After singing the 'Hokey Pokey'

Dear friends,
You may have thought all of us Fulbrighters would have had a weekend of rest after our trip to eastern Taiwan, right? Well, wrong. The weekend right after we went white-water rafting, all of us had to film a video about learning English. This video is our group project as Kaohsiung Fulbright English Teaching Assistants. It is a children's video complete with vocabulary, sentence patterns, subtitles, and energetic actors who can sing and dance.

Shana & Nicki reading their scripts with cashier Vicki

Getting ready to sing 'If You're Happy and You Know It...'

Rehearsing on the simulated airplane environment wth our scripts

Cooling off

Dear friends,
Last Wednesday, my fellow Fulbrighters and I had a meeting with the Kaohsiung City Council members and the Bureau of Education. The meeting was primarily to discuss  our thoughts on English Village and co-teaching to see if they will continue the program next year. The city council members toured English Village and saw a co-teaching demonstration at Ling Zhou Elementary School.

Afterwards, we had a buffet lunch and concluded the meeting.

Dear friends,
My school, Hua Shan Elementary School, recently went to English Village at a nearby elementary school. In the above picture, I am acting as the waitress and teaching my students how to order food in English. Normally, there is a foreign teacher who works at the English Village. It was not supposed to be my turn that day to work at English Village, but my friend had an emergency so I had to cover for her. My students were pleasantly surprised when they saw that I was the foreign teacher working at English Village that day. Although I thought they would be disappointed that they didn't get to meet another foreigner, my students were actually excited!

At Tai-Ping Elementary School's English Village, my students went to 8 stations, 4 in the restaurant/hotel and 4 in the supermarket. At one of the restaurant/hotel stations, my students had to put together a puzzle that me and my fellow Fulbrighters made (see above picture). At another station, the students had to unscramble some words (see picture to left) and at yet another station, they had to make a paper airplane (because the simulated environment was an airport). I previously spoke about English Village in these blog posts. To understand more about English Village, click here.

My students with their homeroom teacher (above) at the airport simulated environment. All in all, I'm really glad my students had a good time at English Village.

Dear friends,
I have not updated in a while regarding  my teaching experience in Taiwan because every single week I must write a weekly reflection report where I outline how my teaching is going. Thus, I tend to forget to update my website with stories about my teaching.

To remind all of you, I teach at Hua Shan Elementary School in southern Kaohsiung City. I teach 13 classes regular English classes (Grades 4-6), 2 special English classes (Grades 5-6), and Storytime (Grades 1-3). Altogether, I teach over 400 students. As you can imagine, teaching so many students makes it very difficult to remember all my students' names. I try, though, and the kids love it when I pronounce their names wrong, which I do often.

Each class I co-teach has about 30 students, which is pretty big compared to American classrooms. I teach in two classsrooms and one of the classrooms does not even have desks! This classroom is called the English Village classroom. Let me tell you a little about English Village.

You may remember from previous posts that there have been many English Village classrooms (or simulated environments of post office, restaurant, hotel, and airport) built in the elementary schools around Kaohsiung City. This was an initiative by the Kaohsiung Bureau of Education to stimulate interest in English and to help students improve their English speaking ability. Fifth graders from all over Kaohsiung must go to English Village once a year to do the English Village Activity. What is this activity you ask? Well, the Bureau has selected two environments to work with this year--the hotel and the supermarket. The Bureau would like the foreign teacher to run a dialog about the hotel or supermarket with 30 students and try to get each student to speak with the foreign teacher. How can one foreign teacher in the room manage 30 students in a dialog? Impossible, right? Well, the Fulbrighters decided to design stations and activities for English Village so that we would be able to get more individual time with the students. We created stations for each hotel and supermarket environment and divided the class of 30 into four teams of 7 or 8. Each English Village has three stations where they play English games and the fourth station is the dialog station where they speak with the foreign teacher. Each fifth grade class only gets 40 minutes at one environment (e.g. hotel) and then they must switch to the other environment (e.g. supermarket) for the next 40 minutes, and then they leave back to their school. The entire field trip to the English Village environments is only half a day.

The idea of English Village as a whole could be better. First, only fifth graders go to English Village once a year. That is not enough time to improve their English speaking ability at that age. Plus, once students get to English Village, they literally only play English games until they go to the dialog station. The dialog station is not a bad idea, but the foreign teacher only gets 5-10 minutes with each group. While I try to do the most with the dialogs, it is hard for the students to improve their speaking ability in just five minutes. So you can see how this activity, only for half a day and once a year for each fifth grade class, does not really achieve the goal of letting students improve their speaking ability. It may spark interest in learning English, but that interest is not supported or sustained. It would be good if the Bureau let each grade up until high school participate in the activities to sustain interest as the kids grow older, but right now it's a one time deal in the students' fifth grade year. Since so many English Villages have been built in elementary schools, it would be difficult to redirect funding for other projects (like reducing classroom size) now. As a person who is responsible for working at English Village, I hope this project can be better supported and the activity can be altered to be more effective. I will convey these suggestions to the Bureau at the end of this year. For now, let me get back to telling you about my teaching experience.

The English Village Classroom at Hua Shan (see how it resembles an airport? Look at the surroundings)

One of the classrooms I teach in is in the English Village Airport classroom. Of course, being an airport environment, there are no desks, but only comfortable seats. So, when my students come to class, not only are they really excited because they know me and my co-teachers always plan a fun activity/game at the end of class, but they have super comfortable seats to sit in that are incredibly close to each other so they can talk to each other in class! Ack! You can imagine the management problems we've had in classes trying to get our students to be quiet. For the most part, they students are well behaved, though.

I've noticed that Taiwanese students are pretty obedient and very good test takers. The entire society here is centered around exams. If you want to advance socially or professionally, you'd better ace that exam in your junior high school, which will determine your placement in high school, which in turn determines your placement in college and life. It's rather unfortunate that it seems your professional trajectory is locked and unable to change at such an early age.

The other classroom I teach in is the 5th grade English language classroom. This is a more traditional style classroom.

Me, Ashley, and our students in the other classroom I teach in

The classroom environment makes a big difference because it influences how students interact with each other and how they pay attention. I would much rather have my students sit in the uncomfortable wooden chairs, rather than the cushioned red seats of English Village because it forces them to not fall asleep. But, the students that come to English class never fall asleep. I say this without exaggeration. Since there are two teachers in the classroom, one of us can teach while the other "grazes" or walks around the classroom to make sure students are understanding and paying attention. It's really nice.

I will put a post about my specific co-teaching experience later. I think this blog post is pretty long. While I have to cut this post short, I want you to know that my teaching experience is going very very well. I've been learning a lot about effective teaching and how to improve as a teacher. I'm also building a strong relationship with my students, school staff, and fellow teachers. I am so lucky to be at a school where I am really getting to know the environment and people. They are willing to get to know me, too, so it's cultural exchange, both ways.

Dear friends,
It's about time I devoted an entry to my students. They make teaching so enjoyable every single day. I've made an album of them that I will update frequently here.

Do you remember that I teach at Hua Shan Elementary School and Ling Zhou ELementary School's English Village? At Hua Shan Elementary, I keep the students really busy so they usually don't have time to ask me a lot of personal questions. Although I teach at Hua Shan everyday and I feign not knowing Chinese (only works some of the time), I don't give my students a lot of opportunities to ask me personal questions (I give them lots of time to ask me culture questions, though). Please note that in Taiwan, people in general do not hold back in asking about your personal life. It's very typical. At English Village, I only teach two half days and they have the opportunity to ask me a ton of questions because there's more time available. Here are some questions I've been asked:

Curious Student 1: Teacher! How old are you?
Me: Hmm...(This is probably the third time I've been asked this question today and not just by students, but by other teachers) Good question. Guess!
Curious Student 1: 100!
Curious Student 2: 200!
Curious Student 3: 5!
Me: Wow, do I look 100 and 5 at the same time? Try again...
Curious students guess many times before finally guessing my age.

Another question I've been asked many many times:
Curious student 1: Teacher! Do you have  a boyfriend?
Me: Do you know Spider-Man? That's my boyfriend!
Curious students burst out into laughter. Sometimes, I change my boyfriend to be Batman & Superman. The kids get a kick out of it.

Dear friends,
Billy, a fellow Fulbrighter, and I were featured in a newsletter called the Maritime Capital that is printed in both English and Chinese. See this link: http://mag.udn.com/mag/newsstand/storypage.jsp?f_ART_ID=161849
The story is pasted below...

Experience a “Fresh” Kaohsiung Meet William and Shiela／高雄鮮體驗 認識William 和Shiela

【Text／Hsin-yi Peng；Photo Courtesy／William and Shiela】
The "International Village English World" is Kaohsiung City's English education project in 12 elementary schools for 5th and 6th graders. On the eve of Halloween, the students had a chance to experience the fun of Halloween with the help of their Taiwanese and foreign teachers, making Halloween masks, wrapping mummies, and hanging doughnuts on a rope for a game. Through diverse curriculum and everyday scenarios, Kaohsiung City Government hopes to inspire students to become interested in learning English.

The Education Bureau, in cooperation with the Fulbright Foundation for Scholarly Exchange, recruits Fulbright Fellows as co-teachers to teach English in the 12 elementary schools that are part of the "International Village English World". In the International Village, there are simulation hotels, restaurants, and an airport for the children to practice, so that they will no longer be afraid to speak English. For the schools that are not part of the "International Village", the Education Bureau has scheduled "International Village study Tour camp", which will Allow an additional 17,000 students to come to the International Village this year to interact with the American teachers and gain more language skills.

William(left) and Shiela (right)(Photo／William and Shiela)
方家樂(左)和李詩媚(右)(圖／方家樂、李詩媚)

The foreign teachers arrived in Taiwan at the end of August and their co-workers are very impressed with their enthusiasm for teaching. William and Shiela are two members of the current team and they are here to share with us their experience in Kaohsiung.

William Billy Fong just graduated from the Colby College. He said he was thrilled to have the opportunity to come to Taiwan and teach, as well as learn about the education system in Taiwan as he gains more experience in teaching. William was assigned to Zuo-ying Elementary School to team with Ms. Chun-yao Fang as co-teachers. Together, they teach English to children between 3rd and 6th grades. William said that he used the website YouTube as a tool for the students to practice their listening comprehension and expressions. His hope is for the students to learn more about the respective cultures of Taiwan and the US, but most importantly, he wants the students to speak with self-assurance, to understand the purpose of learning English, and to increase their confidence in learning English.

The students who attended the "International Village study tour camp" actually practiced beforehand; William remembered one particular incident when he was role-playing as a cashier in the International Village supermarket. He was practicing the conversation with a student when the student unexpectedly took out a home-made coupon! William cracked up right then and there. He enjoyed seeing his student showing their efforts in learning, and that's where most of the fun of this teaching assignment comes from.

William is very impressed with the convenience of life brought by the Kaohsiung MRT. A native of New York, he loves to go shopping on the streets. He arrived in Kaohsiung in August, but already he shops like a native and says that he will "definitely not miss the anniversary sales"! He likes the beach and lighthouse of Cijin District and he strongly recommends the charcoal grilled calamari, a specialty delicacy of the area.

Another teacher here to share her experience is Shiela Lee. She started working in Hua-shan Elementary School only a few months ago, but already she is very close to the faculty and the students, who address her as "Teacher Shiela". Shiela said she is very grateful to the faculty and students of Hua-shan Elementary School. The teachers and students made the transition to Taiwan very easy because they were so welcoming. For that reason, Shiela considers Hua-shan Elementary School the most charming place in Kaohsiung, along with Love River and Cijin District.

Sutdents wear Halloween face masks in Shiela's class.(Photo／William and Shiela)
李詩媚的學生戴上萬聖節面具(圖／方家樂、李詩媚)

Shiela remembered her astonishment when she saw the long lines of motorcycles on the road in Kaohsiung, which is a sight she could not even begin to imagine in her hometown in Colorado. She also shared the memory of her first time sitting as a passenger on a motorcycle, she was so nervous that she squeezed her rider with both arms at full strength. Such unique experiences have left deep impressions in her Taiwan experiences. Shiela likes the convenience of traveling in Kaohsiung City; she hopes to learn more about the customs and traditional holidays and festivals in Taiwan.

Shiela mentions that there are many students with different skill levels that come to the village. When Shiela sees students at English Village, she has to be creative to address the different skill levels. And, she wants to improve the confidence in her students' speaking ability. She likes to teach English through everyday life, such as making Halloween masks, and letting the students learn a different culture through games and experience the fun of learning.

高雄鮮體驗 認識William 和Shiela
【文／李大衛；圖╱方家樂、李詩媚】

方家樂的學生體驗「包裹木乃伊」活動(圖／方家樂、李詩媚)
Students play wrapping mummies in William's class.(Photo／William and Shiela)

高雄市12所設有「全球村英語世界」(International Village English World)國小5至6年級學生，在12位台灣籍和外籍教師搭配進行協同教學下，於萬聖節前夕，動手製作萬聖節面具、包裹木乃伊和串在繩上的甜甜圈等萬聖 節相關活動。高雄市政府教育局希望透過多元且生活化的英語情境教學引發學生們的英文學習興趣。

教育局透過與美國傅爾布萊特基金會合作，聘請傅爾布萊特青年得獎人進駐全市12所設有「全球村英語世界」的國小１年，擔任小學協同英語教師，在全球村裏模 擬旅館、餐廳、機場等各種情境，讓小朋友們不再害怕開口說英語。對於沒有設置全球村的學校，教育局則安排「英語村遊學體驗營」的方式，預計今年會有 17000學生到英語村與這群美籍教師實地互動、學習。

這群外籍老師於今年８月抵台，和他們一起合作的工作夥伴相當稱許這群充滿教學熱忱的老師們，團員中的William和Shiela與大家分享他們在高雄的感受。

剛從Colby College畢業的方家樂(William Billy Fong)表示他很高興能有這個機會到台灣教書，吸收教學經驗，同時了解台灣的教育系統。方家樂被分配到高雄市左營國小，與方瓊瑤老師搭配進行協同教學， 教導三到六年級的學生英語。方家樂說他會利用YouTube網站來訓練習學生們的聽力以及表達能力，他希望能讓學生對於台灣跟美國文化能有進一步的認識， 更重要的是鼓勵學生勇於發言，讓他們了解學英語目的，增加他們對於學習英文的信心。

前來英語村遊學體驗營的學生事先都經過充份的練習，方家樂談起有回他在全球村扮演超市收銀員的角色，與學生練習對話，學生們出奇不意的秀出一張自備的折價卷，讓他笑翻天，學生們的用心讓他覺得這份教學工作真的很有趣。

他相當稱讚高雄捷運帶來便利的生活，家住紐約的方家樂很喜歡逛街，儘管８月才到高雄，他已經逛到熟門熟路，還樂此不疲地說：「一定不會錯過週年慶的！」除此，旗津的烤小卷是他強力推薦的美食，他也很喜歡到旗津海灘和燈塔遊玩。」

另一位在華山國小服務的李詩媚( Shiela Lee)，她到華山國小才幾個月，卻已經跟華山的全體員工和學生打成一片，學生們都叫她Teacher Shiela，李詩媚說她非常感謝華山國小全體師生的協助，讓她很順利地適應初到台灣的轉折期，也因此，李詩媚說對她而言，龍華國小跟愛河、旗津一樣，都 是她心中高雄最迷人的地方。

談起她第一次到高雄看到長龍般的機車，壯觀的機車場景讓她驚訝不已，因為在她的故鄉科羅拉多看不到這樣的場景，她還提起第一次被載在摩托車上，她緊張地緊 緊箍住載她的人，這樣特別的經驗深深烙印在她的台灣經驗裏。她覺得高雄市到哪都很方便，她希望利用這一年可以多了解台灣的風土人情和傳統節慶。

李詩媚表示，前來全球村體驗的學生每個人的英文程度都不一樣，因此，李詩媚說面對學生時她必須更有創意地調整教學內容，以達到因材施教的目地。除此，李詩 媚也希望能提升學生「說」英文的自信。李詩媚希望藉由生活化英文學習機會，比如製作萬聖節的面具，讓學生從遊戲中認識不同的文化，體會到學習的樂趣。

【本文出自《海洋首都中英文雙月刊》第52期】

Dear friends,
My first week at school (last week) was so incredibly fun, exciting, busy, and full of adventures that it's hard to distill just a few of those memorable moments down into a blog entry. But, here we go!

On Monday (Sept. 8, 2008)
In the morning, I went to English Village at Ling Zhou Elementary School (not the elementary school I teach at) to finish up last minute activities for English Village. As you may recall, English Village is a program that was launched by the Kaohsiung Bureau of Education to create simulated environments (e.g. hotel, airport, supermarket) where students can practice their English with foreigners.

For example, a post office where students can play with the environment and speak.

The Fulbright English Teaching Assistants created station games in addition to a dialog station at English Village to help the students practice more English. English Villages, or simulated environments, were built in many Kaohsiung Elementary Schools. However, we are only running three English Villages this semester. Fifth graders from all over Kaohsiung go to one English Village once a year. We prepared for English Village on Monday, but it does not officially start until Tuesday (Sept. 9). On Monday, I just finished up last minute touch-ups to the station games to get ready for Tuesday's opening ceremony and full run through of English Village. Though, every Monday I will spend the morning at Ling Zhou English Village. In the afternoon, I go to my school, Hua Shan Elementary School by walking from Ling Zhou Elementary school to the MRT, take the MRT to the last station on the red line (Xiao Gang), and then bike to my school for about 15 minutes, depending on traffic.

When I got to my school on Monday afternoon, I  brought Moon Cake for all the staff and faculty for the Mid-Autumn moon Festival. I was already introduced to the staff last Tuesday, but I introduced myself to my classes and began teaching today.

Teaching was so wonderful. The kids are so cute and they love to play games! They can pronounce my name pretty well because it sounds like the Chinese word for "Greece"---Xi La. Ashley & Jia-Ling are very good teachers and I've already learned a lot about how to plan for classes and what to go over first in class.

For my introduction for the rest of the week, I used pictures to show my students where I am from in the United States and I made a name card for myself. All the students "oohed" and "ahhed" when they saw the beautiful mountain pictures of Colorado! When I taught this week, I also made a poster of "American Culture" vs. "Chinese Culture" to help my students understand some differences. The examples I went over this week were:
American Culture: Calendar starts on Sunday & American students do not take naps during the day at school
Chinese culture: Calendar starts on Monday & Chinese students take naps during the day at school

It was so cute because when I told the students that American students don't take naps during the day, they were so surprised and thought that the American students must fall asleep in class! They were all very intrigued by the differences.

I later went home by bike, MRT, and bus (I call that my "triathalon commute back home"). Travel to and from my school takes about an hour. I absolutely love my school, though, so the commute is worth it.


On Tuesday (Sept. 9, 2008)
English Village started on Tuesday morning at Ling Zhou Elementary School and it was rather difficult because some of the logistics were not planned out. The kids had a lot of fun, though. It was good that we had this run through because we figured out some of the problems with the games and the rotation to different stations at English Village. I was exhausted after that two hour English Village session at Ling Zhou. Then, I commuted to my school, Hua Shan Elementary School, in the afternoon.

At Hua Shan, I met the principal, the staff, and the faculty. They are all very friendly and fun. They kept on teasing each other about how shy they were to talk to me, a foreigner. However, when Friday came along, I noticed that if I spoke Chinese, my teachers were very talkative! I told them that my Chinese is like their English, "still learning." So, I told them to don't be afraid to talk to me, because as long as they speak slowly, I will understand, and I will do the same.

Hua Shan Elementary School has been so welcoming. They've already given me a bike, moon cake, "Beauty" tea, a temporary helmet (because my permanent helmet is being decorated by my classes as a gift), free lunch, lunch bowls and chopsticks, and more mooncake. They are even going to make a display case for me at the school to show all the students and parents. I already designed it so when it's up at school, I'll take a picture to show you. They're calling my display case, "Shiela's Column". It sounds like a "column" from a newspaper, but it's actually my display case  =D. After I taught three classes on Tuesday, I played basketball with the basketball team after school.

Basketball with the Hua Shan co-ed basketball team was SO MUCH FUN! The kids are quite good and the coach told me they were number one in Kaohsiung a few years ago and took fifth place in all of Taiwan Elementary School Basketball 5 years ago! While I was not that good, the kids cheered me every single time I got a basket. At the end of practice, the girls did their team cheer and the boys did their team cheer. Their cheers were so cool! The girls's cheer goes like this: "Hua Shan--clap, clap--Hua Shan,--clap, clap--Hua--Shan--Guo--Xiao--clap, clap, clap, clap, clap, clap... (repeat)" The clapping is rather difficult, but it sounds really cool. The boys cheer is different and I don't remember it. When I asked my "sports class" (yes, I have a sports class...) what the boys cheer was, none of them wanted to tell me because they were too shy. The reason they were shy was because the boy's cheer is like a war cry. They say "Hexia!" and then say something else while contorting their faces into an intense competitive look.  It's very cool.

While I enjoyed the girl's and boy's basketball practice, I do not think I can go every Tuesday afternoon because I am so tired after going. I love practicing with the kids, though. I'll try to go at least once every month. It's hard because on Monday and Wednesday, I have Chinese class in the evening and Tuesday is the only day I get off to study Chinese. Plus, it's the only time I can lesson plan for my meetings on Wednesday morning with Ashley and Jia-Ling. I will have to time manage if I want to go to basketball practice.

On Wednesday (Sept. 10, 2008)
On Wednesday morning, I was introduced to all the students at their flag raising ceremony. It was so hot on Wednesday and the kids had to sit outside. I gave a little speech and said hello to everyone.

After the flag ceremony, I taught my three classes for the day. Just to give you a snapshot of the classes I co-teach, let me tell you which grades I co-teach and on what days. On Mondays, I co-teach one fifth grade class and two fourth grade classes. On Tuesdays, I co-teach two fifth grade classes and one sixth grade class. On Wednesday, I co-teach first graders, a sixth grade class, and a fifth grade class. On Thursday, I co-teach two fourth grade classes, a third grade class, and a sixth grade class. Finally, on Friday, I co-teach English Club with Ashley and co-teach second graders, and two sixth grade classes. It's a very busy week. But, if you think this is busy, just wait 'till next week when I add my Chinese classes on Monday and Wednesday evenings from 6:30pm to 8:30pm. My schedule will be booked with Monday being the busiest where I travel to three different locations (Ling Zhou in the morning, Hua Shan in the afternoon, and San Min Elementary School in the evening for Chinese classes).

On Thursday (Sept. 11, 2008) & On Friday (Sept. 12, 2008)
These were my most relaxing days. I lesson planned, taught my classes, and chatted with fellow teachers. Walking down the halls, students would say, "Hello Shiela Lao Shi" (Chinese for "Hello Teacher Shiela"). I kind of felt like a celebrity because I kept on waving my hand, smiling, and saying "Hello" back. My students are so excited that it makes me so excited and happy to be at my school. I really love my school. Also, check out the very nice welcome letter the principal wrote about me at the end of this blog.

Later Friday evening, I met my host family. It turns out that they live near Hua Shan Elementary school where I teach! Isn't that amazing?! My host mom Tai-Shia, my host dad Chung-Shih, and my cute little host sister Scarlet (9 yrs.) are so funny, curious, and talkative--just like me! You can check out photos here. When they announced the host family and Fulbright ETA (English Teaching Assistant) pairing, my host family and I couldn't stop talking to each other because we had so much to say; we were so excited. Well, we immediately made plans for the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival weekend. Mid-Autumn Moon Festival falls on Sunday, but we spent the whole weekend together.

On Saturday
My host family took me to Pineapple Mountain, a little mountain near Chengqing Hu (Crystal Clear Lake). We hiked up the little mountain and saw the pineapple fields. Did you know pineapples grow in the ground? I didn't know that; I thought they grew on trees. Anyway, let me tell you, this hike was very windy. It was windy because a typhoon was coming! We went hiking in typhoon weather.

Look at how windy it was up on Pineapple Mountain!

Later that evening, we barbecued and ate lots of moon cakes. A fellow teacher at school told me that the reason why barbecuing now occurs in Taiwan is because a very popular television commercial showed people barbecuing with soy sauce and ever since then, people wanted to cook this special way on Mid-Autumn Moon Festival. I don't know if this is true, but it's very interesting. I only stayed for some of the barbecue because it was a fellow English Teaching Assistant (ETA) and Local English Teacher (LET)'s birthday so I went to celebrate with them later that evening.

On Sunday
It rained a lot and the wind howled so loudly, some of my apartment mates could not sleep. Despite the rain, my host family picked me and two of my apartment mates up and drove us to Chung-Shih (host dad's) grandparent's house for homemade hot pot! The dinner was so incredibly delicious! Check out the photos here.

I ate so much moon cake this week. The Bureau of Education also sent each of the 12 Fulbright English Teaching Assistants a huge box of moon cake, so I've been eating one a day...quite a lot! I could write more because I left a lot out, but I think this is enough for one post. Thanks for reading and stay tuned for my next update!


This is my school website where you can find the Principal's post below:
http://www.hshanps.kh.edu.tw/show.php?index=1

席拉！華山的四海一家~ Welcome Shiela to Huashan 作者 weitow | 10 九月, 2008 | read_nums (1)        海上生明月，天崖共此時！       

        一到中秋季節，月餅和月亮就自然成為我們生活與感受的焦點。今年的中秋前夕，很多華山人都有個共同的感受：沒想到，今年的第一口月餅，竟然是來自Shiela小姐－這位遠從美國來做客的朋友手中。

      Shiela小 姐－華山的外籍英語客座教師，經意願選填而到本校，擔任為期一年的學童英語課協同教師，是一位美麗大方又親切近人的好女孩。她是高雄市政府教育局，透過與 國際學術交流基金會的合作，由該機構引薦美國「傅爾．布萊特」獎學金得獎青年，而來台擔任學童英語協同教學的一位外籍教師。

      華山奉高市教育局之命，於去年設置英語村，以提供更有利於學童學習英語的教學環境，自開放教學以來，倍受師生歡迎與喜愛，使用率居高不下。但本校並不以此為滿足，總希望本校的學童英語教學能繼續有所突破。

       這學年度，Shiela小姐加入華山人行列，成為本校刺激學童提昇學習英語的第三劑強心針。

       第一劑強心針，來自於本校五年級的謝興泰小朋友。他在今（97）年暑假期間，報名參加英國劍橋英檢，通過第11及檢測，相當於國內英檢中的高級檢測，這項傲人的成就，讓他10歲通過這項檢測的事蹟，成為東亞第一人的新紀錄。

       第二劑強心針，來自於本校甫從英國修完教育哲學博士返校服務的王嘉陵老師。嘉陵師在考取公費出國留學之前，已獲得國內教育博士學位，秉於自我成長與進修的信念，考取公費留學而遠赴英國求學三年，其各項英語能力自不在話下，相對的，她的英語教學專業，更是本校特別倚重的。

       而Shiela小 姐，雖是額外且意外的成為本校英語教學的第三劑強心針，但令人敬佩的，是她並未絲毫的以過客心境而減低對華山的投入，很用心也很主動的融入這個大家庭。即 便她僅能說一些簡單的國語，且大部分表達都需要使用她自己的母語－英語，但熱情有增無減。不但很快的贏得全校同仁的認同，且非常受到學童的歡迎。

       Shiela小姐在9月2日向本校報到後，依合約規範休假，開學第二週起正式到本校任職。第一天的正式上班，她帶來一大盒甫出爐的月餅，宴請本校同仁。吃月餅不稀奇，唯有每年的第一口月餅才讓人驚艷，尤其是那份來自千里之外的外國友人的真情，不但讓人非常感動，而且有一份特別的感受。 

      一盒月餅讓彼此成為一家人，一份熱誠讓學習更提昇。

      這一年裡，因於本校英語教學三劑強心劑的投入，華山全體師生會擁有真實且難忘的四海一家（We are the world）新體驗。因此，華山人要張臂歡迎Shiela小姐來華山，也要奮力提昇全校師生的英語學習。

Dear friends,
After a week of silence, I am happy to announce that I finally got Internet installed in my apartment. I am staying with three other people in our spacious 4 bedroom, 3 bathroom apartment complete with kitchen, living room, laundry room, basic furnishings, and a balcony. The apartment (pictures to come)  is quite comfortable despite the occasional cockroach that pops up. Our apartment is right across the street from the South gate of the Kaohsiung Cultural Center. This is an excellent location because it is near Normal University where I can take Chinese classes. There are also lots of events, fairs, festivals, and activities that happen in the Cultural Center. For instance, every morning and evening I see Tai Chi classes and aerobic dance classes taking place in the Cultural Center. I hope to join one of these Tai Chi classes in the Cultural Center when I have a more concrete idea of what my schedule will look like. My current schedule is pretty relaxed; I take the bus to San Min Elementary School every morning and sit the whole day participating in orientation activities. Do not be fooled, though. Things have only just quieted down for us Fulbright English Teaching Assistants (ETAs). Everyday of last week was jampacked with activities. From applying for our Alien Resident Certificates (ARC) to waddling in the water at Qijin island, the Fulbright Program Coordinators kept us extraordinarily busy. Let me recap some of the highlights of last week when I did not have Internet.

When I first arrived, I stayed in the Hotel Kingdom with a fellow Fulbrighter. Since this fellow Fulbrighter and I were arriving a day before everyone else, we walked the city. My first impressions were:
1) There are a ton of scooters in Taiwan,
2) Taiwan's stoplights have a timer on them so you know how long you have to wait for the red light (pretty nice),
3) Aforementioned scooters do not pay attention to aforementioned stoplights, making crossing the street extremely crazy,
4) People love to stare at foreigners (well, they don't like to stare at me all that much because they think I'm a local. Then, they hear me speak and they laugh because my Chinese is "ma-ma-hu-hu" (so-so) and are impressed by my Caucasian friends who speak better Mandarin than I. It's a rather funny situation.),
5) There are palm trees lining the streets, and
6) There's a 7-11 convenience store almost every two blocks! At the 7-11, you can pay your utility bill, buy a SIM card (pre-paid phone card) for your cell phone, get hot dogs, umbrellas, etc. The function of the 7-11s here in Taiwan are much more versatile than in the United States.

The night I arrived, I had dinner with just our Program Coordinators (see pictures in Photo Set 1: Arrival & Settling In) and we went to the Taiwanese Film Archive.  The next day, I met all the other Kaohsiung ETA Fulbrighters. Most of them had a layover in Taipei before coming to Kaohsiung so they were able to chat and get to know one another. On that day (the 2nd day I arrived), our program coordinators took us on an AMAZING shopping excursion.

We all loaded up onto this huge tour bus and went to IKEA and Carrefour (a large supermarket) to buy stuff for our apartments. There are twelve of us Fulbright ETAs and three apartments; four people live in each apartment. Two of the apartments are near each other and are in the same security-guarded complex (that's my apartment, Apartment A, and Apartment B). Apartment C is about two blocks from where we live. We all loaded up into this tour bus and went shopping for four people and an apartment. You'll see pictures of us fooling around in IKEA (sitting at desks) here. After buying all this stuff, we moved into our apartments and were utterly exhausted the rest of the night.

The next day, we rested and took a boat tour on the "Love River" and went to Qijin island. It was incredibly fun and I got to see much of Taiwan. On the boat tour, I saw the Hong Kong Navy (I'm not too sure why it was there), and an oil rig. When we arrived at Qijin, a group of us decided to hike to the top of the lighthouse on Qijin island. The lighthouse was closed, but the scenic overlooks were absolutely beautiful. I had yummy barbecued squid for dinner later that day at Qijin. There was also a Taiwanese boy band playing in the open space at Qijin island. You'll see in the pictures a group dancing and holding a boat on top of their heads.

During the next few days, we applied for our ARCs (Alien Resident Certificate) visited Xiziwan Beach, visited English Village (a place where 5th graders and other students can come practice prearranged English dialogs), and ate/shopped at the night markets (specifically Liuhe Yeshi and Zhong Xiao).

Xiziwan Beach was very windy when we went, but the restaurant there was excellent. I've been eating some amazing food here in Kaohsiung. Kaohsiung is a seaport so there's lots and lots of seafood--my favorite!

In Kaohsiung, the government has been spending lots of money on establishing "English Village" sites. These are places where students can go to practice specific English dialogs. Since Kaohsiung, Taiwan will be hosting the 2009 World Games, the government wants the students to be able to interact with English speakers and introduce to them the city's history and people. However, the sites are not exclusively geared toward this goal. The English Village sites have over 20 environments (i.e. hotel, grocery store, airport, bank, post office, etc.) where Taiwanese children can practice conversational English. The English Village we went to in Ling Zhou was housed in a huge building with four levels. The ETAs will be participating in English Village a few hours each week in addition to teaching English at a specific school.

After visiting both Xiziwan Beach and one of the English Villages, the next memorable outing was at the night markets! I really like the night markets because I can practice bargaining. I got a wallet here for NT$150, which is a little over US$4. The food at the night markets were amazing. They had fish balls, barbecued squid (like the kind I ate at Qijin), bubble tea (which I never tasted until coming to Taiwan), and other assorted seafood. Liuhe Yeshi is the tourist night market and Zhong Xiao is a night market by where we live.

We've been very busy these past few weeks and now that I have Internet, I'll be updating much more frequently. This weekend, I planned a day trip for all of us Fulbrighters to go to Lotus Lake (Lianchitan) to visit Confucius Temple (Kong Miao), Spring and Autumn Pavilions (ChunQiu Ge), and the Dragon and Tiger Pagodas (Longhu Ta). It should be amazing and I hope the weather will be nice.

The weather so far has been very very humid and hot. I think it's a little more intense than Hong Kong. Kaohsiung is past the Tropic of Cancer so I wouldn't expect it to be cooler. I was very worried about the humidity damaging my clothes, but I bought so many water absorbers for my drawers and closet that I think I'm fine. My apartment also bought a dehumidifier to help dry our clothes in the laundry room.  If you come visit me, though, be ready to get drenched in sweat from the hot and wet climate.

So far, I am loving Taiwan and am so excited to meet the Local English Teachers (LETs). We meet them next week and depending on who we choose, we will go to their school. The Fulbright ETAs will all be teaching at elementary schools because our Kaohsiung group is the pilot group; the Foundation for Scholarly Exchange wants to be sure that the program is successful before moving it to the middle school level. It has been so much fun and I can't wait to begin the year, meet my kids, and mix with the locals!