Experiencing the Culture of Taiwan

Every day spent living and teaching in Taiwan is an adventure. The Taiwanese people and kind and considerate, always making sure that their American guests experience many of the wonderful aspects of Taiwanese culture.  

The American teachers sampled a variety of foods, many of which they had not seen or tasted before.  Squid, duck feet, pig intestines, and unusual fruits and vegetables often graced their plates! There were also  the true delights---mango ice and fruit teas are delicious and cool everyone off during the very hot weather!

They became experts at eating with chopsticks and navigating a very large city riding the MRT subway.

The teachers had many diverse experiences and side trips arranged by either their host families or by Mr. Shih and Jerry and Ellie Fussell.  For example, they visited many beautiful traditional temples in Taiwan, learning about the rich history of the country.

They went into the mountains and fed the friendly monkeys at the Wushan Macaque Natural Reserve. They stood on suspension bridges and saw beautiful mountain scenery! 

They visited the lovely Lotus Pond in Zuoying and took many pictures of the scenic area. They even tried wake boarding at the Lotus Pond!

Week Three: Take It Outside: Fun on Land and Sea

During Week Three, the American teachers taught a unit about outdoor land activities such as biking, hiking, sports, and water activities such as snorkeling, canoeing/kayaking/paddle boarding, wake boarding, and water skiing.  The new vocabulary words included:  outdoors, bicycle, hike, football, basketball, track and field, athlete, player, championship, score, and coach. 

In addition to teaching the new vocabulary and providing illustrations of many of these activities, the teachers also planned an outside "Field Day" at San Sin High School.  The day before the Field Day, the teachers used Power Points to teach the students the rules of the different games they would play.

On Friday, the students participated in outdoor games.  The students rotated through each of the different games.  Danielle coached kickball.  Gabriela taught three different races: Sploosh, Hula Hoop Pass, and the Egg Race.  Michaela worked with students on a relay race, three-legged race, and the "Chicken relay."  Elaney taught the students two basketball games:  "Knock Out" and "Around the World."  Although the weather was hot as always, the teachers and students enjoyed every active minute! 

 

Week Two: Teaching about Technology, Social Media, and Other Cool Stuff

Week Two started off with a field trip to the Southern Branch of the National Palace Museum located in Chiayi, more than an hour away from Kaohsiung.  This museum is the new counterpart to the National Palace Museum in Taipei, and was built to "achieve cultural equity between the Northern and Southern regions of Taiwan."  

The teachers and students toured through the rich collections of Asian Textiles, The Art and Culture of Tea in Asia, A History of Chiayi, Islamic Jades, Ming Dynasty Blue-and-White Porcelains, and Japanese Porcelains.  The museum provides an educational opportunity to explore the richness of Chinese and Taiwanese history and the many artifacts, as well as providing a venue for research and conservation.

The remaining days of the week were spent covering a unit on Technology and its many effects upon human life!  The newly-learned English vocabulary words included:  invention, hardware, software, online, Internet, program, download, upload, cyberspace, and hacker, to name only a few.  The students practiced oral dialogues and played competitive games as they learned more English!











Each American teacher has a Teaching Assistant in the classroom every day. These "TAs" are college students who have already graduated from the San Sin English Program. They are very capable English speakers, and they provide translation and assistance to both teachers and students! Without them, this type of English instruction would be very difficult. The American teachers appreciate the "TAs" and their many contributions!

Teaching Assistants Willy, Pam, Joanne, and Lilly

Danielle and Lilly

Happy Birthday, Lilly!

The daily lunch planning meeting!

   

Trip to Taipei on July 10-11

On July 10-11, San Sin High School was being used for standardized testing administration.   So the four American teachers traveled to the capital city of Taipei with Jerry and Ellie Fussell as their tour guides.  They boarded the High Speed Rail at Zuoying, and reached Taipei at 10:00 a.m. after a 90-minute train ride (a 4-5 hour ride by car!). Their time was planned wisely for the two-day trip to maximize their opportunities to see the very best tourist sites in Taipei.  

They took the MRT to Tamsui, just outside of Taipei.  They walked up to the British Consulate building. Then, they walked to nearby Aletheia University.  When they were walking back to the MRT, they came across a building with a sign that said "Fish Bite Foot."

Wanting a new cultural experience, the teachers removed their shoes and put their feet into a large tank containing many little fish. The fish immediately began nibbling on all of their feet. The fish actually nibble the dead skin off of human feet---a type of exfoliation!  And it certainly did tickle!

The teachers went to a Night Market in Taipei, and also visited the beautiful Grand Hotel.
  

The next morning, they visited the remarkable Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, a tribute to a great leader who led the wars against the Chinese Communist Party.  This beautiful Memorial Hall was inaugurated in 1980, five years after his death, to acknowledge Chiang and his efforts to modernize the Republic of China.  The teachers watched the impressive changing on the Taiwanese military guard at the memorial, and they visited the 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." 

While at the Memorial Hall, they met up with David McCulley, a previous teacher in the Summer English Program.  David has now officially moved from Florida to Taipei to teach English full-time! 

The group also visited the Taipei 101 Observatory, one of the tallest buildings in the world.  They went up to the 89th floor in the world's fastest high-speed elevator, enabling them to see the 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-force winds. Of course, the visit to Taipei 101 wouldn't be complete without a stop at the Grand Market (a huge food court that seats 1,200 people) and shopping in the huge multi-level mall surrounding the Observatory!

  

No trip to Taipei would be complete without a stop at the Chinese Handicraft Mart. This four-story building provides great shopping for Taiwanese souvenirs and gifts to bring home for very reasonable prices!