The ancient art of calligraphy, Tai Chi, Rajio Taiso exercises, films from Japan and China.

There’s more to learning a language than sitting in a classroom, students from across NSW and the ACT have discovered at a two-day Asian culture workshop at ANU.

Aimed at taking their understanding of Chinese and Japanese language and culture one step further, the annual EngageAsia Immersion Workshop saw 160 high school students take part in this year’s program.

Held in early December and hosted by ANU College of Asia and the Pacific, the emphasis is on doing rather than sitting back and watching.

“One of the things that is really important to me is that when somebody is studying a language, they really need to study the culture that that language comes from,” said Dr Carol Hayes, who is based at the College’s School of Culture, History and Language.

“It’s not such a good idea to just study the culture without the language or just the language without the culture.”

Workshop participants were encouraged by teachers and tutors to speak entirely in Japanese or Chinese, with the added advantage of opportunities to mingle and mix with other students from different schools learning the same language.

“In the two days, I have learnt so much more about China than what I had normally done in just the classrooms,” a participant said.

Students also had the opportunity to engage in activities organised by the College’s School of International, Political and Strategic Studies. Online simulation of humanitarian crises and war in the Pacific were just some the issues students had to deal with.

“This session was extremely fun as we all really got into the heated debate about which decision to take in the simulation activity. It really drew perspective on the different groups of people involved in Humanitarianism” said Janice, a student from Sydney.

Chinese and Japanese dance exercises helped many of the students find their groove.

“It was the funniest and most embarrassing activity that we've done but despite that, it was really fun getting to know other students, changing partners, laughing and just dancing with my class,” said one student.

Some students had travelled from regional and remote areas where they attend distance language learning classes. For them the workshop was an opportunity to be in the classroom interacting in person with other language learners.

“I come from a small class; it was really great to meet more people my age with their ability to speak Japanese close to my own,” said one student from Wollongong.

To find out more about the immersion workshops visit the ANU EngageAsia website: http://engageasia.anu.edu.au/

Watch a video on the workshops here.