My Corner for Education

I have been surfing the Net, and quite enjoy reading blogs online.I am so grateful that so many people are willing to share theirlife experiences with total strangers. It reminds me of the olddays in any small town in Taiwan where people’s front doors were wideopen, and neighbours were welcomed to drop in to visit each other at any time. In fact, it was the same in Canada years ago that we didnot have to lock our front doors or cars. These are from time ofthe past, of course.

Nowadays, people are very private and keep to themselves, soneighbours don’t know each other very well. That is exactly why I think it is so refreshing to see peopleopenly and willingly post their thoughts on the blogging sites. Itis also a humbling experience to find out that people share andexchange ideas, recipes, and life experiences, and they are genuinelythankful for suggestions. So, when I see people post questions asking for assistance, especially regarding research on teachingand education, I was quite glad to give my two cents. I don’t claimto be the expert, but I certainly think that I have given the bestof my knowledge from my experiences. Unfortunately, now I realizedthat maybe I should be a little more cautious when offering myopinions. In fact, I was a bit ticked off by this littlebump.

The other day when I was cruising and reading blogs, I happened tocome by an article posted by a blogger asking for help. She wantedsome guidance to help her sister complete a research paper on theeducation system reform in Taiwan. Well, being an enthusiastic andpassionate person about education, I immediately left a longmessage to suggest what her sister could do and where to locateinformation. I thought I was just being helpful. After that, I didnot go back to visit her blog until today.

Well, well! I was very annoyed when I saw the message she left tocommunicate with her friend. She openly left an unpleasant messageto one of her friends that she does not know me, and does not knowwhy I left the message to her. Hello, am I out of line here? Maybe,she was intimidated by the long message, or could it be the messagein English? My input pen pad is not working, so I have no choice but to write in English. I kept going back to read my message over a few times to see if there is a problem. I just simply answered her cry for help!

As far as I am concerned, if you posted an article openly (notsealed) on your blog asking for help, you should expect that peoplemight come to your assistance. That was the reason why I dropped byand left messages on her blog to help out. When you sign up ablog, you do have a choice whether the blog is going to be openfor everybody in the public to visit, or to set it up for privatecommunication only, or at least, you have the option to seal the messages when necessary.

The other day while I was surfing on the Internet, I happened toread an article about children with reading difficulties. Childrenwith learning disabilities or ESL students are often integratedinto the regular classes. The writer thought it was awful to putthose children who couldn’t read well in a regular classroom. Thosechildren apparently were totally lost in that classroom and endedup being ignored by their teacher. People in our society simplyblame those children for being lazy, their teachers for notteaching them properly or giving enough homework, or their parentsfor not spending enough time to work with them. There are manyreasons for a child to experience difficulties in learning;however, regardless what the difficulty is, there is only oneultimate goal for teachers, which is to help the students succeedin their education.

Many thoughts and debates have run through my mind about how tomeet the needs of children who require extra support because I haveseen many of them fall through the cracks in the education systemyear after year. Children with reading difficulties lag behindtheir peers in many subjects that require adequate reading skills.Do we stream these children and put all children with the sameabilities in a class? Or, do we integrate these children into themainstream classes?

The truth is there are benefits to integration as long as extrasupport is provided to these children for their specific needs.These children remain in a regular class so they can interact withtheir peers and to learn the regular curriculum. Cooperativelearning encourages children to help each other in the classroomsetting. I personally think streaming or ability grouping can bringshort term benefits to ESL students who newly arrived with zerolanguage skills. A small ESL class can prepare these ESL studentsto obtain basic language skills to communicate for their immediateneeds. These students, however, eventually require opportunities tointeract with their peers in order to further polish theircommunication skills. I could see the benefits of ability groupingin the beginning and gradually release and integrate them back tothe regular classes.

Unlike the ESL students, students with learning disabilities may beable to communicate for their day to day needs, but they haveproblems working at the same level as their peers in class. Somepeople, however, believe that streaming these children to a classwith similar abilities is really the answer for helping thesechildren read. The classroom teacher only needs to plan forchildren within a small range of abilities and a reducedexpectation. It is a good idea to put them in a small group as longas the program design is based on their ability levels, andintended to help them return to the mainstream program. Once thechildren have developed sufficient skills to function in theregular program, they should be integrated into the mainstreamclasses to be with their peers. These programs, however, are oftencriticized for labeling the children and not being able to providesufficient support to ensure the smooth transition back to themainstream classroom. In fact, many children end up remaining inthe special program for years with no way of catching up to theircounterparts in the regular program.

As you know, children in the primary years are learning toread and developing reading skills. Once they have stepped into thejunior years, they are expected to apply their reading skills toacquire knowledge through reading a wide variety of materials. Forthose older students who still can not read at the appropriatereading level, it could be very degrading for them to learn in thesame class with their counterparts. Children are cruel sometimes toeach other, imagining the teases and jeers ones have to endurebecause they are slightly behind their peers.

March Break will be officially over tonight! Back to school tomorrow! To tell the truth, I quite enjoy staying home and doing things that I normally have no time for. This week I simply read and wrote a lot for myself, for fun really. My hubby is very understanding because he always thinks that I work too hard for my job. Yes, I do, but I do enjoy every minute of my time in the classroom. I want my students to have fun learning, and make learning fun as well. Let’s just hope that they are as excited about going back to school as I do. I guess we will find out tomorrow morning. Tomorrow is the day to send them home with their second term report cards. It will be interesting.

She was tall, beautiful, and full of life! That was my firstimpression of Marie, just like a typical Canadian Italian teenager who hasbig dreams, wants to do things and go places. Marie is thedaughter of Karen and George Salvatore. Karen used to be theprincipal at the school where I work, and she is also a good friendto many people in the education circle. Karen and her husbandGeorge are probably two of the most fun, loving and down to earthpeople I have ever met. Marie, like her parents, has that warm andpassionate Italian flare, and a hard working attitude with apositive outlook of life. At the age of 18, Marie was ready to flyaway on her own in her final year of high school.

Life was good and future was bright until that dark snowy nightbefore New Year a few years ago. After studying for hours, Marie and herfriend decided to visit a local coffee shop to get a coffee and achange of scenery. In her brand new car that she just received forher birthday, she was full of satisfied feelings after a hardworking night with a good friend. Driving ahead of her friend, theunthinkable event happened. Marie’s car skidded on the black ice sodark and sleek that the car turned round and round. Apole on the side of the road finally stopped her car, but it alsoended the dreams, hopes and bright future that Marie and her family had plannedfor her.

Marie had a severe head injury and was in a coma on life support for a long time.While funeral preparations were being discussed and the priest had been calledto say the Last Rights, Marie, to everyone’s surprise, awoke from thecoma, and stepped out of the darkest black hole for an angel who was too youngto leave us. Marie lives yet suffered serious trauma to her head. Due to the severe brain injury, she has beencompletely paralyzed ever since. Her survival, however, has brought a glimpse of hope toeverybody around her.

Marie is suffering from severe Acquired Brain Injury. The road to recovery has been full of obstacles for her. She has to re-learn all the simple lifeskills that we take for granted. From learning to speak to learningto sit up, every day is a baby step to another frustrated and tediousprogress. A brave soul such as Marie has encountered countlessundeserving failures since her coma. Fortunately, she has asupportive family; her caring parents, Karen and George, lovingbrother, Chris, and her large extended Salvatore family.

Karen and George are exceptional parents who have offeredunconditional sacrifice, and desperately want their daughter torecover. George had a great sense of humour and full of life. Karen did come back to workafter Marie moved home from the hospital. George, being the strongman he was, took on the jobs of driving, lifting and carryingMarie, and putting Marie in her wheelchair wherever they went. Their house was remodeled and renovated to accommodate Marie’sdisability. After raising two children, Karen has to re-live the experiences of baby steps and motherly care nursing their dearest growndaughter. The family continues to seek the best treatments for her, andeven have a full time live-in caregiver to provide 24-hourassistance for Marie.

Years ago, one of my Canadian professors at the Faculty ofEducation used to say that English is a commodity. In many parts ofthe world, people rush to take lessons and learn English in order to create more jobopportunities for themselves. This phenomenon has generated such a strong demand forEnglish (ESL) teachers. Recently, my sister-in-law, like manyparents in Taiwan (or shall we say in Asia), paid big bucks to sendmy two nephews to an English Learning Centre afterschool. The centre, run by a Taiwanese wife and her Canadianhusband, is very reputable for its strict discipline and stringentprogram. EVERY parent in the neighborhood wants their child to getin, so I was told, and they all have to pay registration fee toreserve a spot in advance. It is like the lottery draw for gettinginto a private school.

I used to teach in a few of those so called language schools eonago. I was surprised to find out that this particular centrerequires a large sum of non-refundable registration fee up front aswell as fees for books, backpack and tuition. In additional to theadmission test, children will have to wear a uniform. Uniform? Isthis money gouging or is it truly necessary? Maybe I have been awayfrom Taiwan for too long. I know you buy outfits for Karate, TaeKwon Do, Ju-Do, or Kung Fu lessons. You need to wear a swimmingsuit for swimming lessons, but you don’t need a uniform for takinga piano or art lesson. So, why do they need to wear auniform to learn English at a language centre? Hey, wait a minute!We don’t even have uniforms for the regular public schoolshere.

Does wearing a uniform make a better student in learning English?Or, is it going too far in the scheme of English language business?I am not against uniform even though I hated mine when I was injunior and senior high schools. (Correction: I hated the uniformedhaircut above the ear lobes the most, not the uniform!) I wouldagree with having uniforms in a public school because of the largesize of a Taiwanese public school. The sheer numbers of children ata public school are usually into the hundreds and sometimesthousands, so for safety concerns, I am all for it. But, come on,you don’t need to wear a uniform to go to a language centre for twoor three hours. As far as I know, many parents have already paidtop dollars to send their children to these extra curricularactivities.

I remember the ill-treatment and embarrassment I received when my parents could not afford to pay monthly Bu-Si Fei (fee for supplementary program after school) to my Grade 5 (and Grade 6) public school homeroom teacher. I did not go to my teacher's house after school for extra"enrichment" like most of my classmates did. (Nowadays, that is called“conflict of interest”. Teachers could lose their jobs for doingjust that.) I did not fall behind my class academically, but I definitely feltleft out in my miserable little mind. I worked hard and eventuallyturned out to be all right. A little seed, however, was planted inme; I would NEVER put any of my students in that position. I woulddo free remedial or enrichment programs for my students if I haveto. My heart also goes out to those parents who are pressured to pay for all these little fees for what is considered the best for their children.

I believe it is important to learn a second language. I have heardthat English is already added to the new elementary curriculum. Idon’t know much about the content of the new elementary curriculumthough. I am just feeling very sorry for many young parents who are in terrible financial stretch because of “the trend” or “the policy”of many language centers. The whole charade of private Englisheducation in Taiwan, as I see it, is really “supply and demand”;parents want the best education for their child (or for the dream they failed to fulfill, or the status for themselves), the student wants good grade for theirfuture (or for their parents), and the language business wants toplease their clients (or to make more money for themselves).Unfortunately, this creates a perfect triad for this relationalcomplex existing in our society that is fuelled by praises and the pursuing of foreign imports. So a business operation like thisparticular language centre, a VERY reputable one from I’veheard, can demand whatever they see fit.

I have been teaching in Canada for about 12 years. It has been a rewarding journey for me whose mother tongue is not English. I grew up in Taiwan, and had a very successful education and career. Life was good and the future was bright for a university graduate with an English major. English was my ticket to a successful career in Taiwan then.

 Then I came to Canada almost 17 years ago during the recession in 1990. My husband used to tease me that I brought the recession to Canada. (Ha. Ha. Ha. I could have killed him.) For all adult immigrants alike, the adjustment to a new life here in Canada takes time, patience and courage. The career path also requires tremendous effort for an immigrant like me. English was my specialty in a country far away, but everyone speaks English here. I could have lived comfortably as a housewife, but I didn’t have a profession. I was an independent career woman in Taiwan. The thought of sitting at home for the rest of my life scared me!

I always believe that I, as an immigrant, have to work twice as hard than others in order to prove myself. It is not my imagination but reality in a foreign country. I think, because of this kind of work ethics and discipline, my education and career have been moving smoothly. My husband and his family are always there for me since day one. I am greatly indebted to them.

Although I have established a happy family life with my husband here in Canada , none of my family and friends are here with me. They are all currently residing in Taiwan. Life is harder when friends and family are not there to console you, which also means that you have to be stronger and tougher in order to face obstacles and challenges in life alone. This is especially difficult for a newly wed in a foreign land.

I left Taiwan to marry my husband. Like many others’ experiences, my families and friends raised concerns and doubts about the prospect of a successful marriage to a foreigner. I left my father in sick bed, family in distress, friends in awe, and my successful career of managing three jobs, teaching, broadcasting and sales, simultaneously. I assured all of my loved ones that I would take care of myself. My husband and I would establish a good life.

Last Thursday I went to a workshop hosted by Scholastic Canada on Media Literacy. Media Literacy is one of the new additions to the newly revised Ontario Language Curriculum for K to Grade 8 students. Ontario Ministry of Education revised the language curriculum last year and created a separate curriculum focus on Media Literacy. Our daily life is immensely bombarded with mass media, so it makes sense to teach students the importance of reading, writing and conversing about the mass media that we are exposed to on the daily basis.

 

Although this workshop was organized by Scholastic to promote their latest Literacy program, the workshop itself was very informative and provided us with many practical ideas to use in class. I hate to attend a workshop that is full of sales pitch, but this one had none of that. I can easily use some of the activities to enhance my literacy program without spending too much money to purchase this specific program. Teachers are generally conscientious about the budget and cost, because we work for the TAXPAYERS. If I could get something for nothing for my program, it would be like winning the lottery! The following tips are a few small ideas that cost nothing but can go far.

  

1. Start Collecting: Pamphlets, newspaper and magazine clippings, brochures, menus, programs, tour guides, maps, posters, timetables, etc. Many of these resources could be easily obtained locally from the city visitors’ information centers, tour operators, train or bus terminals, shops, and theaters. Teachers could use a pamphlet to teach how to design the title on the front page, the message and information provided for the intended readers. These materials can supply teachers with abundant resources for teaching text and design. You can give children opportunities to create their own brochure or poster, or even design the concert program. You would be amazed what children could derive from learning about all the 2D designs from a little pamphlet.

  

2. Start Recording: Commercial jingles, TV commercials, radio advertisements, songs, or raps, etc. Children are constantly exposed to commercials, so why not use these media that they are familiar with to teach them how to infer messages from the commercials (making inferences) and find its purpose and target audience. Students can even write their own jingles later for a given topic. Remember those annoying commercials that you can not shake them off your head. Well, that could be a gold mine for your next media literacy program.

  

3. Integrate Arts and Language: Talk shows, news broadcast, radio program, or musical, etc. After you have the drama lesson, why not encourage your students to take on script writing. You just simply introduce the basic script format to them, and let them take on a form of media to write their own script. Children need motivation to boost their learning. It will also be a fun idea to use a production of a play to incorporate all designing and writing skills, such as agenda, program introduction, poster design, promotional advertisements, script writing, and finally performance. Students will plan the production from scratch to the final performance in front of the other students or parents.

  

Any good program still requires teachers’ interpretations and careful planning in advance. As long as you plan ahead thoroughly and involve students through the whole process in every possible way, you would be amazed with the result! These are just my quick two cents off my head. I welcome anyone to add a few more tips to the pot.

 

I believe most parents love their children dearly. But, are we, the modern parents, over-protecting our children to the point that we are diminishing the children’s abilities to adapt to the ever changing environments? This discussion came up during a conversation when we were trying to reword a memo to parents regarding the parking issue at school. We always have traffic jam before and after school in our school parking lot. I think most schools I know have the same problem. Our school parking lot is a big one, but it simply does not have the capacity of accommodating the congestion during the peak times. Many parents drive their children to school even though our school is a no-bussing school, which means all our students live within 5 to 10 minutes of walking distance to school.

 
Why can’t children walk to school? Why are they late for school? Why can’t parents read the sign “Kiss and Ride” (which means do not park your car here)? Why do we have child obesity problem? I think the answers really lie on parents’ attitude. They want their children to be safe, well protected, and well cared for. I have no objection to that, but we are dealing with a major societal phenomenon that many parents shelter their children from minimal inconvenience in life. They dropped their children off while they are on their way to work. They don’t want just “kiss and ride”; they want big hugs, too. Their big giant vans or SUVs block the path in the K&R lane, but they surely don’t care about the other parents and children who are also trying to get to school. They want to see their children off to class as well. So, in order to save themselves a few minutes, they park right in front of the school. They don’t care that they park right on the wheelchair bus lane. I guess they think those children on crutches and wheelchairs should be able to walk across the street or on the sidewalk to get to school.

  

Are we raising a generation of lazy people? I have a student who has missed 48 days of school. When a child misses more than 40 days of school, we have to bring the case up to the round table meeting at school about his promotion to the next level. In this case, the child would sometimes go home for lunch but failed to return in the afternoon. The parents kept him from school because they had errands to run in the afternoon. It would be another trip for them to rush back to school to pick him up. So, in order to avoid the inconvenience, they simply took the child with them for the afternoon. This happened too many times. I advised them that maybe a babysitter would be a better solution to this issue. This child’s attendance problem occurs too often. When discussing with his parents about his extended absences on the entire month of February, I was told that he is allegoric to cold and snow. (I tried very hard to control myself not to laugh.) I sincerely advised the mother that if this is a diagnosis from the doctor, then she should submit the note from the doctor to our office. I have to shake my head on this one. The child was absent on cold snowy days as well as bright sunny days. I am not trying to be cynical, but WE LIVE IN CANADA where there is icy cold and snowy weather for more than four months a year!

  

The truth is some parents need to help their children adapt to the environment. As far as I know, the child loves to play in the snow as long as proper attire is provided. The child has been in Canada for more than five years. He is well adjusted to the weather. No one likes to be in the cold (I came from the semi-tropic, so I know how hard it could be.), but parents need to take that initiative to encourage their children to be a risk taker, seek challenges, and strive for advancement. I have seen all kinds of parents who are overtly protective of their children. My suggestions to those parents are, to encourage your child to be more resilient to minor obstacles in life, and to be a risk taker as the challenges arrive. It is all right to tell your child to toughen up sometimes on those cold windy days. Remember, we can’t raise our next generation in a bubble.

I got some spare time to set up my blog this afternoon! I was actually sent home from school early because of a major snow stormarriving this afternoon. I am grateful that my colleagues were ableto spare me for the last half hour, so I could leave early. It tookme more than an hour to get home. The snow storm was wicked when itstarted. I was sitting in the staff room at about 12:55p.m.duringmy lunch break when the snow began to fall. By 1:00, it was comingdown full force with poor visibility and strong wind. My studentswere quite happy to stay in the portable for recess, because wewere building popsicle houses for our structures and stabilityscience unit. We decided to make it a fun day and build houses,because only twelve students showed up for class today. The news ofa snow storm with freezing rain has been broadcasted over thetelevision and radio since last night. The weather was actuallycalm and nice this morning. Our school board cancelled the schoolbuses this morning because they are concerned about the drive homein the afternoon. The part that really irks me is that some of ourstudents don’t come to school whenever the school buses arecancelled. Our school is one of those so called “walking” schools.We don’t even have school buses! We only send students on buseswhen they are on a trip or with broken legs! Most of our studentsfrom kindergarten to grade five live within walking distance, onlyfive to ten minute away. It might be dangerous for buses on theroad due to road condition, but our students should be able to walkto school. I really think that some parents are lacking parentaldiscretion. As a matter of fact, in a typical morning like today,our secretary would be bombarded with phone calls from “concernedparents” to see if the school is open. I always tell my studentsthat if I can drive for one hour to get to work in the snow, theyshould be able to walk five minutes to go to school. The schoolboard may be concerned about the safety of children on buses (orthe liability issues), but they obviously doesn’t care about thesafety of teachers and staff who also have to drive on the sameroad as the buses do. The problem is whenever buses are cancelled,the schools are still open, which means we teachers have to be inschool. That is why a day like today is totally waste of time,because half of the students would be absent and the regularprogram would be interrupted. We ended up had a great day though. Ithink my students love days like today, so we can actually enjoysome creative activities as a small group. As they pointed out, theabsentees “missed out” all the fun things we did, and yes, theydid!