English 
正體中文 
The “Yuan-Yuan Kamishibai” intergenerational learning program, jointly organized by Yuan Ze University and Taoyuan Municipal Yuansheng Elementary School, had entered its second year. Through collaboration between the General Education Center of Yuan Ze University and the library of Yuansheng Elementary School, a storytelling performance titled “Journey to the West: A Shared Experience between Yuan Ze and Yuansheng” was launched. The event integrated the art of kamishibai, multilingual teaching, and intergenerational interaction, creating a lively atmosphere filled with laughter among students of different age groups.
The general education course “Chinese Reading, Critical Thinking, and Expression” at Yuan Ze University focused on cultivating students’ narrative and expressive abilities, encouraging them to enhance communication and critical thinking skills through multimedia and creative performances. Under the guidance of Wei-Ren Chen from the General Education Center, 40 students from the Department of Nursing, Department of Electrical Engineering, and the College of Management visited Yuansheng Elementary School to present a kamishibai performance based on Journey to the West for third-grade pupils.
Kamishibai originated in Japan during the Taisho period and is a traditional performing art that combines illustrated cards, a wooden frame, and oral storytelling. Performers created animation-like story scenes through vivid narration, props, and sound effects, successfully capturing children’s attention. Wei-Ren Chen noted that Yuan Ze students had selected nine classic episodes from Journey to the West and designed and illustrated the kamishibai materials themselves. They first presented their performances to a “junior jury” composed of two classes of pupils. A total of 60 students were divided into nine groups, holding evaluation sheets and assessing the performances based on facial expression, vocal delivery, prop design, and story fluency. Shih-Han Li, a reading promotion teacher at Yuansheng Elementary School, had also guided the pupils beforehand on how to appreciate and evaluate performances. At the end of the session, winning and jury-award teams were selected, accompanied by enthusiastic applause and cheers.
Wei-Ren Chen had also brought back professional kamishibai equipment from Japan and personally performed the story “Little Ninja Marumaru,” allowing students to experience the children’s focused engagement firsthand. He mentioned that as the number of international students at Yuan Ze University increased and the population in Taoyuan became more diverse, multilingual environments would become part of daily life. Therefore, he encouraged students to incorporate language-learning elements into their performances.
Among the participants, Xin Le Thi from the College of Management, an international student from Vietnam, appeared in traditional Vietnamese attire, “Ao Dai,” and incorporated Vietnamese vocabulary related to marine life into the story of the Dragon Palace of the East Sea, which drew enthusiastic responses from the pupils. Wei-Ren Chen and Japanese students also integrated simple Japanese vocabulary into the performances, allowing children to be exposed to different languages and cultures while enjoying the stories.
Shu-Chin Tsai, a student from the Department of Information Communication, shared that participating in the kamishibai activity with elementary school pupils had prompted her to reflect on the relationship between learning and expression. She noted that the children’s willingness to express themselves and their natural engagement in storytelling reminded her that the accumulation of knowledge was not only about understanding the world, but also about transforming it into the ability to speak out with courage and communicate sincerely—an invaluable and rare learning experience. A pupil, Chia-An Hsu, shared that he had learned how to speak Japanese and heard many exciting stories about Sun Wukong, adding that the experience was one of his most memorable moments since entering elementary school.
The university stated that the “Yuan-Yuan Kamishibai” program had gradually become a signature annual event for both institutions. Through resource sharing and intergenerational learning, it not only enhanced students’ expressive abilities but also fostered positive interaction between schools, allowing education to extend beyond the classroom and return to authentic human connection.
