Monkeys and home theater

So, the English textbooks used in Taiwanese elementary schools are, across the board, weird. "Hello, Darbie," the book we use for my fifth graders, is overall pretty good. Except that I just had to teach and explain this story to my students:

1. Tarzan is going to the bank.
2. He sees many monkeys, lions and elephants on his way.
3. Now he has some money. He is going to the department store.
4. The TV and the CD player are on sale. They are only one hundred dollars.
5. Ten monkeys are helping him.
6. Now he has a home theater. All the animals can see the movies with him.

I don't know about you, but this is certainly one of the first things I hope to learn when studying a foreign language.

Note: I didn't know how to say "home theater" in Chinese until today.

Life and Times of a Taiwanese 3rd Grader

Today, as one of my third grade classes was about to begin, a girl named Emily ran up to me.

She quickly looked around, then leaned forward and whispered, "Teacher Katie. Donna like J.J." I laughed a little and started to scan the room for evidence. Emily tugged on my shirt. "Don't say! Don't say!" She shook her head as she ran back to her desk.

Later, at lunch, a boy in the same class came up to me. "Teacher Katie, call me!" I laughed and said OK. Then he started to say numbers. A few minutes later, he gave me a piece of paper with his name, class, and cell phone number on it. With a little picture of a cell phone in case I forgot.

Kids are cute. It's a fact.

Christmas comes to Fu Xing

I could either write one really long update about the holiday season in Taiwan, or I can break it up into hopefully digestible bites. So, here's the holiday update on how Christmas came and went at Fu Xing Primary School. We spent about two weeks of class doing holiday-related activities... I could write about it, or I could show pictures. I think I know what all my blog-readers prefer.

First, I taught them about the holiday season in the US (I even tried to talk about Chanukah before Susan told me it was too hard to understand...). Then they drew/colored pictures to decorate the classroom and listened to Christmas music. No pictures of that.

Second, they wrote letters to Santa. Some choice entries:

(As you can see, some didn't quite grasp the concept of a form letter.)

Third, my fifth graders put on a Christmas recital in their music class. It involved "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" and "Santa Claus is coming to Town," in English!

Here they are, performing "Jingle Bells," or 叮叮當, on the recorder. Did you know that recorders come in soprano, alto, tenor, and bass varieties?

A performance of "We Wish you a Merry Christmas:"

Also, we watched the old cartoon version of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" in all my classes... 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders alike found it hilarious, captivating, and comprehensible-- even without subtitles. I'm sad that I no longer have the ability to laugh at cartoons just for being funny-looking. Anyway, the movie got across the message that I thought many of them needed to hear: Christmas is not defined by presents or decorations or fancy food.

A picture of the kids enjoying the Grinch (I'd never seen them pay this much attention all semester):

My grinch lesson board:

For those classes who had time, I wanted to tell my favorite Christmas story, "'Twas the Night Before Christmas." The language is a little steep, though, even for native English speakers of the same age, so, with the help of my fantastic co-teacher Susan, I translated it into a Chinese poem with (approximately...) the same meter and rhyme scheme. Then the students drew/wrote their reactions:

Some sample "reflections" on the poem:
Stanley, from class 4-5:

I like this poem, but is very long. X'mas's night is quiet so is good. reindeer it's fling very high. He is very fat. He has elf and toys, he want give many children. He can go any ( ), Many children has a stocking. children want a gift any years. They are happy in this day. The world is love X'mas. so I like x'mas, too.

Heidi, from class 5-3:

I like this poem, this poem is old, it is 200 years old, I like their's Santa. hope Santa can give me a computer, but Santa is not here, this poem is long, the picture is beautiful, the Santa is fat, and teh Santa is nice, hope can listen again. Merry Christmas.

If anyone is interested in my (illustrated!) Powerpoint of "Twas the Night before Christmas" with Chinese and English, let me know.

And finally, since I did have to work all day on Christmas, I figured the only way to get through it was to bring it. So, of course, I brought it. And "it" was a reindeer sweater and antlers.

So, a belated Merry Christmas to all of you, from Fu Xing Primary School!

Third place!

So, the past few weeks, I've been spending a lot of time (in class, between classes, after class) working with a group of seven fifth graders for Fu Xing's entry into the Kaohsiung City Reader's Theater competition. Susan and I auditioned and selected the team members together, while I was solely responsible for writing a 5-minute original script. Considering I had no idea what "Reader's Theater" even was, let alone what an appropriate script would entail, it was a bit of a challenge. Last year's English teacher prepared them for months before the competition and was able to arrange multiple practices a day, and the students earned second place. Susan and I found out about it a week before the registration deadline (less than a month ago) and, both being new to Fu Xing, had no idea how to go about... anything.

Anyway, long story short, we pulled it together. The competition took place today, and I'm happy to say that my students got third place in their division! (Groups were divided by school size.) And I think they had a good time with it, too. Special thanks to Glennie for getting the ball rolling with my creativity. Here's an excerpt from our conversation on November 5th:

me: i need a creative idea for a kid's play

Glennie: how are you?

can you base it on a book?

me: that kids who can't really speak english could pull off

8:26 PM should be original

Glennie: winnie the pooh?

ah

me: it's 7 kids

and there's no acting, just.. dramatic reading

Glennie: you have to write it?

me: previous winners have included a lot of kids speaking in groups and singing

yes

Glennie: hmm

when do you need it by

8:27 PM me: tonight.

well i have to have a solid idea tonight

we submit our registration tomorrow for the contest

which includes the kids' names and the title/subject

8:28 PM Glennie: ok, right now all i'm coming up wiht is having masks

of two different colors (two groups of three) who don't like each other for one reason or another

me: hahah

Glennie: and one little kid in a white mask who makes them see that they are pretty when they mix (i.e. red and blue groups make purple) or something

So, with that in mind, here I present to you the final rehearsal of Fu Xing Primary School's "Blue, Yellow, and Red," starring Annie as the Narrator, Marvin and Gavin as Red, Lily and David as Blue, and Dennis and Christina as Yellow. I was way too nervous to film during the actual performance, and I'm way too impatient to wait for the official recording, so the final rehearsal (with mistakes and prop mishaps and all) is what you get. But trust me, you'll get the idea.



And here's a picture of Susan, me, and the Fu Xing Reader's Theater team after the performance.

PS: This post was supposed to go up Wednesday night, after the competition took place Wednesday afternoon, but the video took an eternity to upload, so you're not seeing it until now. Sorry!

PPS: Mom, did I ever thank you for this shirt? If not... thanks. I like it. I wear it a lot. Like to Reader's Theater competitions.

Meet Mr. Jon

20 days and 2 gigabytes of pictures since I wrote a real blog post, Jonathan's back in Miami and it's time for me to get back in touch with everyone (via the internet, of course). The traveling and activities and sight-seeing that happened during Jon's visit will merit several posts, so bear with me as I play catch-up on all the major events in my Taiwan life. I'll try to be somewhat chronological, because you gotta start somewhere.

On Jonathan's second full day in Taiwan, he had probably his most exhausting cultural immersion of the whole trip. Not eating tongue soup or getting lost in Taipei (both of which were accomplished later), but... he came to school to teach with me for a full day of classes. Much like my first day, most of these classes were at least partly (if not entirely) a "Meet Mr. Jon" session, followed by a rousing game of "Mr. Jon says."

The kids were amazed that two people from the same country could have different color hair. They didn't know what "Jewish" meant. They asked why he had "fur" on his arms. They tried to learn a few words of Spanish. They were generally amazed at him being around.

And now, some photos of "Mr. Jon" from his time at 復興國小.

Mr. Jon and Katie 老師 at the front gate:

Students are in awe of Mr. Jon's driver's license:

Finally, we take a picture with some of the members of my "fan club"... a group of 3rd graders from Amy's class who come talk to me during every period break:

Today in class, a few students came in during lunch and asked why Jon didn't come to school again after that. I told them the truth... he wasn't cut out to be at school for eight hours a day, and after one day of it, he was too tired to come back.

Welcome to my life!

Names, names, names

I don't want to neglect my blog, and I've just had a very blog-worthy evening, but so blog-worthy that I'm too tired to write about it now. So instead, I'll give you all a short summary of what I've been doing in class lately:

Giving my students English names.

Well, I've been teaching vocabulary and phonics and all that good stuff, but I've also been spending a lot of time helping students pick out English names. Many of them have names already, but many don't, and even some of the prior-name-havers (yes, I'm tired) wanted to pick new ones... some at my request. It took a solid five minutes to explain to a boy that "Joy" was not a great choice, and then help him change it to Joey.

I had the students come to the back desk one by one and pick out a new name by telling me which letter they liked, and I would then list several English names starting with that letter. Of course, I went first to the English names I know best (those of my friends and family). The way I see it, this benefits all involved; they get English names that are actually used, and I can more easily remember their names. Most of them picked easy, popular names like Jenny, Amy, and Ben, but some were interested in more unique names like Andrea, Judy, and Darci.

The biggest challenge was getting someone to pick the name Aubrey. It's long, hard to spell, and harder to pronounce. But for every little girl that said she liked "A," I always tried Aubrey. It didn't work until one of my last classes of the week; a fourth grade girl said she liked it and wanted it to be her name.

I wanted to tell American Aubrey about Taiwan Aubrey, so I paid special attention to her that day. I noticed Aubrey behaving oddly in class, pulling her desk away from classmates and constantly putting her head down; she kept playing with rulers and didn't even have a book in front of her. My co-teacher Susan later told me that Aubrey was "retarded" and should probably pick an easier name. I don't think Taiwan has the same distinctions of "special needs" as we do in America; here, it seems, either you're normal or you're not. Aubrey certainly wasn't slow, and did not have Downs Syndrome. She was capable of paying attention whenever I reminded her to, but just didn't seem to be accustomed to focusing.

Today in class, I remembered Aubrey's name the best because it was one of my friends' names. So, when she wasn't paying attention to Susan's phonics lesson, I noticed. Susan was having the students say the example sentences as fast as possible, and most of them were really excited about this challenging activity. This was something beyond Aubrey's abilities, as she hadn't been paying attention enough to know what the sentences even were (and again, no book). I sat down with her and had her repeat a few of the words. She could do it. I asked her if she was tired, and she said no. I asked her why she wasn't listening or watching, and she kind of smiled, then pulled her chair forward and looked at the board.

After class, Aubrey went up to Susan, and I saw Susan reviewing the material on the board with her one-on-one. As she was leaving, Susan told her, "Next time bring your book to class." Susan then told me, "She just told me that she wants to learn English."

Now, you can tell me that naming kids after my friends is weird, but the only reason I paid such attention to this girl initially is because she had picked a friend's name. When you see a different 30 kids every 30 minutes, it's hard to tell if one or two of them are not paying attention.

Here's a photo of Aubrey, during one of her (many) looks back to my desk to see if I was still keeping an eye on her. She's a smart kid-- in the beginning of class when I handed out the name tags, I told everyone that I wanted their names facing me at all times. So when I moved to sit in the back of the class while Susan stayed up front, Aubrey turned her name tag to me.



As another (more brief) example, one of the students in a third grade class told me his English name was Tom. Anyway, when I explained the concept of a "class clown" to his teacher Amy, she said that Tom was their class clown. He's a little noisy and a bit of a troublemaker, and has had to forgo naptime to make up unfinished homework. He was the first student to pick up on the fact that I understand Chinese, and the reason I had to make the rule that I will speak Chinese outside of class, but in English class we only speak English (which he strictly follows and enforces). Anyway, I told him that my best friend in college was also named Tom, and now Tom comes to my classroom during breaks to ask me things about America, my American friend Tom, and how to say different words in English.

Obviously, my goal is to get the same kind of results in every student as I've found in little Tom and Aubrey. But names and American counterparts aren't going to motivate everyone... so I'll keep teaching them new things and giving them different opportunities to learn about English and America until one day, they all start wanting to learn English?

On a related but less serious note, almost every boy named John, Jon, Jonathan, or Johnny has requested a new name.

Katie 老師 and the mooncakes

So, I'm writing this at the end of my first two days of classes, my first two days being called "Katie 老師." Because I'm not yet familiar with the students' ability levels, how a class here should run, etc., Susan ran the class and then had time for 外國老師 introduction and open questions. For some classes this lasted a few minutes, but in most of the classes this took almost the full 40-minute period. As a 22-year-old, it's hard to believe how distanced I am from the major interests and preoccupations of elementary school kids. For example, I haven't really thought about my favorite colors, animals, sports, movies, moviestars, or foods in quite a while. Between that and cultural differences, I had to make up a good number of answers on the spot that were at least mildly true, and also understandable to students in their first, second, or third year of a rather infrequent, un-rigorous English program.

A lot of the questions were basic, but many were really strange, and I can't imagine an American elementary school student asking them. In both cases though, I had fun, and the kids had fun, and I hope they learned something. I should note-- Susan translated for them. If they knew how to ask all of these questions and understand the answers in English, I don't think they'd need me.

So, here are some fun examples from my two days of questioning...

First, what you'd expect from a kid.

• What is your favorite color? (green and orange)
  
• What do you like to eat? (牛肉麵 and pizza)
  
• What sport do you like best? (baseball)
  
• Do you have any brothers or sisters? (two older brothers)
  
• What's your favorite animal? Why? (I like fish because they are pretty and quiet)
  

Second, what a lot of people ask me here.

• Why did you want to come to Taiwan? (it is pretty, the people are friendly, I want to learn Chinese)
  
• What did you study in college? (linguistics)
  
• How do you like Taiwan? (I like it a lot)
  
• What do you want to do when you go home? (I don't know, maybe become 美國的總統)
  

Third... Are you trying to ask me out?

• What's your sign? (Scorpio for zodiac, Ox for Chinese calendar)
  
• Do you have a boyfriend? (yes, he is in America) ...and lots of follow-up
• Why aren't you married? (I am too young)
  
• Do you have children? (I am too young)
• Why are you so pretty? (thank you)... not throwing that in to boost my ego... they basically think anyone western-looking is beautiful/handsome.
  

Fourth... um, what?

• Why is your hair yellow? / Why are your eyes blue? (I was born that way, everybody looks different in America)
  
• What is your blood type? (O, I think)
  
• Does America have more trash than Taiwan? (Some places have trash, some don't)
  
• Do you come from a broken home? (My parents live together in Philadelphia, where the Phillies play!)
  

So, yeah. That was basically my first two days of class, meeting all of the students and having a Q+A with Katie 老師.

The fourth grade class was particularly endearing. One of the girls asked during the Q+A, "Does Katie like to eat 月餅?" Not really knowing what they were, I said yes. Later, during my last class of the day, a troop of 4th graders lined up outside and presented me one by one with mooncakes that they had made... somehow... in the hour since I'd seen them. So adorable.

Here is a picture of the ten mooncakes they gave me yesterday:

And a close-up of one:

Now, because the Moon Festival is coming up this weekend, everyone is exchanging mooncakes like there's no tomorrow. As far as I can tell, the Moon Festival is something like a Taiwanese Thanksgiving, in that you gather with family and eat a lot. My roommates and I have all accrued a massive amount of mooncakes. I'm happy to say that the little handmade mooncakes from my students are far superior to the expensive packaged ones given from school faculty... though maybe I'm biased.

To conclude, here is a picture of all the mooncakes in our apartment so far (most are still in fancy boxes). And just think... the Moon Festival isn't even until Sunday...

Addendum: I guess I should tell you what's in a mooncake. So far, we've had taro, red bean, egg yolk, some meat-flavored thing, and a good number of unidentifiable substances. We've heard that some have things like coffee, fruit, or chocolate inside. I guess we have until Sunday to find out for sure.