Before I formally start this blog post, here are 3 wonderful websites that I ask you to visit for at least one minute! These are all projects and ideas that have caught my interest over the past few weeks. Part of my goal for this blog is to further help facilitate cross-cultural exchange, which often simply means encouraging exposure to new ideas. I love giving updates as to what I have been doing and seeing and experiencing here in Taiwan, but it is also my hope to inspire others to stop and think for a minute about a new idea (or two or three...)
1) This is a nice way to quickly see a wide variety of sites in Taiwan. I have been to many of these places - please take the opportunity to gain a visual sense of this fascinating country via photography:
2) I have been working with one of my co-teachers to coach a Grade 4 student in preparation for an upcoming storytelling competition. Like many Taiwanese students, he tends to be shy when in the spotlight and we have found it challenging to help him present the English narrative in a more dynamic, engaging way. I came across this article as I was doing research about strategies for reaching students like him, and I find this to be an amazing story. I hope that you will take a minute to read about the power teachers possess when they truly BELIEVE in their students, and about the wonders that that power can bring about.
3) Someone recently posted this, and the video at the bottom of the webpage (as well as the book described throughout!) is so exciting. These are the kinds of projects we discussed regularly during classes for my Master's in urban education last year, and it is refreshing to read about a program like this one. I find it incredibly inspiring to read about other people who believe in meeting students where they are, and who strive to TEACH THE WAY THOSE STUDENTS WANT TO LEARN! Enjoy:
And now for updates from Taichung!
This is my second year realizing first-hand that springtime is a particularly special time of year to be a teacher. This is especially true because this year, I have literally taught and worked with every single student in our school. It is my second year as a teacher at a school that is new to me, and it seems to be around April that things start to settle in a powerful way. I know all of the students and they know me, and while that was already true after the first month of school, I have continued to develop so many more personal connections with students, as well as opportunities to spend different kinds of time with these INCREDIBLE children.
Purim Two weeks ago, I taught about the Jewish holiday of Purim. Like Chanukkah last semester, I was able to teach every class about this holiday! We also made over 400 hamantashen (traditional Purim cookies), so each student had a taste of Purim as well :) Pictures below include hamantashen baking, singing a Purim song in class, my whole-school presentation about Purim, and Grade 4 students performing a Purim song for the whole school.
Scooter highlights: Challenge: in the first two pictures find the baby, and in the third picture find the dog ...
English Library: We finally have mats on the floor, a full bulletin board, a sign on the door ... Our English Library is feeling more and more like a communal space and I am working hard to keep that environment going! Last semester we wrote to students at a school in Namibia where I interned 3 years ago, and last week the return Pen Pal letters arrived from Namibia!!! Below are pictures from the incredible 40 minutes we spent together reading the letters. I asked all of the English teachers to come, in addition to two other teachers whose English is excellent, so that the students could ask questions and have help with translation and clarification. Several students even started writing back right away, and you can see them sprawled out on the floor as well, excitedly drafting their responses. I hope you enjoy these pictures as much as I do ... After all, the experience of bringing teachers and students together in this manner was unforgettable: teachers and students sitting side by side on the floor, all of us with our shoes off (common practice here to keep the room clean), and working together on an academic yet personal pursuit, was something that I know will be with me forever.
Roomates! This past week was the first dry week after a month of rain ... here is our typical driving gear when we need to drive our scooters in the rain :)
