4ever Discovering
Learning together
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The students are learning English.
I am finding my teaching style ...
As the school year is quickly finishing. There are so many things left to explain and talk about. I realize I have not been posting about my teaching as much as I wanted to. There are no exact words to describe my teaching experience here in Taipei…….. Because honestly teaching here has caused every single emotion in the books. We have our amazing days… and our “WHY AM I HERE?” days.
We have learnt so much about each other and from each other. I know what my students like and dislike… I know how to get them to calm down, or how to get them excited. This year, I have develop so much experience that you cannot learn from teacher’s college. I have dealt with situations that you do not even imagine in teacher’s college. As much as they teach you strategies to implement in your classroom… You will never know which strategies will work or not work until you meet and truly form connections with your students.
This semester, all my students have shown improvement in their English capabilities AND in their behaviours in the classroom… I don’t know if that was good for them because now I expect more from them.
This semester, so far, we have covered 2 units. Senses and Seasons. We did some pretty cool projects and activities. During those two units, we had report cards, parent-teacher interviews, and exams. YES, exams happened 4 times a year here. YES, they are 7-8 years old.
During our senses unit, we really emphasized the word “describe” and how to correctly use adjectives. We asked students to describe what they see, hear, smell, feel, and taste. We went on a nature walk and used our senses to describe our surroundings. We learned about how important our senses are, and how some people use braille or sign language to communicate. We made a texture hand and describe the different texture around us. We also had to use all our senses to describe our favourite food... Mcdonalds and Sushi were the top hits in my class. The senses unit was an unit of exploring our surroundings. It was really fun to see the students be weird, and curious about the things around them
After senses we had seasons…. Because some students were still struggling with describing, we decided to continue to emphasize using adjectives. We learned all about seasons…. Weather, temperature, clothing, activities. We even describe each season using our senses. We had a lot of fun with this unit because our Taiwanese students are very curious about Canada. We decided to use that to excite them in learning about seasons by comparing Taiwan and Canada (sometimes Japan as well. They love Japan) The students made a season tree, a season brochure, and other little activities.
I think the favourite seasons are winter and summer..
Now, we are starting/finishing “My Community” and working on our Open House Show….
This past semester has been very rewarding! I am proud of all my students and myself (for not locking myself in the classroom and hiding every day)