as an aid to students in improving their Chinese, so we need to take advantage of this great yet scarcely available resource,” says Admin. Director
Chen.Director Leung hopes that in the near future, the ICLP Bulletin will not only serve as learning material for their own students, but also for the students of other Chinese language programs in Taiwan, and for the foreign partners abroad. Through this, he hopes that the ICLP Bulletin will gain greater popularity, globally, further bolstering the credibility of the program, thereby benefitting the students and alumni of ICLP. Admin. Director Chen says, “The ICLP Bulletin already has many different viewers worldwide, and the numbers continue to rise. I see our bulletin having an extremely bright future."
However for the time being, Director Leung is appreciative for the passionate and dedicated supporters of the ICLP Bulletin, and proud that the bulletin has run so successfully in its first year, saying, “I will do anything I can to keep the bulletin going, as the director of ICLP.” Even when the time comes for him to step down, he hopes that “the ICLP Student Bulletin continues to flourish and eventually blossom into a magnificent flower.”
