Leaving Taiwan: August 2, 2011

On Tuesday, August 2nd, the American student teachers and their hosts went to the Kaohsiung airport at 7:00 a.m. to catch their 8:45 a.m. flight for the United States.  Despite the early hour, many San Sin students and the Teaching Assistants came to the airport to see them off and to express their affection and gratitude.  After a successful check-in, the teachers talked to the students and posed for many pictures.  The teachers received several last-minute gifts and notes from their special visitors!  The students expressed hope that some of their American teachers would return for the Summer English Program next year.  They promised to maintain communication through Facebook and Skype.  Then, everyone came together for a photo of the entire group!

Dora from the school’s academic English Team came prepared with a large package of tissues. She was well aware of the inevitable tears and sadness that would come!  Separation from those you have spent every day with and have come to love and appreciate is always difficult, especially when the distance between them will be so great.  The kindness and generosity of the Taiwanese people in general, and of the host families and San Sin students in particular, is so touching.  Many tearful hugs and waves were exchanged as the teachers departed!

 

The American teachers wish to express their gratitude to Mrs. Helen Lee for her leadership and for making this wonderful Summer English Program possible.   A special thanks also goes to Mr. Jerry Fussell, who helped to initiate the Sister School relationship between TCC and San Sin High School in 1993, and who continues to provide unlimited assistance to help the program and the American teachers.  Mr. Shih is also greatly appreciated for his help in providing meals, gifts, currency exchange, and yoga classes for the American teachers.  And finally, love and hugs go to the wonderful host families and San Sin students, who provided the American teachers with a very special and memorable experience!

The American student teachers waiting for their flight home in the Tokyo, Japan airport.

Week-end Trips: Santimen and Meinong on Saturday, the Zoo on Sunday!

On Saturday, July 30, the American teachers traveled with Helen Lee, Mr. Shih, and Jerry and Ellie Fussell, and the Teaching Assistants to the Sandimen Artistic Village in Pingtung County.  The first stop was the Dragonfly Bead Art Studio, where glass bead making and glazing was demonstrated.  Several native aboriginal women produce the glazed beads, selecting designs designated for each month of the year, each having a different philosophical meaning.  The teachers and their students learned the steps involved in bead-making, including heating the glass, refining and decorating the bead shape, and adding color designs to the glass surface.  Some made a bead bracelet and others made a necklace. They were very proud of the finished product!

Next stop:  the Taiwan Indigenous Peoples Culture Park.  A large and spacious park, it is located in a mountainous area of 145-220 meters above sea level.  The park provides historical information, traditional houses, and artifacts about fourteen of Taiwan's native aboriginal tribes, including the Amis, the Puyama, the Yami, the Sakizaya, and others.  The group watched the elegant singing and dancing of the Indigenous tribe members in the 2000-seat Naluwan Theater, and took pictures with the performers afterwards. 

On Sunday, July 30, the American teachers were treated to a trip to the Shou Shan Zoo in Kaohsiung by a number of San Sin students.  Shou Shan is the largest public zoo in southern Taiwan, and is home to lions, tigers, elephants, and a variety of other animal and bird species.  Willy, Lulu, Bella, Steve, Basil, and others put up with the hot weather to escort their teachers!  They enjoyed riding the mechanical animals in the children's area.  Then, the group enjoyed lunch at the Subway restaurant, an American chain restaurant that is now found in several locations in Kaohsiung!

Farewell Dinner with Host Families on July 29, 2011

A lovely Farewell Dinner was held at the Hotel Kingdom on Friday evening.  Each American student teacher was accompanied by his or her host family.  The Farewell Dinner provides an opportunity for Mrs. Helen Lee to express appreciation to the host families for their gracious hospitality to the American teachers.  Each host family was provided with a digital photo album as a gift from San Sin High School.

The amount of planning, preparation, and daily monitoring for this program is monumental.  Thanks were expressed to everyone contributed to success of the Summer English Program, including Jerry and Ellie Fussell, Mr. Shih, and school employees Zach and Vivi.  Each American teacher was provided with a gift fron San Sin High School.  And of course, Helen Lee was thanked for her coordination and directing of the program overall.  Appreciation was expressed in many ways by the American teachers as well, whose experience in Taiwan was a life-changing event!

Special thanks were given to Teaching Assistants.  Naseerah, Alex, Roslyn, Kim, Susan, and Gogo were invaluable in helping the American teachers carry out their daily tasks and communication with San Sin students.  The TAs are a hard-working and fun-loving group, and they are fast friends with each other and with the American teachers!  The American teachers presented a gift bag to each TA, and the TA group provided a special gift to Helen Lee and Mr. Shih!

If you would like to see our "SLEEP GALLERY" Blog, please go to: 

http://tcctaiwansleep2011.blogspot.com/

Closing Ceremony: July 29, 2011

Each year, the San Sin Summer English Program ends on Friday of the last week with a celebration called the "Closing Ceremony."  Mr. Pan typically speaks to welcome the students and teachers.  Then, Dr. O'Kon thanks the principal and Mrs. Helen Lee, the San Sin Foreign Language department head, for their support and help during the program.  Dr. O'Kon also speaks to the San Sin students to encourage them to continue working hard with their English studies. Two of the San Sin English teachers, Emma and Angel, translate these comments into Mandarin Chinese to make sure that all students understand what is being said.

This year, Dr. O'Kon said, "Your American teachers have all been impressed with the level of English skills found in many of the San Sin students.  The students here truly care about improving their English abilities. And it is an inspiration to us all to see how hard you are working to learn more about English and to use it correctly. The ability to speak and use another language correctly will ensure your success in the future.  Keep up the good work!"



Tom from Class G receives a medal!

Then, awards were given for the PBL projects that had been presented on Thursday.  Four groups of students were acknowledged for their outstanding work and oral presentations of their projects.  In addition, students came to the stage, class by class, and each one received a certificate for the completion of the Summer English Program.  When all had received their certificates, the American teachers called two individual students to the stage from each class, presenting each one with a special gold medal for outstanding academic achievement in the Summer English Program.



After a short break time with a flurry of picture-taking of teachers with students, the real fun began!  Individual classes of students performed acts that they had rehearsed, using English exclusively.  They varied from "Dancing Queen" to "A Love Story" to "Let's speak Taiwanese."  Not to be outdone, the American teachers presented their own version of "San Sin Idols."  They replicated the American Idol format, and brought the house down with their fourth and final entry:  Lady Gaga.  Their teaching assistant Gogo, dressed like Lady Gaga, danced and sang with the American teachers.  While all of them should probably keep their day jobs, it was very, very funny and a once-in-a-lifetime experience!

Especially touching was the final presentation prepared by Candy and other members of Class F.  A Power Point presentation showed many, many pictures of the teachers and students together during the weeks of the Summer English Program, to the background music of "Thank You."  The American teachers quickly learned what it is like to be truly appreciated by a group of students who aren't hesitant to let their teachers know how they really feel!   

  

   

See the video at this link:  http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1815880887848

Week Four: International Travel and the PBL

The curriculum topic for Week Four was International Travel.  In three days of teaching, the students learned many English vocabulary words such as passport, visa, reservation, overhead compartment, and baggage claim.  They practiced oral dialogues and discussed the countries they would most like to visit.  At the same time, students in every class were working on project-based learning  (PBL) presentations for Thursday, and on student performances for the Closing Ceremony on Friday.

On Thursday, July 28, the students and teachers met in the 7th floor auditorium so the San Sin students could make their oral "PBL" presentations.  All of the American teachers served as judges.  Showing great creativity and effort, the students used English well to present information about one of the four curriculum topics (Festivals, Food, Sports, Travel) from the Summer English Program.  Some dressed in costumes or prepared tables of food on stage to emphasize their points.  The teacher judges were very impressed with their originality, speaking abilities, and creative Power Point presentations!  Awards were given for the top four groups, and walking away with First Prize was Class E (Buck, Ian, Basil, Allen, Cindy, Jack, and Jason).   Congratulations to all of the award winners!

Trip to Taipei on July 23-24, 2011

The American student teachers traveled to the capital of Taipei on July 23 for an overnight stay. They boarded the high-speed rail train early, reaching Taipei in only 90 minutes!  

The teachers spent some hours visiting the National Palace Museum and learning about Chinese history. The Museum was originally founded in 1925 in the Forbidden City in Beijing. In 1949, civil war was raging between the Nationalist Government and the Communists.  The government shipped 600,000 treasured works of art to Taiwan to protect them from the war. The permanent collection of over 677,000 pieces has been stored in the current museum since 1965, and the pieces document more than 8,000 years of Chinese history. The displays are rotated every three months, and about 60,000 pieces can be viewed at a time.  The exhibits include jades, vessels, weapons, ceramics, calligraphy, documents, rare books, antiquities, and paintings going as far back as the Neolithic Age. The Museum is ranked as one of the four best museums in the world. Now, digital technology is being used to make the exhibits more animated.

Next stop: Taipei 101.  The Taipei 101 Observatory is one of the tallest buildings in the world.  They traveled up to the 89th floor in the world's fastest high-speed elevator and viewed the extensive city of Taipei in all directions. The Observatory holds the world's largest wind damper, and is built to resist the strongest earthquakes and gale winds.  The teachers dined in the Taipei 101 Grand Market, which seats up to 1,200 people---and it was so crowded that nearly every seat was taken!  Then, they visited a famous Taipei night market, which was also very, very crowded!

Their first stop on Sunday was the remarkable Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, a tribute to a great leader who led the wars against the Chinese Communist Party. He died in 1975, and this beautiful memorial hall was inaugurated in 1980 to acknowledge him and to his efforts to modernize the Republic of China. The teachers witnessed the impressive changing of the Taiwanese military guard at the memorial, and they visited the six chambers of the history museum on the bottom floor.  The inscriptions on the side walls describe Chiang Kai-shek's philosophy: "The purpose of life is to improve the general life of humanity", and "The meaning of life is to create and sustain subsequent lives in the universe."

On Sunday, the teachers shopped at the four-story Taiwan Handicraft Promotion Center.  This provided an opportunity for them to purchase special Taiwanese souvenirs and gifts for family and friends. In the late afternoon, they returned to the high speed rail station, and in 90 minutes, they were back "home" in Kaohsiung and ready for a good night's sleep! 

Week Three: Sports, Rain, and Outside Activities

During week three, a revised teaching schedule permitted the American student teachers to stay with the same classes for five consecutive days.  The topic of the week was Sports, including Badminton, Basketball, Baseball, and Volleyball.  San Sin students learned about technical sports vocabulary, aided by many pictures and lots of creativity on the part of the teachers.  The San Sin students talked about their school teams and national sports teams, and the teachers compared well-known Taiwanese and American athletes.  With such healthy exchanges of information, the teachers learn as much as the students do!

Due to a nearby typhoon, the weather in Kaohsiung continued to be sporadically very rainy.  As the week progressed, the weather improved. Neither rain nor shine prevented the students from asking their teachers to participate in outside activities.  They hosted their teachers to shopping trips to the Sanduo Shopping District, the Hanshin Arena, and the Dream Mall.  Some of the teachers went bowling with the teaching assistants, some attended yoga, some went to KTV (karaoke), and many ate mango!  And all were treated to a special lunch and traditional tea ceremony by Mr. Shih.  His unlimited kindess to the teachers is so touching!