Final Week of IP - Concluding Thoughts

In just a flash of an eye, 5 weeks have gone by. I am so grateful that I had this opportunity to come to Taiwan and have first-hand experience of Taiwan education. I have learnt so much from this experience and would be sure to make use of what I have learnt in my classrooms.

One of the most important thing that I have learnt is that no matter where we are in the world, teachers have one aim and that is to educate our students. No matter what method is being employed, teachers only have students’ interest in mind and this is something that I have been reminded of here in Taiwan. These 5 weeks were very fruitful and enjoyable and I will definitely remember the meaningful lessons that I have learnt from my mentors and my students.

Class photo on the last day

Fourth Week of IP - Lesson Preparation and Implementation

Initially, when I discussed with my mentor regarding the content that I would be teaching, he mentioned that I could choose from 5 textbook topics that he has just taught so that students could revise and that he would like to experience a "Singapore-style teaching". He believes that his style of teaching would not cater to all the students in my class and a different style of teaching may allow certain students to learn better hence I should not attempt to replicate his style. When going into lesson preparation, I had two major concerns which is the content of lesson and the definition of "Singapore-style teaching". Regarding the content of lesson, I was unfamiliar with traditional Chinese and the "Zhuyin Fuhao" phonetic system as Singapore uses simplified Chinese and "Hanyu Pinyin" phonetic system. If I had to teach them textbook content, I felt that the lesson would fall short as my subject mastery is not in that field. Ultimately, I found a way to overcome this gap as I remembered a module in NIE whereby the professor mentioned that language could be split into content and skills. Content is infinite whereas skills are finite and as teachers, our goal should be to impart language skills to students so that they are able to use the finite skills to obtain infinite content. Instead of teaching students content which I am unfamiliar with, I could teach them skills instead which I have learnt. As for the definition of "Singapore-style teaching", I defined it as student-centered teaching and I did so by incorporating group collaborations and sharing in my lesson.

In the end, my 40 minute Chinese lesson was based on breaking down Chinese characters into smaller radicals. My introduction included a Chinese pop song which included many complex characters and I explained to students why is there a need to break down Chinese characters. I followed up by providing examples and teaching them how to break down Chinese characters and using these radicals to form a sentence to ease memory. Next, I had students form groups and practice the technique learnt using assigned words from their textbook topic. Lastly, students came up to share with their classmates what their group created.

Students focusing on group work (part 1)

Students focusing on group work (part 2)

Overall, the lesson proceeded smoothly and my mentor mentioned that it was a good lesson. He also provided feedback on how to improve such as certain examples could have been better made use of or changed slightly. I feel rather pleased about the lesson implementation and was glad that I overcame the initial hurdles to deliver a satisfactory lesson.

Third Week of IP - Classroom Management

Over the course of 3 weeks, I have observed and learnt many classroom management techniques from teachers in Taiwan. In general, these techniques can be split into two types, reactive measures and preventive measures. Reactive measures are ways the teachers cope with misbehaviours in class to maintain order when students act up and preventive measures are ways the teachers prevent misbehaviours from happening in class.

Scenarios which I have seen reactive measures being used are when students become rowdy, when students are not focused, when students take too long to get ready and when students do not submit or do their work properly. When such scenarios occur, teachers often deploy reactive measures such as having selected students or the entire class stand up, moving students to the back of the class or having students stay back after class. Perhaps due to the frequency of such measures being used, I realised that students slowly become immune to the reactive measures. For example, when the same few students are punished for being rowdy, they will continue to talk when standing. Through this, I realise the importance of choosing the right reactive measure for the type of student as it will determine the effectiveness of these measures. It is also important to not overuse certain measures as students will become used to the "routine" and it will lose its effectiveness.

Class being punished for being rowdy

Next, preventive measures to ensure students behave well in class and complete their work would be to maintain close contact with students' parents/guardians so that they can supervise students' progress in class. In Taiwan, teachers have an online chat group with students' parents/guardians and any major announcements made in class would be sent through the group so there would not be any miscommunication when students transfer messages to the parents. In addition, the handbook is another platform which parents and teachers can communicate through as teachers will look through the handbook daily. The handbook contains students' daily homework and tasks which parents can help track and supervise. It is advised for parents to look at students' handbook daily so they can ensure students complete their supposed tasks. This also prevents cases whereby students do not do their work, using the excuse that they are unaware there is work as all tasks are copied into their handbooks at the start of the day. Fortunately, parents in the class that I was attached to are actively involved in students' academics, so this system is effective. Parents have trust in the teachers which greatly improves parent-teacher relationship. Should students have valid reasons for not completing their work, their parents could directly contact the teacher and hence students do not have any excuses for not completing their work. With the collaboration with parents, classroom management becomes easier as parents help monitor students at home and teachers help monitor students in school.

Homework for the day to be copied in journal

In conclusion, I feel that preventive measures in Taiwan are pretty effective as it involves collaboration with parents and the methods are well-rounded. I am uncertain regarding the reactive measures as the effects are limited and due to cultural differences, it would not be possible to implement in Singapore. All in all, observing classroom management techniques in a foreign country benefited me greatly as I am able to adapt the effective techniques to use in my classrooms.

Second Week of IP - Language teaching in Taiwan

This week, I became more familiar with the class dynamics and started to befriend some of the students. It helped greatly in the observation and analysis of the way classes were conducted here. Their language lessons in particular stood out to me this week and I was able to learn a few things that can be implemented in my lessons in Singapore.

Firstly, their English lessons were in stark contrast to our Chinese lessons even though it is supposed to be the equivalent of our Chinese lessons since both are considered “second language” to learners. Their English lessons were mainly conducted in Chinese which is the first language of learners. The teacher would always provide translation and explanation in Chinese whenever she spoke in English. This made me reconsider the attitude Chinese teachers have in Singapore regarding using English in class. The use of students’ first language did help students’ understanding greatly and they were better able to follow the lesson. However, the use of their first language in class may deprive students’ the opportunity to use the language which is essential in language mastery. Between the two systems, balance should be struck so that students are able to have the opportunity to use the language yet also build up on their prior knowledge.

Secondly, their Chinese learning was not limited to Chinese lessons and incorporated into all subjects. At the start of the day, the teacher would leave instructions on the board for students to copy onto their handbook. These instructions included a quote for the day and a reflection topic, which students have to write a minimum of 50 words. Topics would be related to their everyday lives such as “What do you think about people talking when others are presenting?” and “In order to succeed, it is essential to remember what you set out to do and also physically acting on plans.”. I feel that these short reflection pieces would aid in students’ language learning indirectly and I liked how it was incorporated into their daily tasks. They also have “Library” periods whereby students are brought to the library to read any book of their choosing. This would allow students to pick up the habit of reading which is useful in language learning. In addition, their Maths lessons included word problems similar to Singapore, but the problems were embedded in lengthy passages which students had to read in order to solve the problem. I feel that this trains students’ reading ability indirectly on top of their mathematical ability. I feel that these are good practices that should be adopted by Singapore, such as getting students to pick up the habit of writing a journal daily or having a time set aside for students to read their mother tongue books.

Journal topic written on board at the start of the day

In conclusion, this week was very insightful and I managed to observe in depth language teaching in Taiwan. I believe that this would greatly benefit me in the future as a language teacher. 

First Week of IP - First Impressions

On the first day, I was brought to Nanmen Guoxiao to which I will stay to observe for the next 5 weeks.

Basketball court of Nanmen Guoxiao

I was introduced to the class 5A as an interning teacher from Singapore and was given a seat at the back of the class to observe the lessons. 

Table that I was assigned to

From my first week, I observed many differences in the way lessons were conducted in Taiwan as compared to Singapore that I took some time getting used to. 

Firstly, a typical primary school student in Taiwan attends school from 8am to 4pm daily, with the exception of Wednesdays. A period of lesson is 40 minutes and there are 10-20 minutes break between each period for students to play or rest. They believe that students need time to release their energy otherwise they would get restless in class. 

Students jogging during break

Secondly, Taiwan primary schools have a homeroom system and all students are responsible for their homeroom's cleanliness. Students spend 10 minutes at the start of the day and 15 minutes at the end of day cleaning their classroom. I believe that this is a very good habit to inculcate in young children as they get to take part in keeping their learning environment clean. In addition, students have their meals in the classroom and they are the ones in charge of distributing the food and throwing out the food waste. After talking to my mentor, I realise that this is to make sure students maintain a healthy diet and the duty roster system is meant to teach them responsibility. 

Nutritious lunch with students

 Thirdly, there was a variety of activities for the students to attend besides classes which reduces academic stress for students. On Wednesday, my class went out to another primary school for a zonal tug-of-war competition and we won first place! I was informed that they have been training for the competition for several weeks and I was immensely proud of them. I was also surprised that the competition involved the whole class and lessons were cancelled for the day. My mentor mentioned that the school emphasises on holistic development and it is important for students to be brought out from time to time for interaction with other schools. 

Tug of war competition outside school

All in all, it was a very fulfilling week and I managed to learn many things. I am glad that I have this opportunity to experience a new education system and reinspect our own.