I started my IP on 14th May 2018 in Nanmen Elementary School near Xiaonanmen MRT Station. I was assigned to enter Ms 鐘雅如's class, where she taught a Grade 1 class with 28 cheerful and well-mannered students.
On the first day when I first entered the school, I realised that there is a stark difference between the students in Singapore and Taiwan. The students demonstrated a high level of independence and self-discipline. When they enter the class in the morning, everyone takes out their homework and the group leader organises and places all the homework on the table at the back for the teacher to look at when she is here. After every lesson, there will be a short 5 or 10 minutes break. During this break, the students either play with board games or read storybooks that are at the side of the classroom, and there will also be energetic kids who bring their basketballs out for a short game. As soon as the bell rings, the students do not require any prompting from the teacher, and keeps everything orderly before returning to their seats. There will also be a "cleaning time" everyday where the students clean up the classroom. Every student knew their job exactly and did it properly without any delay. After eating lunch, the students wash their own utensils without any prompting by their teacher.
The way the students exercised self-discipline and independence was interesting to note as it is not what we will see in Singapore students, and the students I have observed is only in Grade 1. I will wish to find out more about how the teacher established the routines and bring this into my classroom in the future to nuture independence in my students.
picture 1: the students having a Taiwanese class where they are learning 閩南語.
The students in Taiwan learn Taiwanese during lessons, which is their form of dialect. This is something Singapore does not have. However, I observed that not all students are proficient in Taiwanese, and the teacher was teaching basic words like body parts.
picture 2: An "ice-cream" that the students gave me
The students in Taiwan appreciate their teachers a lot and show affection in the form of cards and handicrafts. I was pleasantly surprised to get cards on the first day with a drawing of myself.
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