Save the 5 minutes that we went outside to experience the "Super Typhoon" today, my house mates and I have now been in our apartment for over 24 hours straight. Although catching up on the missed seasons of various TV shows starts out as fun, when you're still doing it 10 hours later, it loses some appeal. Luckily, from what I can tell from the weather websites, the eye of the storm has passed over Taiwan, what's left now is just the tail end. And what a tail end it is. It sounds like you're in a wind tunnel, and whenever a big gust comes, the windows sound like they're about to crack. We've put tape in huge Xs over the glass, hoping that if the windows DO break, they'd break into large pieces instead of shattering. However, if this were to occur, we realized that we don't have anything to cover the, then exposed, window with. Details...
I took last night to make flashcards in a feeble attempt to learn some Chinese before I get swamped with teaching (class starts on August 30, so not much time there, I suppose). It's a very frustrating feeling being surrounded by writing and not being able to read any of it. Chinese is a tonal language, meaning that there are 4 tones that any given word can be in. One tone means one thing, the same word in a different tone can mean something completely different. For example: "tang" in a first tone means "soup," but "tang" in second tone means "sugar." The problem is, a lot of the time, people talk very quickly, and while I can hear the tone difference in some things, I feel like a lot of the time, I'm gonna have to stick with putting the words in the context. A side of soup makes a lot more sense than a side of sugar when ordering noodles...
Anyway, one thing I'm struggling with in terms of language is the whole idea of the characters. Our Chinese teacher suggested that we learn b, p, m, f (pronounced boh, poh, moh, foh), which is basically the alphabet. However, each sound is associated with a character- makes sense: when we learn to read English, we realize that the sound of A is connected with the letter A. The character aspect is called "MPS," while the written out sounds (in this case: b, p, m, f) is called Pinyin. The MPS characters you learn make up the more complex characters that mean actual words. We have been told that our students learn MPS, and it would be more benifical if we learned MPS too, rather than Pinyin. This adds an extra step. Now, we have to look at a character, recognize what that character is in Chinese, then translate it to English. For example: you see the character, you recognize that it's the character for bai, and then you remember that bai means "white" (it's also the first part of my Chinese name: bai ba ru). However, if you don't know that the character is bai, your stuck, and not only can you not read it, you sure as heck can't say it. NOT to mention, when you combine the characters with other characters, they make up new words- for example, bai (white) when combined with two other characters make up the word "passion fruit." Never would have guessed that.
This definitely makes language learning frustrating. The last time I learned a new language was Spanish, and at least then I was using the same alphabet. At the same time, when you finally figure out what a word is, it is SO satisfying- like identifying a code. I worked on translating part of a menu last night, and while I still don't know what a lot of words mean, I can definitely find the character for vegetable, meat, and water. I know people spend years and years learning this language, but I'm bound and determined to at least know enough to get by here.
Sunday, August 19, 2007
Friday, August 17, 2007
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
And so begins the real work: getting to know our LET (Local English Teachers)- figuring out who we want to be working with for the next 10 months, getting to know teaching styles, lesson planning, personalities. Personality is definitely the major thing- I'd be happy in any of the counties, which is nice. I'd much rather be working with someone because I think his or her personality is compatible with mine than based on where the school is located.
I've never done lesson planning like this. It seems fairly abstract, just creating a plan for a class without knowing the background of how much the students know, what kind of a school it is, how old the students are. It's much less structured in that regard than I'm used to. We don't have to list the standards and the objectives. The focus more is on presentation and whether it conveys the information you want it to. Lesson planning is not new to me, but having to repeat things so many times, and using as few words as possible (and as much body language as possible) to convey directions is hard. I'm used to giving directions to students who understand (at least most of) the words. Practice makes perfect, though. Today I felt my lesson plan was much more solid than it was yesterday. Today I taught prepositions.
After sharing our lessons in the morning, the ETAs (English Teaching Assistants) went and visited two schools in Nan-Ao, a county that is about an hour and a half on the bus from Ilan, but only 15 minutes by train, and only a half an hour by train from Luodong.
Basically the entire trip consisted of winding roads up and down steep, lush mountains. Every now and then you could see the coast. The view was absolutely incredible.
The two schools that are out in Nan-Ao have a primarily Aboriginal student population. They are VERY small schools, with a staff of 10-15, and 100-130 students. They both go from K-6, and the ETA that is placed out there would teach in one school 2 days, and the other school 3 days. One of the schools has 3 requirements for the students to graduate: they must partake in the Aboriginal dance group, they must learn judo, and they must participate in the brass band which is being formed this year.
The town's population is 3,000. It'd be like living in a Vassar-sized town. But because the community is so small, apparently you are known very well and everyone watches out for you- you're invited to families' house
s and to celebrations. The music and dance programs in the school really appeal to me, but I'm not sure if I could be that isolated from the rest of the group in Ilan and Luodong. More importantly, there is even less English in the Aboriginal village than there is in Ilan and Luodong- I suppose that would give me motivation to learn Chinese faster, but I'm sure it would also be hard. However, thinking about it, I'm not sure when you'd get another opportunity like it. At every school, they gave us food, and then we went to this ice place, which is shaved ice flavored with different things. I had lemon (they have no yellow lemons here, only green!) and passion fruit. It took me a minute, but I realized that it tasted just like water ice. I feel like I'll be frequenting the ice place regularly. These pictures are the views surrounding the schools.
When we got back to Luodong, all 12 of us, plus the staff went to dinner at a hot pot place near our house. Hot pot is great because you can chose what you want to eat- most of them are buffet style, with a set price for an all-you-can-eat. You pick your food, it's raw, and you cook it in a personal pot filled with broth or water. It's definitely a skill, and the first time I did it, things ended up very water logged and slightly mushy. This time was better. After hot pot, we had a scavenger hunt in the Luodong night market, which personally, I prefer to the Ilan night market.
(Getting our scavenger hunt teams)
The other night marked the beginning of Ghost month (this is the 2nd day of July, according to the lunar new year). Supposedly, the beginning of Ghost month is marked by the opening of the gates of hell, and all "hungry ghosts" come out to haunt people. However, the ghosts are not talked about because it attracts some of the angrier spirits. To show respect to the ghosts and to keep them happy, people pray, burn incense, and burn money in offering daily, though only three days are mandatory for the money burning: the beginning, middle and end of the month. Not all ghosts are bad, but the ones that are good are called different names.
There were HUGE tables set up in the night market FILLED with food and incense for the spirits. There was a huge skinned pig at one end, and people were burning money everywhere. There were also performances and fireworks. I'm going back to the night market later this week, so expect photos...
I've never done lesson planning like this. It seems fairly abstract, just creating a plan for a class without knowing the background of how much the students know, what kind of a school it is, how old the students are. It's much less structured in that regard than I'm used to. We don't have to list the standards and the objectives. The focus more is on presentation and whether it conveys the information you want it to. Lesson planning is not new to me, but having to repeat things so many times, and using as few words as possible (and as much body language as possible) to convey directions is hard. I'm used to giving directions to students who understand (at least most of) the words. Practice makes perfect, though. Today I felt my lesson plan was much more solid than it was yesterday. Today I taught prepositions.
After sharing our lessons in the morning, the ETAs (English Teaching Assistants) went and visited two schools in Nan-Ao, a county that is about an hour and a half on the bus from Ilan, but only 15 minutes by train, and only a half an hour by train from Luodong.
Basically the entire trip consisted of winding roads up and down steep, lush mountains. Every now and then you could see the coast. The view was absolutely incredible.
The two schools that are out in Nan-Ao have a primarily Aboriginal student population. They are VERY small schools, with a staff of 10-15, and 100-130 students. They both go from K-6, and the ETA that is placed out there would teach in one school 2 days, and the other school 3 days. One of the schools has 3 requirements for the students to graduate: they must partake in the Aboriginal dance group, they must learn judo, and they must participate in the brass band which is being formed this year.
The town's population is 3,000. It'd be like living in a Vassar-sized town. But because the community is so small, apparently you are known very well and everyone watches out for you- you're invited to families' house
s and to celebrations. The music and dance programs in the school really appeal to me, but I'm not sure if I could be that isolated from the rest of the group in Ilan and Luodong. More importantly, there is even less English in the Aboriginal village than there is in Ilan and Luodong- I suppose that would give me motivation to learn Chinese faster, but I'm sure it would also be hard. However, thinking about it, I'm not sure when you'd get another opportunity like it. At every school, they gave us food, and then we went to this ice place, which is shaved ice flavored with different things. I had lemon (they have no yellow lemons here, only green!) and passion fruit. It took me a minute, but I realized that it tasted just like water ice. I feel like I'll be frequenting the ice place regularly. These pictures are the views surrounding the schools.
When we got back to Luodong, all 12 of us, plus the staff went to dinner at a hot pot place near our house. Hot pot is great because you can chose what you want to eat- most of them are buffet style, with a set price for an all-you-can-eat. You pick your food, it's raw, and you cook it in a personal pot filled with broth or water. It's definitely a skill, and the first time I did it, things ended up very water logged and slightly mushy. This time was better. After hot pot, we had a scavenger hunt in the Luodong night market, which personally, I prefer to the Ilan night market.
(Getting our scavenger hunt teams)
The other night marked the beginning of Ghost month (this is the 2nd day of July, according to the lunar new year). Supposedly, the beginning of Ghost month is marked by the opening of the gates of hell, and all "hungry ghosts" come out to haunt people. However, the ghosts are not talked about because it attracts some of the angrier spirits. To show respect to the ghosts and to keep them happy, people pray, burn incense, and burn money in offering daily, though only three days are mandatory for the money burning: the beginning, middle and end of the month. Not all ghosts are bad, but the ones that are good are called different names.
There were HUGE tables set up in the night market FILLED with food and incense for the spirits. There was a huge skinned pig at one end, and people were burning money everywhere. There were also performances and fireworks. I'm going back to the night market later this week, so expect photos...
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Day 2 of being home sick with the flu. I suppose it's better to be sick on the weekend than on the weekday when I'd miss training. Luckily, with Taiwan's many flavors of juice (think blueberry and lychee), subsiding on liquids alone isn't too bad.
On Friday we all went to see "Borne Ultimatum" - it was in English with Chinese subtitles. The theater was tiny- only about 9 rows, so it gave it a really intimate feel. Before that, a group of us went to dinner in the night market.
The night market is crazy. The vendors set up tables every night in the middle of the street for about two blocks and sell everything from watches to bags to animals.
Everything is really cheap, both in price and in quality, but if you need to find a beach towel or a t-shirt, this is the place to go. Come Christmas time, the night market is going to be a blessing.
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
Luckily, it was only rain and a little wind. Nothing serious. There's another one coming tomorrow morning too. Supposedly "all the locals tape their windows" to prevent glass shattering, but looking around our building, we're the only ones who've done it...
Yesterday we took out the trash for the first time. Which was good, since we had a TON of trash and it needed to be taken out. However, unlike in the states, the trash truck and recycling trucks everyday. Seems simple, no? On Mondays and Fridays, they collect trash, food waste (to feed the livestock), glass, paper, and used clothing. On Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays they collect the usual trash and food, and then all the other recyclables. We got a 5 page list of things that can and can't be recycled. It's intense.
The trash truck comes at 6:30 and at 9. So at 6:15, while we were getting our trash ready, we hear this loud classical music playing from speakers around our apartment building. Apparently it's to warn us that the trash truck is coming. We, along with the rest of our building, take the trash downstairs and wait outside for the trash and recycling trucks to come. When they finally arrive, playing yet MORE classical music, the bags are handed over to the trash men, who have the hardest job of opening up the bags and dumping all the contents into different containers.
People taking out the trash in a different part of town.
Everybody does it.
Clearly a social event.
Sunday, August 5, 2007
Address...
On another note: If you want to send me things, here is the address:
Kathryn Pabarue
c/o Foundation for Scholarly Exchange
I-Lan County Teacher Center
No. 36, sec 1, Minchiuan Rd.
I-Lan City, I-Lan County 260
Taiwan
Nice.
Kathryn Pabarue
c/o Foundation for Scholarly Exchange
I-Lan County Teacher Center
No. 36, sec 1, Minchiuan Rd.
I-Lan City, I-Lan County 260
Taiwan
Nice.
Hot Computer Lab
So, I made it. It's day 5 here in Taiwan. Sadly, no pictures will be included in this post, as my computer has yet to be hooked up to the internet- I'm writing this from the Teacher's Center in Yilan where we will have training for the next 3 weeks. But when I do have access to the internet in my apartment... oh ho! Will there ever be pictures.
We got to Yilan on Friday morning, after spending the night in Taipei. Taipei was a whirl-wind; jet-lagged meals, exhausted visit to the Botanical Gardens. It'll be really neat to go and see it when I'm actually awake. The trip from Taipei took about an hour and we passed through the longest car tunnel in Taiwan, which is actually the 5th largest car tunnel in the world (Taiwan likes to have those "world record" things- largest building, longest car tunnel. I think it's because it feels threatened). The ride was fantastic, incredible mountains and cool bridges.
I'm actually living in Luodong with two other girls in the program for the first month (and possibly for the rest of the year, depending on which school I am placed in). At first glance, our situation was somewhat frustrating. There are 7 Fulbrigters in Yilan, the Teacher's Center is there, the other apartments were newer, cleaner (ours was left a MESS), and all of the rooms had air conditioning (mine is the only room in our apartment that has it). Katie, Laura, and I all felt somewhat isolated. However, we moved furniture and cleaned some, found out that the area around our building is actually cool (pictures to come, I swear), and are generally feeling more up-beat about it. It's still a 40 minute trip to Yilan (25 minute walk to the train station, 15 minute train ride), which will kind of stink in the upcoming weeks when we have to get to the Teacher's Center without the help of the school bus to pick us up, like it has been. But if all I'm complaining about is travelling to Yilan, I think I'm doing pretty well.
As far as actually being here goes, I'm still in shock sometimes. We went to the night market last night, which is just stalls and stalls of stuff, to put it quite frankly, and an entire section devoted to snacks and drinks. It's noisy and crowded and overwhelming, but incredible. I'm still not used to walking up tea stand and have EVERYTHING be in Chinese, but hopefully I'll learn some characters of foods that I like that I can recognize on other menus. All in all, it's going well. Now to get the internet up in the apartment so I can type less and show more...
We got to Yilan on Friday morning, after spending the night in Taipei. Taipei was a whirl-wind; jet-lagged meals, exhausted visit to the Botanical Gardens. It'll be really neat to go and see it when I'm actually awake. The trip from Taipei took about an hour and we passed through the longest car tunnel in Taiwan, which is actually the 5th largest car tunnel in the world (Taiwan likes to have those "world record" things- largest building, longest car tunnel. I think it's because it feels threatened). The ride was fantastic, incredible mountains and cool bridges.
I'm actually living in Luodong with two other girls in the program for the first month (and possibly for the rest of the year, depending on which school I am placed in). At first glance, our situation was somewhat frustrating. There are 7 Fulbrigters in Yilan, the Teacher's Center is there, the other apartments were newer, cleaner (ours was left a MESS), and all of the rooms had air conditioning (mine is the only room in our apartment that has it). Katie, Laura, and I all felt somewhat isolated. However, we moved furniture and cleaned some, found out that the area around our building is actually cool (pictures to come, I swear), and are generally feeling more up-beat about it. It's still a 40 minute trip to Yilan (25 minute walk to the train station, 15 minute train ride), which will kind of stink in the upcoming weeks when we have to get to the Teacher's Center without the help of the school bus to pick us up, like it has been. But if all I'm complaining about is travelling to Yilan, I think I'm doing pretty well.
As far as actually being here goes, I'm still in shock sometimes. We went to the night market last night, which is just stalls and stalls of stuff, to put it quite frankly, and an entire section devoted to snacks and drinks. It's noisy and crowded and overwhelming, but incredible. I'm still not used to walking up tea stand and have EVERYTHING be in Chinese, but hopefully I'll learn some characters of foods that I like that I can recognize on other menus. All in all, it's going well. Now to get the internet up in the apartment so I can type less and show more...
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