Christmas in Taiwan

It’s now December 26^th (known as “Boxing Day” in Canada), and another Christmas has passed. For some of us expatriates living in Taiwan, Christmas can be a bit of a lonely time – a time when we miss our friends and family back in our home country. On the upside, however, we still have each other, and I (teacher Jonathan) spent my Christmas Eve/Christmas Morning at Wai Ao Beach with a bunch of Canadian, American and Taiwanese friends.

To get to Wai Ao, I had to take the TRA (Taiwan Railways Administration) train from Taipei Main Station. It took a while to get there (about 1 ½ hours from Taipei Main Station), but the train was very comfortable and very reasonably priced (about 10 US dollars return trip).

They had a campfire going on the beach, so we hung out there for a while, and then went inside my friend’s neighbor’s apartment. The party lasted until past 5am, at which point I took the train back to Taipei, and spent most of Christmas Day sleeping.

Taipei is 12 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time, so I called my family this morning (during their Christmas dinner) to wish them all a Merry Christmas.

I’m at work today, as I was on Friday, because Christmas is not an official holiday in Taiwan. But in late January I’ll get time off for Chinese New Year, so I’m looking forward to it!

Christmas Party

Saturday was our big Christmas party for the students and parents. It was an all-day event with lots of decorations, goodies, musical performances by the students, and activities for the students and their parents. Everyone worked hard to make it a success!

As foreign teachers we are fortunate to get the light end of the workload. Each of us was scheduled to be there for three hours that day. I (Teacher Jonathan) was there from 9am-12 noon, along with Teacher Liz and Teacher Jay. We started with a meeting to confirm all our roles for the day, and then it was time to go downstairs and greet the parents and students as they arrive.

One of the great things about our Sanxia school is that it’s a large building with lots of facilities. We have a large auditorium with a stage called the MM (Music & Movement) room, and this auditorium has a large gated door that opens up, so parents can come into the auditorium directly from outside.

While greeting the parents, we also had to lead the students to classrooms where the Chinese teachers could look after them and help them prepare for their upcoming performances. This can be a little difficult at times, as some students are very young and are reluctant to leave their parents. For really small children, the event can be a little disorienting at first. Fortunately the Chinese teachers are well-versed on how to comfort troubled kids.

Soon it was time for the performances! Each class had a Christmas song that they had to sing and dance to on the stage. I was very proud of my K1 Lions class. They sang and danced to the Bangles’ cover of “Hazy Shade of Winter”, and most of them danced and sang very well. I felt redeemed, as a few days earlier they didn’t perform it very well (more on that in an upcoming blog).

The last classes to perform in my section were the ‘baby’ classes, the T3 Ladybugs and the T1 Bears. One of the students, she could see her mommy in the crowd and wanted to run to her. I gently persuaded her to stay on the stage. I tried to use soft words “It’s OK, we’re going to sing now” and thankfully she stayed on the stage. She was so funny, because she looked so sad and upset on the stage, but as soon as the music started her face suddenly filled with confidence and she immediately started singing the song and doing her dance. It was adorable! I guess she had practiced it so many times, she knew exactly what to do.

After the performances, it was time for the activities! Parents could freely wander from room to room and decide what they want to do. Each foreign teacher was charged with hosting a room dedicated to decorating gingerbread cookies! I made my own cookie to demonstrate for the students and their parents, then went around and helped them. It was a lot of fun, and most of the kids seemed very excited about it.

After about an hour of gingerbread cookie decorating, it was time to say goodbye! So we stood outside the school and handed out candies to the students as they left. We also posed for several pictures (and to be honest I really enjoy this, it makes me feel like a celebrity).

As I left, I saw Teacher David, Teacher Lewis and Teacher Elle as they arrived for the next round, from 12-3. I really enjoyed this event and felt that it was a big success!

Birthday Party

Yesterday was our December birthday party. We have one birthday party every month, for all the students who have birthdays that month. It takes place in our “MM” (Music & Movement) room, which is basically an auditorium with a stage. I was once asked why it’s not called the M&M room (answer: I have no idea).

The birthday party is quite a sight to behold: the entire auditorium is packed with all these hyper young kids decked out in gear that fits with the theme of the party. This year our theme was Christmas, so many kids had Santa hats or reindeer antlers on their heads.

Each month a different foreign teacher is the ‘emcee’ of the party. The emcee is tasked with trying to engage and interact with all these kids, which admittedly isn’t always an easy task. But at the same time, when you shout things out and get an enthusiastic reaction, it really makes you feel like a superstar! This month the emcee was Teacher Lewis, who did a commendable job of entertaining the students.

Every month there are awards given out for students with Good English, Good Manners, and there’s also a “Superclass” for each month. Once the awards are given out, we have an activity for the kids, and this month the event was our “Christmas Song Competition”. I’ll talk about that in a future blog, as I’m hoping to get some video footage up for you to see.

Suffice to say, the monthly birthday party is a big event that’s a lot of fun for the kids, and it’s a good chance for the entire K division to come together!

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

Actually, not really to be honest. Christmas is not nearly as big an event in Taiwan as it is in most western countries. Nevertheless, it’s possible to see signs of Christmas in some of the stores – some lights here, some decorations there. But you don’t see the “Christmas rush”.

Of course you don’t see any snow here in Taiwan either. It rains a lot during the winter, but that’s OK with me. I’ll take rain over snow any day!

Here at Uncle Sam American School, Christmas is a big event for the students. Many classrooms and other areas of the school are decked out with Christmas trees and other decorations, and tomorrow we will have our monthly birthday party event, this time with a Christmas theme.

We also have a Christmas event coming up this Saturday. It’s a rare occasion that I have to work on a Saturday at the school. In fact I believe this will be the third Saturday I’ve worked for all of 2011! It should be a fun event, too. Each class will put on a show for the parents, then afterwards they can play games and/or decorate gingerbread men. My class (the K1 Lions) and I have been preparing a pretty entertaining show, so I’m looking forward to seeing the parents’ reactions.

K Teacher's Staff Outing

Saturday was a ‘staff outing’ for the kindergarten Chinese teachers. As foreign teachers, we are invited to the staff outings for all the different departments, so a bunch of us went as well.

The first part of the outing was to the “Taipei Story House”, which is basically like a doll museum. The Chinese teachers seemed to really enjoy it, but to be honest for us foreign teachers it was only interesting for so long. Fortunately they had a restaurant there so after checking out the dolls, we went to the restaurant.

The second part of the outing was bowling, which really fun! Although I must confess that as much as I enjoy bowling, I’m actually not very good at it. Thankfully there were others there who were just as poorly-skilled as I was, so I didn’t come in last place every time.

There was talk of going to the Shilin night market after bowling, but I was unable to join this part because I had plans to meet my friend to watch a movie and eat dinner. But it was a fun staff outing, and I look forward to our year-end party next month, when we’ll be playing laser tag!

Weekly Workshop

Once a week, on Wednesday at lunch time, we have a workshop. The theme of the workshop varies, but usually we discuss a particular subject, and each week a different teacher leads the discussion.

Last Wednesday it was Teacher David’s turn to lead the discussion on the subject of SuperTots. SuperTots is an externally-developed program designed to introduce English to very young learners (K1-K2 “Kindergarten 1-2” level).

Teacher David stressed the importance of variety in a SuperTots lesson. Noting that young children have a young attention span, he said he tries to “give them as many different games as possible.” He also emphasized the importance of using a big, lively voice and personality when addressing the students.

To help us see things further from a students’ perspective, Teacher David gave us an example lesson using the theme of colors. But instead of using English words, he had us learn Spanish words instead. It was a clever way to drive home the effectiveness of the lesson, as afterwards we were able to successfully recall all four of the colors we were taught.

As I (Teacher Jonathan) am a teacher of very young kids myself, the workshop was very relevant for me, and I’ll try to keep it fresh in my mind when working with my students.

Personnel Changes

Yesterday we had a couple of announcements regarding personnel changes here at the school. Teacher David will assume the role of Head Foreign Teacher for our Sanxia school, and Teacher RIchi will enter training to become the Head Foreign Teacher at our Yingge school, which is currently scheduled to open next semester. Both of them have excellent teaching skills and I believe they will be excellent in their new roles.

As for me (Teacher Jonathan), I will assume a new role where I am in charge of recruiting for all three schools (Sanxia, Yingge and Banqiao). I am very excited about this new position, as I feel it will give me a chance to put my computer skills to good use, and it also gives me a chance to work and interact with a lot of different people. I will still be teaching as well, which is great. Although I only started teaching my K1 Lions class this semester, I must admit I’ve already grown quite attached to them. I’m happy I’ll still see them every morning.

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!