All of last week was gearing up for the all ETA conference in Taipei at the end of the week. It was the first time we would all ~35 ETAs would all be together and each county was supposed to give a 15-minute presentation. The only real guidance for the presentation was the time limit and asking us to speak on the culture & food of the county as well as our hopes and goals for this year. Taitung was slated to be the last presentation out of the counties and the last presentation of the entire conference. A little more pressure because these conferences always run long. We also didn’t want our presentation to reiterate all the previous speeches either. How different can our goals of being better teachers and becoming a bigger part of the community be?
To make our presentation just a little bit different it was decided that we should make videos of what the county has to offer. In my past blog I posted the two videos I made for the hot air balloon festival and the Pasiwali music festival, but Taitung has so much more. On top of those videos we also added a video I made of the cultural event our coordinator planned for us to have the Tuesday before the conference. We took a long van ride to a small aboriginal Bunun village and participated in a bike scavenger hunt. The idea was quite good. The event was almost escape room based where there were clues and codes that we had to decipher all the while learning different facts about the community and their culture. The only catch is, the event was made with fluent Chinese speakers in mind. We have a hard-enough time understanding Chinese on a daily basis now add the component that the Chinese isn’t meaning the literal meaning, but are using bopomofo (the way Mandarin speaking children learn the phonics of the language unlike Western learners of the language) characters all clues for different letters in the western alphabet. Put it this way, all of us ETAs were completely unprepared to help, forcing our coordinator, Ina, to take up the reigns. Despite the language barrier on the puzzles, getting to ride bikes through the village was eye opening and pretty fun. I quickly realized none of us have very good map reading abilities or astrology backgrounds, but we enjoyed the cultural event.
Following the successful finish of the bike puzzle through the village (ok maybe not completely successful as the woman leading us had to keeps giving us and our coordinator more hints than not) we went to a restaurant to learn how to make an aboriginal dish. The dish consisted of a squash/pumpkin dough surrounding red beans. The ball is then wrapped and tied in a banana leaf and steamed. They were really fun to make and pretty messy. While we waited for them to be finished steaming, we had one of the largest aboriginal feasts I have had. There was an entire fish on a plate, chicken and peppers, mixed veggies, guava, soup, rice, an aboriginal seaweed wrap, pork. You name it, we had it.
After a long day of bike riding in the heat, cooking, and traveling back to Taitung City I had to race home to finish the video of the days event. I had a little less than 2 hours to complete a 30 second video. That doesn’t sound like a hard feat, but usually I take a week to upload the videos, sort through them and organize them, and then compile the video. If it wasn’t for Kendra also taking some videos on her phone to give me different angles, editing would have been ten times harder too. One of the longest portions of editing for me is trying to find the music that fits the feeling of the footage to then edit the video to. Kendra saved the day with a video recording of us singing a Bunun song at the end of the biking puzzle. If I had more time I probably wouldn’t have used that for the audio just because I hate singing, but to make the deadline of turning in our presentation it was going to have to work. I uploaded the video with only a minute to spare when we turned it in.
The two-day conference in Taipei went without a hitch. There were speeches from the Executive Director on how this year will differ from our last, a Medical Economist who was studying in the US when Covid started who spoke on what the virus means for the world and Taiwan’s handling of the issue both in the past and moving forward, and some teacher workshops. The best part of the conference was being surrounded and catching up with all the other ETAs. I recognized most ETAs by their faces, but hadn’t really gotten close with anyone outside of my county last year. I started to make an effort and by the end, I was talking to almost everyone.
The most interesting part of the conference was hearing each county’s presentation. All of us interpreted the requirements a little different. Haulien ETAs took some extra time (~20 minutes over their allotted time) to discuss the different sites other than their most famous Taroko Gorge (Taiwan’s Grand Canyon in a way). As a result of timing, the ETAs from Kaohsiung didn’t even used their power point and instead opened the floor to any and all questions. Taichung’s group had a jeopardy style game in which each ETA had two goals for the year that you had to guess based on a small picture. Overall, my favorite was the Kinmen ETAs which went through the abandoned military tunnels that the islands are famous for. Along the way as a group the crowd could choose the direction we wanted to go. Hidden in the passageways were videos of each of the ETAs talking about their goals in new locations. The style of their presentation is something that I hope to bring into the classroom this year. It felt like a hike or scavenger hunt in a way navigating the tunnels.
Taitung’s presentation went well. Having watched all the previous groups go we tried to limit the amount we talked because we didn’t want to bore anyone. The audience seemed to like the inclusion of the videos. Although I cringed seeing the videos, I made on my laptop enlarged on the screen. Every little bounce of the camera that hadn’t been that apparent when I was editing was ten times larger on the screen. I think I’m the only one who really noticed though because my friends from other counties complimented them regardless.
The conference ended with the ETAs giving signed cards to every senior person of the Taipei Fulbright office thanking them for their dedication to get us home safely and for their fight to allow us to return. The cards and flowers brought a couple of them to tears as we gave them a standing ovation.
Enough about the conference… whatever will I do with a weekend in Taipei? Maybe go out clubbing for the first time? I went out dancing on Friday night with some friends I know through Sean. It was unbelievably cool because they took me to a rooftop club that looked out at Taipei 101 all lit up. Saturday was more low key. I went to a speakeasy bar with some the other women in my county. I had attempted to go to this speakeasy last year when a friend came to visit, but hadn’t realized we needed reservations so I wasn’t able to go in then. However, having attempted to go earlier I knew the secret way to get into the bar from the tailor shop storefront that’s on the street. In a room full of racks of suits, you must pick up the phone and dial 9 for the mirrored door to slide open. I knew this along with Sean and Corrina, but it was Kendra’s and Amanda’s first time coming. They called us from the tailor shop having no idea how to get in. Sean gave them the hint that maybe they should call for help and then promptly ended the call with Amanda. They could hear us laughing and timing them finding the way in. Lucky for them, some of the bar’s workers needed to get in and took pity on them.
It was nice to sit down with drinks and just talk about life and our days. We see each other a lot, but we had all gone our separate ways for the weekend in Taipei, spending time with friends outside of Fulbright. The drinks that night were also entertaining. It was another bar that allowed the bartender to talk to you about flavors and then they made a drink they thought you would like. Having had a bad experience with this last time, (Sean got a “smoked” whiskey), Sean did everything in his power to get something fruity. He said he liked sweet drinks, fruit, and a beachy feeling. And what did he get?? Another smoked whiskey-esque drink. It was hilarious. I had to help him finish it again because no one likes that drink. I’m pretty sure the bar already knows what they are going to make Sean just by looking at him and assuming he’s a financial bro of some sort. I on the other hand got served my drink in a school lunchbox. It was sour and sweet with an alcohol I couldn’t name. The drink was like no other in that it had sesame seeds in it and these jello cubes. I’ve got to say, I’ve only had good experiences with bars making personalized drinks for me.
With rainy weather and late nights, we took the weekend at a slower pace. I watched the movie “The Darkest Hour” and we ordered in Greek food along with making a cheese platter (Yes! Sean found a store that sells all different kinds of cheese which isn’t super big here in Taiwan). We bought a new beta fish, Zuko, and some flowers at the flower market. We also planned our next trip that will be next week to Monkey Mountain in Kaohsiung.
Thanks to Fulbright’s orientation they paid for my flight back to Taitung. You read that correctly. I got to fly instead of take the train which turns the 4.5 hours needed to get home into only an hour flight which I promptly slept the entire way. By the time I got to my apartment I was nicely rested to go to the Slow Food Festival in town. The entire day is dedicated to slow cooking meats and different aboriginal delicacies. What intrigued me the most was that each person who came was required to bring their own silverware and bowls as none would be provided to limit waste. I was a little overwhelmed by the choices. With higher than regular prices on the food and so many options I took my time before deciding on a sandwich of some sort with chicken. Let me just say, it was tasty. Whatever spices were on the chicken were superb and the about of veggies equaled my vegetable intake of the entire week before. Pictures of me eating the sandwich are probably somewhere because there were many professional cameramen there taking pictures. Two cameramen in particular zeroed in on me and asked permission to get a picture of me taking a bite. I’ve never been so self-conscious eating before. Despite the added pressure of being watched, I enjoyed the festival and seeing the different way food was being prepared. It also started the last week of orientation off on a good leg.
The last week of orientation was dedicated to preparing and leading two English Camps at two different schools. English camp was originally a way for ETAs to get their first taste of teaching in the classroom before school started. Seeing as we already had experienced this year the English Camps were more on introducing the ETA program to two different schools that will be getting their first ETAs in January. Our camp theme was Camping. We started each camp with activities for the group together and then broke off into classes by age group. The two schools couldn’t be more different. The first day of English Camp the children were very reserved all morning. We attempted to play duck, duck goose and freeze dance incorporating different vocab words about the day’s theme. The children didn’t even want to walk around in a circle, let alone dance to the music. Once we split into our classes that seemed to go better. I was teaching Biomes and Animals alongside Kendra. I was apprehensive that biomes were a little too challenging because at the students’ age I don’t think they have even truly studied biomes in their science classes. Despite my original apprehension I was pleasantly surprised. The kids seemed to sap up the information and by the end of the class were connecting the animals to different biomes on their own.
The second school we held English camp was a little rowdier and more had a larger dispersion of English ability. Classroom management was harder to tackle as the group of boys in the back weren’t invested in learning the vocabulary before the games. However, once we started playing games to review the grammar patterns and new vocab the students came out of their shells and were behaving more. I was really proud of Kendra’s and my ability to keep on track, our engaging lesson plans, and just our ability to achieve success in what we were teaching. It gave me more confidence and ideas going into this next year of teaching.
The English camps also allowed us the first time to watch each other teach. It was interesting to see how each of my fellow ETAs handled students or dealt with negative student behavior in class. Even between the first and second days of English camp, I saw an obvious change in the classroom dynamic to alter to the new student environment.
Amanda and I were also surprised at the second English class to run into our Chinese teacher from last year. At the end of the year, like us, her and her husband were planning to move to Canada. Our Chinese teacher Mike did move, but as a result of Covid Mele and their son are staying in Taiwan another year. I feel awful that their family will be separated for such a long time, but I know her students will benefit from her English class. I am already jealous of the ETA that will be placed at her school in January. I know they will have a very supportive and fun LET to learn from. Throughout the day, Mele would watch our interactions with her students and it was fun to run into a friend at work.
By the end of the camps we had the students running around in a scavenger hunt finding all of us teachers hiding around the school. Once they found one of us, they had to answer four different questions that pertained to our classes earlier. The enthusiasm was palpable. From my hiding place, you could hear the kids yelling and the pounding of footsteps as they ran between possible hiding places. I kept thinking my hiding places were good, but once one group found me the rest soon followed. The successful camps finished with the students asking us to come again tomorrow.
Even with being so tired after the camps, seeing the students' entire demeanor change about English throughout the day and how learning can be fun makes doing another Fulbright year worth it. I feel like I am actually making a difference in someone else’s life. School officially starts on Monday. I am hoping to bring the same enthusiasm and creativity I had at the camps to my school. If I will do anything right, I want to bring just a little bit more fun into the classroom this year.
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