Teaching Full Classes

This week I had my first day teaching an entire class from start to finish, transitions, and all. It was great, I enjoyed it a lot and thought it went very well. Knowing there is always room for improvements and tweaks within presenting a lesson to students, nothing went terribly wrong.

I am focusing on first and second grade this week, which have shown to be the most difficult for me because of the lack in ability to fully communicate with them. Using terms that they are used to like: "good morning" "pick up your pencil" "open your book to page ___" "close your book" "raise your hand" "lets play a game" put away your pencil" "repeat after me" "stand up" and "sit down" is extremely important. Weather or not they can understand much beyond that depends on the class and the grade level. I can use a high amount of modeling and examples in order to help them understand new phrases and instructions, but it is rare that explaining a whole new activity or game that they have never before been exposed to will work out.

One thing that is fairly difficult with having a certain amount of content that needs to be completed during the class period is managing the amount of time you will spend on each activity. Even when I was only teaching for 10 or 20 minutes in each class period, it was hard to know how much time each activity would take classes; I was able to get a better idea of this as the week went on. Today, when I taught the whole period, it was significantly easier to manage my time when I knew exactly what I wanted to accomplish and how much time was remaining, and even how much time had already passed.

I feel as if the students are getting more and more used to me guiding their instruction, which is awesome; because in turn, I then feel more comfortable standing in front of them. They were a little surprised today when I started the lesson rather then Teacher Sunny, which was an expected reaction from them. In turn with that, they inevitably become harder to manage; this applies mostly to the sixth graders, not as much with the first and second graders, but it still does to some extent. I also feel more confident when it comes to managing the classroom and the students' participation. I have found little subtle cues that work in settling down students or getting specific student to participate.

Hopefully the rest of the week continues with these results, and maybe I even find myself making improvements to my lessons that I didn't even know could be made. I am sorry for the picture-less post, but I figured since I am actually here to teach, I should update you on how it is going! haha

Jack's Ice Cream

Jack Bauer . . . The Ice Cream man!

Jack is a super sweetheart that we were lucky to meet during our first week here in Taiwan. He speaks really great English, just learning it from people like us who come to visit him. He takes such good care of us, introducing us to some of the most interesting Ice Cream flavors you would never imagine. He makes all of his ice cream in his shop from all natural ingredients. I have never had an ice cream flavor, or anything flavored as matter of fact, that has tasted anything like the flavor it is trying to resemble. For a few examples, he has apple (which has become many of our favorites) that tastes exactly like a fresh apple, but in the form of ice cream, it is the greatest thing ever. He recently experimented with creating a tomato flavor, which I am not a huge fan of tomatoes to be honest, but its Jack, so I was going to give it a shot. It was way better than anyone would have ever expected. Calpico (spelling?) is another one that has become our favorite. We always are trying new flavors here. Jack is so generous with his helpings, and additional goodies like the cone and chocolate sauce! He also has a rose flavor that literally tastes like you are smelling a flower, which sounds weird I know, but it is the best way I can describe it to you.

I don't know that we would have done without finding Jack's shop so early on in our trip. I can't imagine finding this place right before we leave, we would have been devastated. I am already not looking forward to returning home and missing this delicious treat. Ice cream was my favorite thing to eat at home, and it is so much better here between Jack's, sandwiches, and shaved ice. Ice cream will never be the same for me!

I am glad that we have a few more weeks to spend our nights visiting Jack, eating the est Ice Cream in the presence of good company.

If you'd be so kind, go give his Facebook page a like, he has truly made all of our day's a countless number of times with his generosity and smiles! https://www.facebook.com/JesseClaireIcecream/

Jack hard at work creating our master pieces. Tonight I ordered Calpico, Apple, and Vanilla. However we also got samples of Tomato and Sesame! On the bottom left, he was letting us see and smell the chocolate he used to make his chocolate ice cream. We had asked him what his favorite flavor was, and it was chocolate; but its not any ordinary chocolate that you are thinking of, its better!

Here we were helping Jack edit one of his translated Facebook postings for his Ice Cream shop as he releases a new exclusive flavor.

This is the menu of items that Jack offers at his place

My Day Off

As you know from an earlier post, my school just held it's annual Sports Day. This event was held on a Saturday, so since we had a full school day on Saturday, I had the day off today (Monday!)
At the beginning of the trip when looking forward at this day I was going to use to catch up on work and be productive, and I sort of did that, but I'm in Taiwan, so I also sort of did not do that!

I decided to take advantage of my free time and visit another one of the ISU student teacher's schools, because why not?! As an educator, I find it very fun to observe various classrooms to see how things are done differently or maybe even the same. I was granted the opportunity to spend the morning at Zhongshan Primary school, where Ky is placed. He teaches different classes Ultimate Frisbee a few times a week, and I was lucky enough to be there during one of those times! I got to watch him teach the game to a group of second graders, and even got to participate a little bit. It was awesome, the kids were having so much fun and it probably made their day. We did that in the morning for close to an hour, then returned to the classroom. I got to observe teacher Ky teach a lesson to sixth graders, one that I actual taught last week to my own sixth graders, so it was very interesting to be reminded how different the same content can be taught. It was nice to see the school again, since seeing them all on our first day in the city I had forgotten a little bit; all of the schools in Kaohsiung are incredible. It was nice to see how another fellow student teacher's day looked, and how mine compared. I was glad to get out of the apartment and explore something I was curious about. I made the journey home around lunch time, coming back to the apartment.

From there I did get some work done and spent some time being productive! Thank you to Teacher Nora, Teacher Ky, and Peter; for inviting me to hang out at your school today, I had a blast!

Dinner With Peter

Peter is one of our awesome coordinators who works at Zhongshan Primary School. Peter is also a very busy man, he has a lot of responsibilities that come along with his job. Since we have got here, he has been working day-in and day-out! He is so considerate, the moment he got a breath of fresh air, he took us Iowa State students out to dinner; we even got the privilege of dinning with his two super cool kidos.

We went to a restaurant called "Din Tai Fung" that was in the shopping center connected the the Kaohsiung Arena; which is worldy famous, there is even a location in California I believe! They are very well known for their xiaolongbao dumplings, they were very yummy!! I try to remember to take pictures of the foods I am eating, but sometimes I am so hungry and it just looks so good that I forget... yeah that happened during this dinner. We all sort of got our own food and then shared. I ordered a noodle soup that had pork in it as well. It was incredible. Their fried rice was pretty next level, I was so full this night, I don't think I even ate breakfast in the morning. This place is very unique because you get to watch people make the dumplings in the kitchen, precisely rolling, stuffing, weighing, and closing each and every one. After dinner we were able to meet up with and finally meet Peter's wife, Snow, who also is incredible nice and welcoming; but why should we be surprised! This family has done so much for all of us, and it should never go unnoticed.

Outside the Kaohsiung Area, just before going into dinner! 

                                             Where the magic was happening

Awaiting on dinner!

All of us with Ky's teacher, Nora

 Thank you so much Peter, Snow, Candie, and Spock for taking all of us out for such a fantastic meal

Teacher Sunny

Sunny is an outstanding cooperating teacher, I feel completely privileged to have the opportunity to work with her. She has already taught me so much, not only about teaching, but about Taiwan and the culture of the country. Without Sunny, my experience here would not have been so positive thus far. A little bit more about ‘Teacher Sunny’, she is 34 years old, and got her undergrad degree from the teacher college here in Taiwan, and received her graduate degree in TESOL (Teaching English to speakers of other languages) from the UK. She is married, and has a five year old son in Kindergarten. This is her second year teaching as an English teacher at NeiWei Primary School.

Sunny was originally born in Taipei, and lived there with her mother and father. In Junior high, when we was around twelve years old, she moved to Kaohsiung with her mom after her parents separated. She attended Junior High, Senior High, and College in Kaohsiung. After living in Taipei while growing up, she was more motivated to stay in Kaohsiung for the rest of her education, unlike many others her age who were living in Kaohsiung. Taipei is also a much more expensive place to live and go to school, so she benefited from staying here. After graduating, she taught two years in a Kindergarten classroom. However, the interesting part about this is that it is apparently illegal to employ full-time English teachers for Kindergarten in a public school in Taiwan. She was technically in the classroom as a co-teacher, and not the lead teacher. Since this was really a part-time job, she was able to have another job that was an after the school day education program. Like I said, she did this for two years. Then she became a substitute teacher here at NeiWei for one year. After that, she took a few years off after getting married to have a baby. When she returned to work, she found employment through the university in Kaohsiung; she worked as an international affairs representative, putting her English degree to use, working with college students like me traveling to different countries. She spent two years doing this and then came back to NeiWei to start teaching English. The has about twenty classes a week that contain first, second, and sixth graders. This is her second year holding this position; she enjoys teaching the higher grades because of the challenge and their ability to have higher level conversations, but enjoys the younger grades for their innocence and motivation. She has had so many different experiences, her knowledge and view on various concepts are very insightful.

Sunny really started to find her passion for English when studying it in Junior high. Once she was in Senior high, she had decided that she wanted to teach in an English related field. I learned form her that in Taiwan, you have to pick a major you take your college entrance exams (that are similar to our ACT or SATs). Many colleges do not offer many ‘general education’ classes, as we would call them. Senior highs also do not offer many opportunities to become exposed to available occupations, so deciding what you want to do for education seems like a leap of a decision here. Additionally, one you are in college and studying towards your degree it is not as common for people to change their major. Sunny attended the general college in Kaohsiung in teacher education. While studying for her graduate degree in the UK, she moved there for a year and a half; one year for school, and another six months for travel. She visited over twenty-some countries surrounding the UK during her stay. Her favorite places were Germany (because of the genuinely nice people) and Iceland (for the scenery and adventures).

I have learned so much from Teacher Sunny, I do not even know where to begin. I have learned everything from concepts and norms within the schooling system, but also about the Taiwanese culture in general. I want to tell you everything I have learned from her, but I might have to leave a few things out for the sake of time! Haha

When it comes to being a teacher, they always say the hardest part of the job is dealing with the parents, at least that holds true to us teachers from the US. I have always wondered how that idea would differ in different countries, or if it did at all. I’m not going to lie, prior to this trip, I thought the schools would hold extremely high expectations, be filled with obedient students, with strict parents. However, I quickly learned that kids will be kids, and they are all squirrely and rowdy! The school does hold high expectations for the students, and they know to follow them or their will be consequences. I am not so sure that the teachers hold students to as high expectations, they are very more applicable to be talking and causing distractions during instruction, which took a while for me to get use to and manage in a balanced way. Parents, though, are just as a big ‘problem’ here as they are at home. We are teaching in English classrooms, which do not see as parent involvement because they are equivalent to a ‘special’ that students attend once a week. The homeroom teachers, on the other hand, experience the same difficulties. Sunny was telling me how Taiwan just recently started making moves towards student-centered classrooms (which you probably heard more about in one of my last blog posts, but this is something that most of the schools in the US have been doing for a while, at least the ones that I have been in). They honestly do not even do much partner and group work until the students have reached third grade, which is crazy! Some of the younger teachers coming out of college, are using some of these new student-centered strategies, but the parents are pushing back majorly because it was not the education that they received. Something as simple as the teacher organizing the desks in the classroom in a ‘u’ formation or in groups, causes push back from the parents because not all students are stationed facing the front of the classroom/board. This makes me wonder how long it will take for the classroom environment to make the switch from teacher-centered to student-centered if parents are pushing back that much, especially in the general classrooms.

Every child has an English name, just like we had Spanish names when learning Spanish, except these names are a bigger deal because they will use them for the rest of their lives. It is cool that it is norm for everyone to have an English name, even if they do not necessarily know that much English. Something interesting that I found about them is, if your parents do now give you an English name, students just get to pick one or their teachers just assigns them one. It wouldn’t be so funny if they didn’t use the names so much, and using them more and more as more of the youth start to learn English. I couldn’t imagine letting someone else pick one of my Child’s names. I bet as generations learn more and more English, it will become more common for parents to pick the English names for the students.

More than anything, Sunny has taught me a lot about the Taiwan culture, from old traditions to habits of a native living here. Something that I found to be the most interesting was hearing about how it is so different when you settle down and start your family. Every aspect, from an engagement to having a child, is so different; and those are things that I wouldn’t have guessed would have been so different. When you get engaged, it typically lasts anywhere from two to six months, maximum; I mean there are probably always exceptions. There really no emphasis put on any bachelorette or bachelor parties. There are no bridal or wedding showers before the ceremony, there is a tradition in which the bride will bring a cookie or cake to the houses of her close family or friends to sit down, have a snack and tea, and just talk about anything. Sometimes this is done after the ceremony if not before. It is typical for a bride and groom to have two people standing by their sides, sometimes there will be 6. The reasoning for such a big gap is because they like to do things in pairs or even numberings, and number four is extremely unlucky in their culture, you often even see the fourth floor in building skipped. It is very popular of people to get married between November and January, leading up to the Chinese New Year. There are usually no weddings in June or July because of the ghost traditions, depending on the lunar calendar for what days it actually falls on, there is a day that the Chinese people will worship the “ghost door” while all of the ghosts are released. This seems to be a big deal, and celebrations typically last for 7 to 10 days. When and if couples decide to have children, the norms for that is even so different. Before the baby is born, there are a ton of rituals and traditions expecting mothers are suggested to follow, like not drinking cold beverages, or eating certain types of foods. A baby ‘shower’ is held prior to the baby being born, where family and really close friends come to the hospital to congratulate the new family. Depending on where you work, mothers typically get two months off of work, unless requesting more. One of those months the mother and baby typically stay in a maternity room at the hospital that is above the floors where the baby would have been born. Mothers can stay here and relax and recover while nurses assist in taking care of the baby. Women are not allowed to leave the hospital itself during this time, however long they have requested to stay. Not everyone does this, as it is very expensive to do. They say that this is why Chinese women look so young, is because they take so much time off after having a child to care for themselves. After the baby is born, one month after to be exact, the mother sends cake (usually celebrating a girl) or frozen chicken and rice (generally celebrating a boy) to friends and family. Another traditional that some mothers follow, is not washing your hair for one month after the baby is born; I am not sure where this comes from or why it is a tradition, I just thought the whole process was so differently interesting.

I was able to learn a little bit about the Chinese and Taiwanese government tensions about whether Taiwan is considered part of China or not. It was interesting to get a native’s view on the matter, who at the same time had enough experience and calm enough perspective to not get defensive or one-sided about the topic. I learned about how over populated Taiwan had become over the years, most of which were people traveling from China. Not only were tourist attractions becoming overpopulated, but so were the everyday living areas. Recently, with the newly elected president (which happens to be Taiwan’s first female president, not that it matters, just an interesting fact) Taiwanese natives have become happy with the decrease in mass amounts of visitors from China staying in their country. With the change in presidency came an extreme change in freedom to pass between the two countries. Don’t quote me on any of this, politics are not my game as you all know. Travel agencies now regulate the amount of visitors allowed to enter Taiwan from China, and there cannot be over a certain amount of people from China in Taiwan in the same times. The locals enjoy it because it is not so crowded and they are finally able to go places and do things without being taken over by visitors. This is also an idea Taiwanese are really supportive of because it is a move in the right direction, dividing themselves more from China.

Two more interesting facts about Taiwan that I have had the luxury learning about from Sunny is the whole cold water issue. There is this huge stigma that cold water is bad for you and your development because it is colder than your bodies inner temperature; therefore, they drink warm water. I think it is interesting because they will drink cold beverages like teas and juices, but not water. This is more strict when it comes to the children, because they growth and development can be effected more. Like I have said before, some people live by these odd traditions, and some think they are just as crazy as the foreigners do. Sunny had said that she almost feels embarrassed talking to foreigners about some of the traditions the culture holds because they are a bit silly in her eyes. All the schools, especially primary schools, only have warm water dispensing machines, none with cold water.

One last interesting thing that I have learned about and experienced at some level is the health care process. Going to the doctor and the dentist here is so incredibly cheap! When I was sick the first few days I was here, I ended up going to the doctor and it was $15 USD without any form of insurance at all. Locals typically pay $3 USD to see the doctor, to be treated, and to receive medicine. They visit the dentist about every six months as adults, similarly to how we do it; but pay only 100NT per visit…which is about $3 USD. Children visit the dentist every three months, which I think is a great thing to be doing with young kids. Sunny made the joke one day, but come to find out it was no joke, it is more expensive to go to the car wash than it is to visit the doctor or dentist. I don’t know about you, but it seems to me we have something to learn from here. It has been so awesome learning about all the big and little things that are done differently here in Taiwan, I cannot wait to learn more with the rest of the time I have.

Teacher Sunny has been one of the greatest contributors to why I have enjoyed this experience so much. I would not know all of the things that I do now about teaching here in Taiwan or about the Chinese and Taiwanese culture without her. My highly positive reviews so far, have got to be credited to her. I think very highly or her and value her wide range of knowledge and suggestions. I feel very fortunate, yet again, to have been placed with not only such a wonderful teacher, but person.

 

Sports Day! Happy 97th Birthday NeiWei Primary School

Today was Sports Day! On this day is when we celebrate our schools anniversary. Each school in Kaohsiung does this, but at different times. I so happened to be lucky enough to experience it while I was here! My school opened 97 years ago, and they are still going strong. Interesting fact, I learned that there about 250 elementary schools just in Kaohsiung alone, that blew my mind!

Anyway, Sports Day, we have a day to celebrate the school and students get to compete in all sorts of running races. It is held on a Saturday so parents are able to come and celebrate with the students and staff. There is an opening ceremony where all the grades walk into the court yard and get recognized. Awards are given to teachers, principals, directors, and parents. Staff from other schools are welcome to come, and many do. The school flag is raised and students sing along to the school's song. Each grade also gets to perform a dance during the opening ceremony! Surprise... so did I! My teacher and I taught a dance to a few selected sixth graders, and then performed it during the opening ceremony as well. The school has a dragon dancing club, who performed a dance that they had been working on, it was so amazing how good they were at such a young age already. I was so lucky to be welcomed by so many into a tradition that is so sacred to the school and it's community. I was also asked by the principal to grant awards to some of the race winners, how awesome! I cannot get over how genuinely nice these people are at this school, and in this city, everyone is making sure that we are having a great experience. It is falling nothing short of that.

I was blown away by the level of organization and preparedness by the school and the coordinators. The students, of all ages, participated in a series of running events including various length solo races, to a few person relay races, to whole class relay races between the grades. The weather was incredible, and I am so glad that everything worked out and it ran smoothly. Here are only a few captured moments of the many activities during the day.

Lion dancing during the opening ceremony

Me and my principal Ben

Above left: academic affairs representative awarding the students who had just finished an all girls race. Above Left: Renon, Sunny's son, guarding the metals! hehe

Below left: some more awards being given during the all boys race. Below right: NeiWei school in the background and the main stage area for sports day.

Here are the eight sixth graders who accompanied us during dancing to the YMCA! Below are a few pictures of our performance, it was a fun deal. I have not found anyone with a video of it yet, I will upload one later if I happen to run across one.

Y-M-C-A!! 

 The famous Teacher Sunny and I, sporting it up on sports day!

Below are a few videos from the day, including a few performances from the opening ceremony and a solo race ran by the forth graders I believe.

Lion Dancing

A second grade class entering during the ceremony

A first grade class doing their performance!

A few forth grade boys running a solo race!

Lotus Pond

We had our first cold and rainy day. Do consider that 68 is indeed cold in our minds now after being spoiled to warm weather, good thing we are not coming home during the winter months!
Anyway, we visited Lotus Pond today, we figured it would be a good day to adventure around the area. Lotus Pond is a famous pond in Kaohsiung, consisting of many old Chinese temples and architecture. The pond has a path all the way around the outside, and then bridges lead out to each of the main structures that take their place in the water. Other structures like the streets on the other side of the pond. Enjoy the pictures!!

We rode the city bikes most of the way to the pond, on our way in we came across this super unique sign welcoming us Kaohsiung!

First stop at Lotus Pond, the dragon and tiger temples! These structures were an incredible sight, so beautiful and so full of detail. When walking up them, you must enter through the dragon's mouth for good luck and fortune, and exit through the tiger's mouth to instill safety and wellness.

The dragon must have been okay with me, I didn't get eaten!

The colors and designs put in these structures, is so captivating. This is probably close to one of my favorite pictures so far!

It's a long ways up, here we go!

View from the top of the path leading in

We made it!!

Looking at some of the structures that we will be seeing next from the top of the tower!

I know I have already said it, but so much detail. This is one of the 

small dragons that sits on each layer of roof, boarding the outer edge.

We made it out; please bring us all safety and wellness, great tiger.

Next stop, a temple traveled to by bridge, surrounded by lilies, out on the pond.

In order to get to the temple, we talked through a dragon, you can see how excited I am about it. But really, I am having the time of my life!

The inside of the dragon was completely filled with more drawings

and small designs, murals, and art that represented important

traditions carried through the original Chines religion.

We made it! Here is a view (left picture) from the top of the temple of the dragon and tiger towers we just came from earlier, they look so small now! On the right, I am just doing your normal monkey tourist picture poses, not a big deal!

Beautiful temple

I couldn't resist! 

This is one of my favorite pictures from this visit, it is so vibrant and reminds me of a picture you would see in a magazine. See how gorgeous this is, imagine it ten times more beautiful in real life!

This place was heaven for photographers, I mean look at these incredible views, breathtaking. 

Next up, the traditional Chinese religion's God. In here is a place that followers of the religion can come and speak to their God or ask of guidance. It was coll to be able to see such a sacred monument to the original religion that the majority of natives still believe in.

Above are a few of the ritual traditions that people partake in when visiting their God. The top right is a huge beam (one of many that were there) that contained small pockets with  a light on the inside, people could right their name and birthday or name and date that they visited on a plastic guard, and it would be placed of the pocket so the light could shine through; people did this for good fortune. Apparently way over half of the population still practices this traditional Chinese religion, that I have noticed a lot of people calling 'family' Chinese religion. the next most followed religion is Buddhism, and a small amount of people identify as Christians or other affiliations. The picture on the left, although it is dark, shows a shrine area were people can place small burning sticks into a large pot when speaking to the God. There was another place, similar to this one, on the next level; you could ask the God for guidence or of a question. To do this you used clues and threw stones as if they were dice in order to get answers. The picture on the right shows one of structures holding the clues in each drawer, found by numbered sticks at the top.

A little off topic, but this stinking adorable dog that we ran across at the pond! Yes, he is wearing clothes, a backpack, a sun visor, and sunglasses. What dog would keep all that on!! He knew he was hot stuff, struttin' his fashion.

 Humongous shout out to Ky's host family for meeting us here and showing us around. Without them we would have been completely lost, and definitely would not of learned as much as we did, and that is the most important part when visiting these awesome places.

Thank you James, Jade, Joe, and Justin; we had an incredible day!