You want me to teach...science?!

Lotus: What can you teach for the gifted class this spring?
Jill: I can teach anything! What do you need me to teach?
Lotus: Science.
Jill: Ummm...

So aside from the fact that science is far from my specialty, I ended up teaching English through science to a group of about fourteen students. This is not to say that it was a preposterous idea for me to teach science, but where to begin? And with few qualifications I had to do a lot of legwork to prepare.

Our classes ended up taking on more of a form of "backyard science." Here are a couple of pictures from our first class on the scientific method and paper airplanes. Unfortunately, most of the ideas behind the scientific testing of the airplanes got lost in translation, but I did teach them to say hypothesis and experiment, as well as encourage them to design and innovate an airplane for our contest. A number of planes were lost off the balcony (we were testing in a third floor hallway that opened into the track below), but all in all it was a fun class!

"Just an Ordinary Friday" or "My Students Perform a Lion Dance"

This morning, instead of going to school for my first two classes, I went to a ceremony at Luodong Vocational High School to watch my students perform a lion dance. Our area is apparently very well known for this particular dance, so a number of schools have lion dance teams. (We also apparently have a dragon dance rollerblade team, but I haven't had a chance to see them yet!)

The lion dance team is made up of about nine boys who practice mostly on their own. Sara, my coteacher, said that when the school has money they will hire a coach, but this isn't the wealthiest of schools so they are currently self-coached. In that regard, it was very cool to watch the boys perform as they were completely self-choreographed and rehearsed. Sara and the other teacher chaperoning the boys nervously bit their nails as these seventh and eighth graders performed synchronized moves and lifts. At the end they dropped scrolls from the mouths of the lions and ate (received) red envelops of a few hundred NT (about $10-20 USD) from the principal of the school.

I think the coolest part about watching the dance, though, was seeing my students taking part in their traditional culture in such a competent way. This isn't to say they were the most coordinated of dancers, but for middle school students to take such an interest in something so traditionally Taiwanese was very cool. I'm so used to seeing them in English class where everything they learn is literally foreign. Many students are not successful in that environment, but some of the students who struggle the most in English were so dedicated to the dance that it cast them in a light of success.

Taroko Gorge

While my mom was in Taiwan, my host mom, Janet, offered to take us to Taroko Gorge. So off we went with her son and husband to see the "Grand Canyon" of Taiwan. It was really beautiful, and, despite the nice weather, not too crowded. Here are some pictures from the trip!

Taiwan in the News

It's been a while since I've gotten any updates on here, so that's going to be my goal for the next few weeks. Expect new posts to be backdated (my favorite feature to preserve the chronology of the blog!) to when I wrote them in my head, but did not type them on my computer. I normally write when I drive or am falling asleep or take a shower...all of those really convenient times to think, but not to transcribe. Unfortunately, I've had little time to transcribe in the past few weeks (three weeks in SE Asia and before that the end of school and before that Christmas/New Year/Chinese New Year holidays). New posts coming soon, though!

In other news, Taiwan was in today's Washington Post. Read Taiwan, China Negotiating a Landmark Free-Trade Agreement. If you want to talk about it or ask any questions after you've read the article, leave me a comment or send me an email!

Taipei Lantern Festival

My mom is here! She came in on Thursday night and we spent the weekend in Taipei checking out such highlights as the botanical gardens, the Chienkuo weekend jade market and the famous jadeite cabbage at the National Palace Museum. Taipei's Lantern Festival is also going on this week, so we had the chance to see that while we were visiting Taipei 101. Although I am rather partial to the Taiwan Lantern Festival in Yilan (see Taiwan Lantern Festival comes to Yilan!), this was still a very cool display, nonetheless. How can you top the lantern of Taipei 101 with the real Taipei 101 in the background? Or a lantern tribute to Cape No. 7 with all of the band members cast as Oxen? Classic!

The coolest section, though, was probably the student lanterns. They seemed to follow a theme of recycling, using all manner of reclaimed items to make these great pieces of light-up art. Some looked like used water bottles glued together, while others represented cityscapes in reused shampoo bottles or, my favorite, a peacock in used bottles and CDs.

Taiwan Lantern Festival comes to Yilan!

That's right! One of the coolest festivals in Taiwan was held in Yilan Sports Park this year. I went on opening night which was jam-packed with special performances (see the video of the dragon dance) and special ceremonies. President Ma spoke, and then in a flurry of anticipation, the main lantern, designed to somewhat resemble an Ox (this is the year of the Ox), was lit. Fireworks galore.

The lantern festival is very large, with different sections of lanterns in different styles. The main lanterns are huge (probably three stories tall), but there are also smaller, artistic lanterns made by prisoners (keep them busy?), as well as sections for lanterns made by students throughout Taiwan at all levels from elementary school to university. I found the two lanterns that San Sing Junior High entered into the contest, but unforunately when I found where the Xin Zhong lantern was supposed to be, only the label was still there! The lantern had disappeared!

SE Asian Adventure: Malaysia and Singapore

SE Asian Adventure: Cambodia

SE Asian Adventure: Phillippines and Thailand