Beach bums and emailz

It's back to work after a wonderfully chill weekend in Yilan.  After resting up on Saturday and hosting family dinner for the ETA crew, a few friends and I headed up north on Sunday to Wai Ao beach to learn how to surf!  We all rented boards and I ended up getting a 2-hour free lesson from the shop owner himself, named Cool, who is now my surfing shifu (meaning kung-fu style "master").   I'll definitely be going back soon- hanging out and speaking Chinese with native Yilaners on a tropical beach while surfing and skimboarding is my kind of Sunday.

The view from my beach chair, Turtle Island in the back

Chicago-boy Parker's got it down!

And so begins my second week of school.  I've still got it pretty easy as clubs and extra classes don't start until the 3rd week, so I'm only teaching 6th grade again this week.  From what I've heard and observed, the main challenge with teaching 6th grade English is the obvious skill-level gap between those students who have studied English in cram school and those who haven't, and the resulting lack of motivation that many of the lower-level English students encounter at this stage.  This skill-level gap is primarily a result of socio-economic circumstances: those families that can afford to send their children to cram school do, while many families can't afford the extra expense of weekend, summer, and after-school classes.

In all four of my classes, there really is a huge disparity in students' English levels which makes teaching straight from the textbook an even bigger challenge.  My goal for this year is to give my students the confidence and motivation to continue studying English despite their current skill level or outside circumstances.  Last week, I provided two homework options: students were to color a DIY book about the weather and could write me an email in English for extra credit. 

Dear  Teacher Maria:

 

I′m  Candy.   

 

How  are  you?

 

You  are so beautiful.

 

 

˙ˇ˙                      6C   Candy

This was the only student email I received over the weekend, but I think it's a good start to the project.  :-)

I've got an exciting week lined up: 

Today, I start Chinese classes at Fo Guang University.  Switching from simplified to traditional characters is rough.

Tomorrow, I'm going to a Ghost Month festival called "Grappling with the Ghosts" at Toucheng Beach, in northern Yilan county.  Here's the only info I could find on the festival, which sounds pretty crazy (from go2taiwan.net):

"Another not-to-be-missed festival is "Grappling with the Ghosts" in Yilan's Toucheng. The festival was suspended for seven years due to safety concerns and was only resumed in 2004. Uniquely among Taiwan's ghost festivals, Toucheng's festival is not only about making offerings to the dead, but also serves as an opportunity for worshippers to give alms to the poor. Another aspect of its uniqueness is the strength and agility required of participants in the ceremonies. Before the closing of the gates to the underworld at the end of the seventh lunar month, structures called Gupeng are built for the festival. The Gupeng consist of twelve thick wooden supporting pillars, each about 30 meters tall, on which is a platform surmounted by thirteen cone-shaped bamboo structures, each more than 30 meters tall, called Gujhan. Offerings in the form of pastries are hung on these Gujhan, and they are crowned with a flag and a gold medal called the Shunfong Flag. The finishing touch of the Gupeng is the greasing of the twelve supporting pillars, making them even more difficult to climb.

The "Grappling with the Ghosts ceremony" starts at midnight. Teams of young men compete with one another to climb up the Gupeng. Whoever climbs up onto the first platform needs to topple the pastries and offerings there before continuing to climb the Gujhan. In the old days the poor on the ground would compete to garner the fallen pastries and offerings, while nowadays people try to catch them for good luck. Finally, the first climber to climb the Gujhan and cut off the Shunfong Flag and retrieve the gold medal is the winner of the festival."

Finally, all the Yilan Fulbright crew will be heading into Taipei on Thursday (3 day work week, yeeeah!) for our official September orientation, where we'll meet the rest of the Taiwan Fulbrighters, including the Kaohsiung ETA group and the researchers.  The highlight of the weekend, at least for yours truly as an Asian Art History major, will be the private tour of the Palace Museum with the curator himself.  Once in a lifetime opportunity? Definitely.  Thank you, Fulbright!