Monuments (Individual)

Picture of Postcard

b.  A poem about the monument of your choice.

My poem would be about Anping fort.

雄伟的古堡

炮台保性命

虽大部分炸毁

还坚强地站立着

Education (Individual)

b. Thoughts and observations on behavior in class and style of teaching.

When we visited the class, I've noticed that the students are extremely proactive. They raise their hands at every question, as if they will win a prize for every correct answer. This is unlike in Singapore when the students don't dare to answer even when the question is a simple one like 'What are the tests for congruency'. I think that Singaporeans should learn from them since with constant speaking up in class, the students will have their mistakes corrected and they will learn more from this.

I have also observed that the class runs by the students reading up on the topic before the lesson. This shows the immense amount of trust between the student and the teacher. The students are trusted to read up and the teachers would continue on the topic with notes that needs the prior knowledge from the textbook that the students are trusted to do. This is extremely different in Singapore where the teachers supply the students with notes that cover the content in the textbook since they think that the students would not read up on the topic. I feel that the trust between students and teachers are more prominent in the Taiwan case since the teachers in Taiwan are friendly towards the students, like the both of them are friends but in Singapore, the teachers and students only share a teacher-student relationship.

c. Write about the life of a student in Taiwan.

The life of a normal class student will be that they will wake up at 6.45am and get ready for school, reaching school at around 7am before the Self-study period that starts at 7.15am, which is their first lesson. They will have school till 5.05pm with 10 minute breaks in between lessons and a lunch break. They will have tuition from 5.30pm to 8pm where they will be taught on the topics in school, but more in depth. After their tuition, they will reach home at about 8.30pm where they will do their necessities like showering, eating and spending time with their families before heading to revise or do their homework till about 11pm when they will sleep. Some may sleep later due to revision or longer leisure hours. This schedule is based on the timetable of a Taiwanese net friend from Sacred Hearts High School.

History Notes of Taiwanese students

Monuments (individual)

The poem I wrote is about the Chihkan Tower. The reason I chose this monument as the subject if my poem is that this infrastructure leave the deepest impression on me. It's very magnificent despite its long history. Thus I wrote this poem to show my thought on this monument in Taiwan.

楼，

虽老，

拥有者悠久与古老的历史，

但永不会失去它雄伟的气势。

众知的赤坎楼。

Cost of Living (Individual)

When we visited Taiwan, I asked my buddy and my buddy's mother about the cost of living there and they said that the cost of living was quite okay since they were accustomed to it. I have heard that the average salary was about the same as Singapore with things sold being at a higher price as compared with their average salary. I believe my buddy's family is one of the richer ones since I was brought to a department store and got treated to food. They have also expressed their opinion on our school fees, which is about SGD15 per month since they had to pay NTD50 000 - NTD60 000 per month on my buddy's school fees since she is in the special music talent class. In Taiwan, there isn't much of government subsides since they were impressed by the impressed amount of government subsidies that the Singapore government has provided for us. But, they have adapted to this and accepted it. Hence, we can conclude that the Taiwanese has accepted the cost of living of their country.

Education ( individual )

Thoughts & observation

In Taiwan, I attended one of sec 4 math lesson. I observed that in Taiwan classes, boys and girls are all separated, tablemates are all of the same gender. During the lesson, we have an activity where we are separated in two groups and do a group test. The teacher expects us to work out the questions together. The students there are very friendly. They know that we are from sec 2 and thus the question standard is too high for us so the gave us the easier questions to try them out. I realize the students have a strong team spirit. They know what their classmates are good at and thus let them handle certain questions. It was very impressive as I think not many of my classmates knows what each other is good at. After this activity, the teacher went through the questions. The students are very attentive. I realize the students and the teacher has a very special relationship. They looks like friends and give the feeling of normal friends but yet, very respectable when the teacher is teaching and having lessons.

I think that the Taiwanese students have very good self control. They know when to have fun and when to be serious. Their team spirit is very strong too, working together has no problem at all. They know how to face the problem and come up with a solution. I think the students actually treat their classroom as their own house. There are snacks, drinks and little items. But even though they eat in class, their classroom is still very clean and in good condition. I think this is something we have to learn from them. Often, our classroom is very dirty as we do not care much about the hygiene and cleanliness of the class. The experience I had in this class was very pleasant and fun. It was unforgettable.

Life of a student in Taiwan

I asked some buddies about their normal school lives. They told me it was tiring but they got used to it. The homework amount is around the same as Singapore but they have self study period so they could get them done before going home. Apparently, many of them have tuition after school hours so having self study period actually helped them to cope with their amount of homework. For tuition, it's often late at night till 8 plus. It further explains the subject and at the same time, preview the upcoming topics, to make the students cope better in class. In school, they do not have canteen like ours in Singapore. Their meals are fixed and changed daily. Most of them do not like the food due to their tastes. As for sleeping time, some sleep quite early, some are quite late. Those sleeping late is either due to revision, or playing games. I asked them if their studies would help them when they go to the society. They told me in their opinions, it's not really useful at all since the thing they learn is just memorizing informations. I think that their school life is no much different from school lives of students in Singapore. Except, we don't have self study period and we have a better privilege of food since we have a canteen. We face the same problems and some of us also have tuition late at night. The tuition have the same purpose, understands the subject better and preview on the upcoming topics. In the level of tiredness, both are the same.

Some examples of the Taiwan students' homework

Cost of living( individual )

When I was in Taiwan, during the last few days, I visited our sister school and I questioned some of the buddies on their satisfaction in cost of living in Taiwan. After asking them, I realised that there are different costs in different areas. For normal markets like wet markets ( 菜市场 ), the prices are acceptable, in fact it's quite cheap. People think the price worth the quality. But markets like supermarkets, shopping mall, it's a bit expensive. For normal households, they would think the price is expensive but for the richer households, it's acceptable. Due to the high price, the normal households seldom goes there to buy items. Items like clothings would also depends on the place you buy, usually would be below 500 TWD.Lastly, cigarettes and alcohols are actually much cheaper than in Singapore.

In conclusion, the people in Taiwan thinks the cost of living is acceptable and satisfied with it. Though some items are expensive, they think the quality worth such prices and thus accepted them.

Taiwan OELP reflection

Taiwan day 2

On day 2, we went to the Hakka museums, and learnt more about the Hakka culture. I learnt that Hakka is a race in Taiwan, and they migrated from China. In the early days, they settled into the hilly areas of Taiwan, and despite the difficult terrain, they turned swamps and riverbeds in farmland. A unique life style adapted to the hills developed, and that formed the basis of Hakka culture.  We also learnt about some Taiwanese culture, like the oblation furnace (敬字停）they believed that papers with words are precious and cannot be anyhow thrown away, and it's a practice still upheld now. I'm very impressed with how the Taiwanese preserved their culture. Seeing how the many museums are preserved, and how many of the tour guides explaining the museum to us were volunteers, I can really feel their enthusiasm towards their culture. I think they have done it better than Singapore, as even though we have museums, we don't go there, and do not have an enthusiasm like the Taiwanese. I think that we can learn a lot from the Taiwanese, and try to learn and preserve our culture. Especially us, the youths of Singapore. We cannot treat our culture lightly, as it defines who we are and gives us identity. We should learn to treasure and preserve them. 

Taiwan day 3

On day 3, we visited the an ping fort and the liu he night market. I thought the an ping fort was very significant, as it was a symbol of their independence, a story of how Taiwan prospered. It is very important, as it could be something all Taiwanese could relate to and be proud of. Just like singapores story of raffles, the Taiwanese story of zeng cheng gong. It embodies the values the people of the country all admire, so they can all be proud of the person. I think that this is the importance of a monument. It is significant by representing important memories of the locals, and form a common story, or thing all the people can be proud of. Whether it's the Singapore story of raffles or the Taiwanese story of zeng cheng gong, it is all something people of the country can be proud of. After this, we went to the liu he night market. I saw a lot of Taiwans famous snacks. I learnt a lot of the Chinese food culture, and I tried a lot of them.

Taiwan day 4

On day 4, I went to our sister school, sacred hearts high school. We went to their classes to see what it was like, and also we performed a dance for them, and they also had a few performances prepared for us. At the performance, I was very impressed by their discipline. They were very attentive during our performance, and there was none of the fidgeting and noises that we always make. They clapped and cheered loudly, and gave us an impression that they were enjoying the performance very much. It made us feel very welcomed and impressed. I also went to their science class, and it was a debate class, about the merits and demerits of zoos. The teacher was very supportive, and always guided us on how to answer, and help us summarize our points. He made the atmosphere very conducive, and thus helped spark the exchange of ideas. All in all, I think that the Taiwanese students have very good discipline, and their teachers are very friendly and supportive.

Day 5

We went to zhengxin for robotics and balloon sculpturing lessons, and I learnt a lot of new things. For the robotics lesson, I learnt how to transfer the program into the robot, and then assemble the robot. It was very fun, and interesting. We also went for balloon sculpturing, and that's the time we were able to bond with the seniors who led us, and as they taught us how to make the balloons, while we keep popping them, I felt that they were really people I can depend on. In the afternoon, we went to the cake towel shop. I was impressed with their creativity, as they made.... All sorts of things from towels, such as cats, cows.... I learnt that because of the climate, the cotton used to make towels are hard to grow, but they worked around that by coming up with this creative way to boost sales. 

Day 6

We went for a FCE lesson in the morning, and I was very surprised when I learnt that we will be cooking our lunch. I was worried at first, as during the FCE lessons in RV, the food I cooked was.... Not horrible, but not all that tasty either. However, through the guidance of the seniors there who taught us how to cook, I had a very enjoyable lunch, and I'm happy to say that the food was delicious. In the afternoon, I went out with my buddy, and I learnt a lot about the Taiwanese culture, through our visit to a temple. It has a lot of gods there, and the buddy introduced them to me. We also went to a street that is very famous in Taiwan for its paintings of the cats, and the paintings were very creative, as on a 2D wall, they created a 3D feeling, and we had fun and interacted with the cats. 

Day 7

It was the day where we returned to Singapore, and we went to the  911 earth quake education centre. It was designed very well, with a bridge that has markings on it that can measure the earth quake. We went to a area that was preserved to record the scene of the earth quake, and we can see the extent of the damage for ourselves. Classrooms was tore into two, and you can see the steel poking out. Seeing the power of the earthquake, and the damage it can cause, I'm all the more thankful that I can live in Singapore. We are special in the fact that we can avoid these earth quakes, and we must realize how fortunate we are. We must not forget to help those who are less fortunate though, and always be ready to help someone in need.