More updates to come, but a simple Instagram photograph must suffice for now.
Joyce Hwang, Cheng Gong Elementary Teacher, planned a fantastic cross-cultural lesson for the 3-4th graders at the elementary school. Students were able to DIY their own lovely vegetarian or pork spring rolls dipped in fish sauce. A local Vietnamese restaurant provided proper instruction and technique.
“You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me.”
― C.S. Lewis
We’ve recently been working through the Scholastic Reader, More Spaghetti I Say by Rita Golden Gelman & illustrated by Mort Gerberg, with small groups of 5th graders at Cheng Gong.
The book is a lighthearted and slightly ridiculous read about a monkey named Minnie completely in love (and addicted to) spaghetti. No matter how much her fellow monkey Freddie begs and pleads, Minnie won’t stop eating or playing with spaghetti until Freddie loses it. After some yelling and hurt feelings, a surprise ending always ends in laughter. But seriously, this book, while funny, does touch on the sensitive topic of food obsession.
To get my students interested in the book, we play vocabulary matching games after reviewing the vocabulary. If we have extra time, I’ll have them play Headband, where they hold up the vocab card and ask yes or no questions until they guess their mystery word. After reading the book as a group, I tend to offer incentives in the form of the vocabulary food words we learned, like “cookies” or “marshmallows.” For the Halloween season, I asked if they knew the “magic words” (trick or treat). They’ve been good sports about their first reading challenge.
I hope they get to read some more books soon, perhaps in different genres. I noticed some of my students getting distracted. They might find adventure, mystery or science fiction books a bit more up their alley.
I hope we continue this with another book next semester!
Sherry Yue
Fulbright ETA Taiwan, Yilan
There’s nothing quite like a little Halloween spunk to put a spring in your step.
When that dance happens to be Michael Jackson’s classic Thriller, you know Cheng Gong’s going to put out all the stops.
Joyce first approached me about practicing with the 5th graders some time in early October. I managed to solidify the dance choreo through Youtube, and get together a dance group the following week. While the kids were enthusiastic and eager to learn, I was surprised to learn not many knew about this song at all. That fact alone made me feel ridiculously old. Nevertheless, the combination of hard work and determination sent us into beast mode practice for about three weeks.
Come the big day of the performance, we were ready to scare all the other little kids. Considering that 501, my performance group class, was also known as the arts or 美术 class, we had a ton of fun creating zombie makeup. I wanted mine to be particularly scary, so I added a Chelsea torture smile into the mix. The results left some kids crying and others screaming, but everyone quite amused nonetheless. (The giggles were definitely better than the shrieks of terror. I’m not sure I enjoy it when cute little kindergartners back away from the sight of me).
The 505 class, also dressed as zombies, finished off our dance by handing out candy…creepily. This performance and preparation definitely contributed to one of my favorite Halloweens and teaching memories thus far.
Hope you had time for a little scary fun as well!
Sherry
Fulbright ETA Taiwan, Yilan
In the classroom, I’ve been trying to implement some more American pop culture figures to bond with the kids.
For the 5th graders, they have an Adventure Time poster which tells them the class rules in English. Give the many cartoons drawn on the paper, I decided to leave out a translation and let them figure out what the rules mean until Joyce and I return to the classroom to teach them.
When I co-taught 1st graders with my LET Joanne, I made a poster featuring Mike and Sulli being good little monsters, an aspiration we should all have in life. 😉 In this poster, the visuals take precedence as the 1st graders are operating on very little to no English. Thus, we have Mike and Sulli modeling good classroom behavior, like raising their hands and listening politely.
It has certainly been an adventure up until now, but leading the 5th grade English reading project has been a blast. They have started working on More Spaghetti, I Say by Rita Golden Gelman.
The book is about spaghetti obsession, and the kids seem to really enjoy it. I love rewarding them with marshmallows and cookies at the end of their group sessions.
I can’t wait for our next unit!
~Sherry
In case you were wondering about the original creator of the blog, I’ll make a short introduction.
Hi there! My name is Sherry Yuan and I work with my Local English Teacher (LET) Joyce Huang right here in Luodong’s very own Cheng Gong ( or “Successful”) Elementary School. In the picture above, Joyce (left) and Principal Lai are giving me a Chinese yo-yo at our official Fulbright and school meet-and-greet. I happen to be a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant (ETA) who will teach here for an entire year. I began this blog with the intent of showing how amazing this school is!
Last weekend, the Fulbright program brought together ETAs with their respective host families. I was surprised and elated to find out that Cheng Gong sent two of their own clubs to the welcoming ceremony! The 武術 or Martial Arts club did an astounding job. Their routine stunned the audience with their grace and strength. Check them out below!
There was also our renowned Chinese Yo-Yo team who were also incredible. They sometimes even sent multiple yo-yos spinning in the air, leaving us with our jaws on the floor.
That day, I was really proud to be a Cheng Gong teacher. My kids were so amazing and capable! They showed the Fulbright staff, ETAs, LETs and host families how fantastic it really is to be part of the Cheng Gong community.
Keep reading our blog for more updates on the fun things happening in Cheng Gong. ^ ^
~Sherry
Happy Teacher’s Day from all of us at Cheng Gong Elementary! Why don’t you take a peek at how we did during this holiday…
Cheng Gong Elementary really knows how to celebrate once Teacher’s Day comes around every year. We help organize student performances and, of course, make sure all of them are very well-behaved and presentable. However, do you ever wonder what we do to relax? How do teachers spend their time off on Teacher’s Day? Sure, students give us roses and thank us for hard work, but what do we actually do in our down time? Aside from our very professional school assembly filled with award ceremonies and speeches, we also let loose just a little bit. Are you intrigued by the preview above? Can you spot our soldier boys, administrative staff and even our principal moving to the music? I suppose it’s a bit difficult to our flawless disguises. Check us out in our very own Cheng Gong Elementary Teachers’ version of the popular song “小蘋果.” A big thank you to Mr. Weiting Hsiao for all the video editing skills. Whether you’re a student, a parent, or just someone who needs a good laugh, be sure to take a moment and watch a few respectable teachers groove to a beat.
Hope you had an amazing Teacher’s Day Sunday!
成功國小 