Weekly Report | Observe and Plan (Vol. 2)

Before teaching in Naba Primary School, I have never taught a lot of kids altogether at once. I had some experiences in cram schools, but this is definitely different and it offers new challenges. The program lets me teach students from 1st until 6th grade, one class per grade. Which means, all students are at different levels and therefor I need different lesson plans.

(By a 1st grader student)

Here in Tainan, kids start learning the alphabet system from 2nd grade and they will spend a year to get familiar with it. Unfortunately however, having only two classes for English per week, students here lack of chance to practice their English. At the same time, the common media available are dubbed and subtitled in Mandarin. So even though they spend a lot of time observing ‘foreign cultures’, they lack of exposure to the language itself. That being said, a number of kids in upper grades still have trouble with both written (spelling; reading) and spoken English.

Another challenge I am dealing with is the fact that the kids are not only studying English. They have other compulsory subjects they have to learn, and the last thing they want me to do is give more lessons. On top of that, some of the English sessions are hold during their recess time. As a result, before giving any session, I have to consider if it is the right level and if it is fun enough to keep them engaged. More importantly, I believe it is more important to leave a good impression of studying the language rather than making sure that they improve their English skills. My role here is to encourage them to like to learn (English).

(Making a poster with 6th graders; it says, "We Pledge to Take Care of the Earth")

As I wrote in my previous week, I did not know what to expect from this journey, but now I realized that I’ve been pushed to be creative and productive everyday! I also learned about the dedications of being a teacher. The school has a relatively small number of students so the teachers know everyone. They are also close and the teachers care about the well being of each student.

A lot of times I would be discussing about students’ progress with the English teacher, Ms. Kim. She would not mind giving me her time to consult about my lesson plans as well. If you ask where does my motivation come from though, I would definitely say that all the credits go to those bright-cute-cheerful-but-sometimes-naughty-and-loud students.