by Tina Lin, Project Co-organizer
What makes for an interesting and enriching English tour? This is the exact question addressed during the fifth foreign language guided tour community program of the "Our Town Community Sustainable Cross-Domain Co-creation Platform Project."
The foreign tour guiding classes aim to encourage participating volunteers to effectively filter through the abundance of their Chinese-related knowledge in their own minds before conveying the information in English. During the fifth class, Luis Gong, a professional tour guide who acts main instructor of the classes, took the volunteers through a step-by-step background of all the elements required in an English tour guide.
During the class, the volunteers practiced by introducing the features and beauty of Shoushan National Natural Park and connecting different points of related information together in English, thereby successfully conducting an English tour. Throughout the class, Luis repeatedly emphasized the nature of tour guiding as a form of art. And as an art full of humanity, a tour needs to be planned according to the needs and interests of the tourists.
The foreign language tour guiding classes are jointly led by Luis Gong as well as Professor Eileen Lin of Wenzao's Translation and Interpreting Department and Professor Mei-Fei Lu of Wenzao's English Department, who have been assisting the volunteers in fine-tuning the content of their English tour. At the end of the classes, the volunteer guides will be able to confidently explain and promote Shoushan National Natural Park in English and will have become more adept at conducting an interesting and enriching English guided tour.
Following this week's class, the volunteers are able to successfully share their treasury of knowledge using English. In the future, their training will surely contribute to allowing international tourists to learn more about Shoushan National Natural Park, the emerald of Kaohsiung.
The instructor, Mr. Luis explains how to effectively guide the various features of Shoushan National Natural Park in English.
Lecturer, teachers from Wenzao and volunteer guides practice explaining Shoushan National Natural Park in English.
Department, communicates with volunteer tour guides.
Lu Meifei, teacher from the Wenzao English Department communicated with the tour guide volunteers.
