Happy Birthday, San Sing Junior High School!

San Sing Guo Zong (San Sing Junior High School), one of the two schools at which I teach, had their 50th birthday celebration on Saturday! The teachers have been very busy for the past few weeks to prepare for the occasion, but when I would ask what the celebration entailed, I could ascertain very little information. I did learn that there would be speeches from 830 to 1030 in the gym, and then a teacher told me that at 1130 "we sell things...french fries."

So with little to expect other than french fries, I headed for San Sing with my host mom, Janet, and her son Tom. Janet is also a junior high school English teacher, and she actually used to teach at San Sing before taking a job at a school in Luodong so she could spend more time with her son.

The day was drizzly, but as we pulled up you could just see swarms of people milling around the school. We missed the speeches (fortunately), but made it just in time for what seemed to be a small fair. Each homeroom arranged a tent on the tennis courts and sold all kinds of food from boba tea (iced tea with these chewy tapioca "pearls" in them) to "pizza" (ham, pineapple and cheese melted on a piece of white bread) to chicken nuggets.

As a teacher I was given 50 NT worth of tickets to use at the booths. I had intended to wander around the stalls and choose what looked most delicious (my taste isn't all that Taiwanese, still), but as soon as I set foot on the tennis courts I was heralded with calls of "Jill! Here!" as my students tried to sell me their wares. I would up buying boba tea from 804 and chocolates from 801, as well as a piece of black sugar cake from one of the 7th grade homerooms. It was very hard to decline a lot of the offers from my students, as they were so excited to see and interact with me (or maybe they just wanted to make the sale). Either way, I like to see them trying to use English to communicate with me. It would be easier to shut down, but as two girls stumbled through trying to tell me the price in English, they were thinking and applying what they have been learning in class. And for lower level students like these two girls, the fact that they were trying is so important!

Janet and I wandered and spoke with some of the teachers while Tom ate as much food as he could. Those conversations with Janet, though, were really enlightening. We knew many of the same people -- I knew their English names, she their Chinese. I could relate my observations, while she had a history of conversation and depth. The result of the language gap is huge, but being with Janet helped to bridge a little bit of that gap. (Left: Me with Angus, one of the soldiers stationed at San Sing to help improve English literacy. Angus is Taiwanese, but went to high school, college and graduate school in the US before coming back to do his mandatory military service.)

There were also a few ceremonies and performances, including aboriginal dancers and traditional Chinese opera performers, but unfortunately we had to leave before their big costumed performance. More than anything, though, it was great to see the school decked out and on display. Everyone there just wanted to celebrate the school and the work done there. I feel lucky to be part of such a community!