It started. After a couple weeks of quarantine, a month of orientation and teacher re-training we started school. I would’ve been completely lost if Benton, the ETA at Chulu Junior High las year, hadn’t sent me a long 6 page letter on things he observed at school. He covered everything from some differences in teaching style between the LETs, where best to park, and what is expected of me come any holidays. It was a relief to already know things like where the teachers eat lunch, although I am still trying to figure out where they all disappear to after we finish washing out our dishes. But regardless, I feel prepared for this coming year.
The ride to school can range anywhere from 18-30 minutes. In my personal opinion that is too big of a range. On the first day I left 40 minutes to get to school resulting in me pulling into the parking area at 7:30, 30 minutes before I was told to arrive. I am still trying to play around with my morning schedule to work out what is best for this coming year. I have had to come to the conclusion that until I see another teacher eating their breakfast at their desk, that I probably shouldn’t. Instead of my daily 火腿蛋餅, a taiwanese breakfast food similar to a burrito with eggs and ham inside, I bought a box of corn flakes to eat before leaving. I look forward to the day I see someone eating at their desk because hot food definitely beats boring corn flakes.
School campus courtyard where students spend most breaks playing badminton
My desk was originally to be located in the academic affairs office was moved to the student activities office. I think the change is fitting. I know sit across from the student activities direction who also doubles as a geography teacher. -That’s something I learned this year, many teachers and more than one position in Taiwan and specifically at this school. 2 of my LETs also double as Homeroom teachers, teaching Chinese to their students as well. The other LET, Susan, works as a special education teacher for students with intellectual or emotional challenges. - The PE teacher, Kurt, also loves to use his English with me and is almost completely fluent. The feeling in the office is pretty laid back until a student misbehaves. One of the other adults in the office is Jia Liang, the director in charge of discipline. I have heard raised voices and seen many students come in to write what I can only assume is lines as a punishment for acting out in class.
This morning it wasn’t the students that fought in the office. The school has a school dog named Akkie. Akkie found a playmate in one of the students dogs that followed their owner to school this morning. They were having fun and getting pets in the office until everything was not fun and games anymore and they started snarling and attacking. Thank god the PE teacher was there because he pulled them apart and took the bigger dog while I helped lead Akkie out of the office. We were able to get the students’ dog leashed outside with no other issues. I can’t say I helped out nor do I really think I would’ve been much help if I did step in. Either way, Akkie is fine and there is a reason we only have one dog on campus.
As for classes, it’s been a little bit more difficult to get a handle on planning. I think I blocked out the beginning of last year when I didn’t know what to plan or how to teach and instead only focus on the times I knew my students inside and out. I’m having difficulty walking into different classes at a room full of students where I don’t know their full level of English or how best they learn. The LETs add another layer to my own self-discovery of what I can give to Chulu Junior High. One of my LETs is very hands off. I will be given 25 minutes of class to address any topic she gives me. I have free range in how to teach it. I am currently planning an 8th grade class about a dialogue of the Hot Air Balloon Festival and temples - at least two things I have done before. The higher level 9th graders on the other hand has a lot more pressure. As a 9th grader the students must take a test equivalent to the ACT, but to determine the high school you can attend. Sadly, a big portion of the test involves English reading comprehension. I am not saying being able to write a sentence or introduce themselves. Instead these students are being asked to read paragraphs and answer questions regarding the passage by reading between the lines. I have been tasked with picking a story each week for class and leading the class in the questions and how to address each story. It’s a lot of added pressure and I feel like I would be a stronger teacher if I had better Chinese skills to check their comprehension.
Two of my classes pose a unique challenge; they are labeled English IEP classes. In other words, the students have an IEP, or learning difficulty which prevents them from being in the other English classes. They are much smaller in size, 2-4 students in each class. I had some students last year with learning challenges and with my history of helping my mom as a therapist add I thought I my past skills would aid me in teaching. I was wrong. Two students just want to sleep and refuse to listen at all or participate. One boy went so far as to try to eat a lollipop which my LET put on the wrapper on the desk. I then kept having to tell him to put it down and to pay attention. Another student who has trouble comprehending the material just played with a rubber band and shot it at the other students disregarding everything surrounding us. I don’t think the English class is helpful in this case. The students in these classes use the same textbook as the rest of their grade level, however, most weren’t able to answer simple questions or recall the entire alphabet. I think it would be beneficial to take them out of the textbook and start teaching again from the beginning. One of the reasons they are acting up so much is because they are completely lost and if we don’t return the basics I can’t imagine them gaining that much out of class.
The last co-teacher is very relaxed and similar to my old LET from last year. He has a plan for class, but I feel like I am not always privy to that information. He will show up maybe 5 minutes before class and ask if I have anything planned for it. A little last minute I would think, but then he will pull out this whole other idea that I didn’t know he prepared instead. I did appreciate how he had the 7th graders, the only grade not split by English level and instead the students take the class with their homeroom, start English with reviewing the ABC phonics. There was already some apparent issues with past English classes because the class had trouble mixing up letters and sounds. Starting off this way was a great idea, but now it confuses me even more because I don’t know when he will return or use the textbook like the other 7th grade I teach with another LET. As a co-teacher I think my patience and flexibility will grow this year as a result.
I am also getting the opportunity to grow more as a leader and teacher myself. Last year I was co-teaching in every sense of the term. Irene and I worked off each other as a team, switching off throughout the course of the class. This year not only is most of the class split in that I teach half and the LET the other half, but their are two other forms of class that I will be teaching, International Communication and Study Hall. International Communication is a new addition to the schedule this year to uphold my school’s label as an experimental school. The director’s understanding was to practice English for traveling. I was given complete control over this class for my 8th graders. We will be going on a “trip” to a country of their choice. With each step in the process we will incorporate writing assignments and dialogues. I am trying to bring to life the large projects I had while in Middle school myself. When learning about Ellis Island we took on a character or in some of our cases like myself, we became a relative that immigrated. It gave us a chance to understand the feeling of moving to a new country and the process it took to come. The same thing with a unit of Pioneers in which I was a woman named Sarah who sadly lost a child to cholera. Projects like these are more memorable for the students. I mean my projects were 10 years ago and I still remember them in fondness. So far the class project has gone well. I had them fill out fake passports with their names, birthdays etc. It gave me a chance to review simple questions like how old are you? I might’ve also done it to try to remember all the students’ names in the 8th grade. I took pictures of them with my phone and plan to stable them into a makeshift passport.
To get the students familiar with different country names I reviewed the names by showing a travel video off Youtube and having them guess the country. There was a small flaw in my plan. I didn’t realize that sometimes when you play a video the title will appear on the top of it for a few seconds, which to the diligent student will be an easy way to the answer when the title is something along the lines of “Australia travel video 2019). Alas, I think the students had fun trying to guess each country. Next class they will be using their iPads to look up 8 countries (The UK, USA, Ireland, Australia, Philippines, South Korea, Canada, and Japan). From those countries they will decide upon one which will be our class trip. They will have to debate why or why not to go to a certain location. I really hope they don’t choose the UK or the US because I think it would be a great opportunity to learn a different culture they are interested in even if we are using English.
Though it’s only been a week, I have seen glimpses of a really fun and exciting year. I hope through careful planning I can bring that to light at school. I’ve already been invited to attend dinner with another teacher and his family and given snacks from other teachers, so I’d call that a small success in very little time. Next step, getting the 9th graders to take me seriously instead of talking about me and possibly becoming friends with the group of young women teachers. I’ve been trying to act more confident speaking Chinese so maybe they might talk to me soon. Looking forward for the year to come.
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