Middle School Christmas Concert 2020 (Your connection has been restored)

After some technical delays, I would like share with you a couple of remarkable performances from Christmas morning 2020...at school.  To Soleil's chagrin, we did not get this day as a holiday, much less 2 weeks of vacation.  However, the whole school attended a morning show led by the school principal in a wizard's robes and his administration team dressed as Santas.  There were some public service announcements about recycling and health during the "winter" season, but largely it was a chance to share some of the student talents and celebrate the joy of Christmas.  It worked for me, I hope you feel it too, despite the fact that we're nearer to Easter by now. 

Donxing Middle School Orchestra!

Our principal and his bearded associates.

The crowd awaits the prize winning answer....

and the winner is.... Justin!

Congratulations!  Here's every 7th grade boy's dream --- an extra large bag of tissues!  '

(There was also a significant amount of candy shared generously throughout the day)

 And to close the show, the Dongxing Drumline.  Yes, these are middle schoolers as well.  Now listen.

Mid-Term Testing, Holidays, New Job and EARTHQUAKES!

A couple of weeks ago on Thursday and Friday we had our second round of mid-term testing. Last time, I had only been going to Dong Xing Jr. High for 3 weeks so I only took the english and math tests. The math one was difficult because I wasn't familiar with the vocabulary terms in Chinese yet. This time I'm giving myself a challenge and I have decided to take the science test as well as English and Math. I asked for extra time to complete the math and science tests because my main problem is that I read Chinese much slower, not that the content is too difficult. Therefore, I will be taking the science and math exams on Monday. I spent most of today and yesterday studying in the school library with the assistance of my parents and google translate. 😆 This time around I improved significantly on my math test and got a score above my initial goal in science. Yayyy! 🥳

This year for Thanksgiving our celebration consisted of a non-traditional semi-Chinese/Taiwanese meal including my mom's famous mashed potatoes! Mmmm. My dad made cranberry pumpkin cookies, and I made apple sauce. 

Speaking of holidays... I convinced my parents to get us a Christmas tree! We bought a plastic tree for the first time at Carrefour. It was NINETY-NINE DOLLARS!!! That's actually $3.50 USD. It's a little dinky tree that reminds me of the Charlie Brown Christmas tree. At church to get into the Christmas spirit, we decorated gingerbread cookies. Mine was very tasty. 😋

Several weeks ago I started a new job! My dad's colleague asked me to come to her house and play with her kids in once a week in english as a sort of tutor. She has two sweet boys who are about 3 and 5 years old. We play with play-dough, sing english songs, and I read english books to them. 

At our church my mom is teaching an english class to the kids and I am her TA. We sing songs and read books. Last week the theme was "Animals" so we read a popular book called "Click Clack Moo: Cows That Type". I loved this book as a kid, and I still do!

A few minutes ago we had an exciting event happen... AN EARTHQUAKE!! This is the second earthquake that has happened since we got here in September, but this one was much larger by comparison. It felt like a giant pulled the building out of the ground and shook it around. 

This picture has nothing to do with the rest of the blog. I just like it. It was taken in front of the Zhubei (竹北) public library.

Ok I have lots of homework to complete now. 👋

~Soleil Huang-Dale

The Reading of the 500

 This is not my first rodeo in Asia, so I have a few bull breaking techniques for starting the year.  However, this year, unpredictable as it is, started off with a tumble.  Joining class over a month into the first semester, I faced 17 different classrooms and encountered over 500 new faces. I had to hit the ground riding. 

On the suggestion of a colleague and inspired by the 7th grade curriculum book, I decided to introduce myself with a few postcards from home.  Here's a couple I used to introduce myself.  Each had a short text about the picture and what it represents for me.

These postcards were great prompts for where, who, what, how and even why questions!  Then (as any teacher would) I asked my students to return the favor with a postcard about their lives; and if they chose, more questions about me beyond my postcards.  Here are some highlights of what came back, along with amazing insights into their lives and language.

Language in action!  The errors don't even bother this teacher.

Images and explanations give me a glimpse into life in Zhubei and surrounding area even before I have time to travel!  Taiwan's blue butterflies, persimmons drying in the autumn sun and a pictorial exegesis of the national flag!

Some kids ran with this assignment and made works of art, revealing much more than just their names and hobbies!  I had to ask this boy all about the pictures he drew and his vast knowledge of Taiwan's fauna.

Reading and responding gave me the chance to recognize them individually.  I never tired of their questions and had a few myself in reply.

And a few cards made my heart swell to know... kids are growing up with love for family, learning and the strangers of the world that they chance to meet in this brief, beautiful life.

Try Something New

Try Something New          by Jenny

Some of the things we have eaten here that we never knew existed.

 Now we have tried... Fried Oyster flavored potato chips.

See the happy Potato 先生 on the package?

And we've tried Grapefruit Pineapple Pizza. Whoever thought to put grapefruit on pizza was... imaginative.

菱角 líng jiǎo

I actually have eaten these before and really like them. So back in October I was glad to see a street vender selling hot língjiǎo in bags. They are shaped like bats or buffalo heads. I always called them jester hats. But I just looked it up and apparently they are called water caltrop in English. You peel them and eat the starchy nut inside. They taste something like chestnuts. It's a fall treat, just in time for Halloween. 

Flying bat from Woodland Romances; Or, Fables And Fancies by Clara L. Mateaux (1877). Original from the British Library. Digitally enhanced by rawpixel. Public Domain CC0 Image

 

百香果 bǎi xiāng guǒ passion fruit

These have orange juice inside with many crunchy seeds. The soupy stuff on the inside is a little bit sour. I've been eating it with plain yogurt. Soleil loves this fruit and sometimes orders passion fruit bubble tea.

They say the fruit is very nutritious but it is often used to flavor jello, candy, popsicles, and beverages.  I'm guessing you wouldn't become healthy eating passionfruit candy. The picture on the right is of passion fruit plants growing in the garden of the church we attend.

We remembered a restaurant we went to seven years ago called Chubby Bunch 'n Burger, or maybe Chubby Bunchenburger. I don't remember how it was spelled but I know how we pronounced it, because how can you forget a name like that?! We went there again recently. They've since changed their name to Chubby Brunch & Burger. Soleil was so excited to see western food on the menu (and plenty of vegetarian options) that she said, "We should come here again and again and try everything on the menu!" I didn't object until I read the kid's menu, which contains some unappetizing things I'd never pay to eat.

I've noticed that a lot of the vegetarian food around here tries to look and taste like meat. A couple weeks ago we tried a vegetarian restaurant about two blocks from our apartment. Their specialty is this meal including a fake chicken leg. It comes served on a popsicle stick where the bone would normally be. It was pretty good. We discussed gathering the fake bones and taking them home to boil down for soup stock. But we didn't.

This vegetarian chicken leg has the clever name of "G腿," which sounds exactly like 雞腿 jītuǐ, which means chicken leg. Now I'm wondering if an uncooked G tuǐ can be used as a prosthetic for injured chickens who meet untimely disaster when crossing a busy road.

What new foods have you tried lately?

The results are in!

 The results are in!                by Jenny

While you are waiting for the US election results, we do know what animal two groups of Jhubei kids favor.

A few days ago I asked some kids if they knew what was happening in the US that day. Many knew there was a presidential election and some could even name the two most popular candidates. (I doubt many children in the US could name the current president of Taiwan.*) They asked who I supported in the election and I explained that I voted for someone they'd never heard of as my first choice and one of the two main candidates as my second choice. Some kids were audibly surprised that I could vote for more than one candidate. So I explained Ranked Choice Voting, which the state of Maine now uses for many elected offices. 

The Candidates

I asked the students if they were to choose one pet for their class what would they choose? I put up five candidates: fish, hamster, mouse, spider and tiger. Then the voting began. For the sake of comparison we voted the traditional way, where the one who gets the most votes wins, even though they may not reach 50%, and then voted again using the ranked choice system. Hamsters turned out to be the most popular pet. So we won't be bringing a tiger to school after all.

A video explaining Ranked Choice Voting:

A Maine absentee ballot

*

Tsai Ing-wen 

President of the Republic of China She has been president since 2016.

The School Band celebrates an Anniversary

 Students at Zhaomen Jr. High have been practicing their cheers, their relays, and their salutes for the  51st Anniversary celebration of their school.  The 8th grade school band has also been busy preparing to play for the ceremony.  In my free period at the end of the day last week I sat in on their rehearsal and was amazed at their skill and coordination after only a year of practice together!  Their teacher is no doubt a marvelous coach, but the student showed real joy and commitment to their art.

This chamber orchestra has a mix of Chinese and Western instruments (see the cellos and bass in the back) but I was surprised to see the group fronted by a hammered dulcimer!

The music teacher tunes up a zhong ruan.  It's an alto/tenor range 4 stringed instrument played with a plectrum, sounds a bit like a mandola.

Momo is one of the top English students in our school, and loves her sheng (a harmonica like blown organ instrument with bamboo pipes).  Listen to her solo just before the cello in this next video.

9th graders practice their class cheer and choreography.  They compete for a school spirit award.  This class won!

For the 50th anniversary of the school last year they printed a photo book of highlights.  One of my colleagues pointed out that my picture, along with 2 other foreign teachers that taught there in the last decade, appeared on a page about their English program.  Although I wasn't able to attend the ceremony due to teaching at my other school, I felt proud to be a part of their history too.

8th Grade: Taiwan vs United States

    Three weeks ago I started attending the 8th grade at Dong Xing Junior High (東興國中). Even though I have already completed 8th grade in Maine, I am not going to 9th here because in 9th grade students spend most of their time studying for a big exam that determines what high schools they can attend. We decided that it would be better for me to be in 8th grade because my main focus is to study Chinese and the 8th grade do more learning and less studying for exams. 

    Immediately there are many differences I have noticed from 8th grade at Molly Ockett Middle School in Fryeburg and 8th grade here at Dong Xing.

1. The number of people in the 8th grade at Dong Xing is larger than all of the students at Molly Ockett Middle School (5th-8th grade). There are 22 classes and each class has 25-30 students.

2. School hours are drastically different. At Molly Ockett I was at school from 7:30-2:30 on a typical day. School here runs from 7:25-4:40 M-Th and 7:25-3:40 on Fridays. I am still getting used to this new schedule. I am usually exhausted when I get home.

3. Students at Dong Xing take 2-3 tests a day, one on the morning after cleaning (打掃 dá sǎo), and other tests during class. I take the english tests and sometimes math, but the other ones I have trouble reading the questions, so I usually try my best to answer 2 or 3 questions in the time that is given, using my dictionary to look up words. In Maine I took about 1 test a month per class at most.

4. I wear a school uniform at Dong Xing. On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday we wear our sports uniforms and Tuesday, Thursday we wear our formal uniform. At Molly Ockett there is a dress code but you may wear the clothes of your choice.

5. I take a larger variety of classes here. I have a scouts class where we learn how to tie different types of knots, a home-economics class, dance class (I like that one!), workshop, and computer programming along with all of the other more typical classes. I had math, science, english, health, PE, music and art at Molly Ockett.

6. We have two times a day at Dong Xing that we clean the classroom and bathrooms, when we get to school, and after lunch. There are janitors at Molly Ockett that do that kind of stuff.

7. Kids eat lunch in the cafeteria in Maine. Some students bring their own lunch and others get school lunch served to them on a tray. Everyone here brings their own dishes and utensils and eats the school lunch in our classroom. I go down to the second floor to get my vegetarian meal.

8. After lunch we have a 30 minute rest time where we lay our heads on our desks and nap. This is my favorite part of the day. In the US we went to recess after lunch, which I felt was unnecessary in 8th grade. Most students stood around waiting for it to be over.

9. Everyone is part of a club at Dong Xing. Clubs meet during period 7 and 8 on Wednesdays. I joined the ukulele club because I already can play a bit. At Molly Ockett clubs and extracurriculars are optional, but there is much more time to participate in them because school ends earlier.

10. Each class I had at Molly Ockett had a different group of students, and students moved from classroom to classroom each period. At Dong Xing almost all of my classes are in the same classroom and they are all with the same students. Teachers move from classroom to classroom.

School here has been challenging for me, but I appreciate that my classmates and teachers are very helpful and want support me in learning Chinese. I hope that by the end of the semester my Chinese will have improved enough to understand what the teachers are teaching in class.

~Soleil Huang-Dale