Outing - Optometrist

Today I (Teacher Jonathan) went with my homeroom class, the K1 Lions, to the optometrist for what they call an ‘eye check’. Whenever the students leave the school, they call it an ‘outing’ (like a field trip). But this was a very small outing, just a quick trip to the optometrist’s office and back.

In Taiwan the eye charts look very different from a typical eye chart in the west. Instead of showing different letters, they simply show the letter “c” in various positions and the students have to say which direction the letter is facing. I guess this makes sense in a country where roman letters are not used in their native language.

Outings can be a little bit stressful. Here at the school, there are plenty of staff around and the building is securely gated. But on an outing it’s just me and the Chinese teacher, so I always worry about the safety and welfare of the students. So I find that I routinely check the student numbers to make sure no one got lost, and we always walk with one teacher in the front (to lead the way) and one teacher behind (to make sure the students are following the teacher).

At the optometrist’s office, I controlled the students in the waiting room while my Chinese teacher helped the optometrist with the eye exam. Fortunately my class isn’t that hard to keep still. They’re very young, but I find that if I talk to them and try to keep them entertained, then generally they can sit still.

We sang songs on the bus ride back, and then it was back to class as usual. The kids seemed to enjoy a break from their regular routine!