On one of my many walks around town, I saw some beautiful colors of spring flowers.  It was interesting to see where they were growing – the first picture is up close, and the second one shows the setting around the flowers.  We can learn a lesson from flowers – beauty shows up in some of the most unique places! 

I was invited to take a trip to visit Turtle Island on April 15 along with nine students from Nanao and a fellow teacher, Mr. Wei.  I didn’t even think of a special deadline in America while I was sailing over the ocean!  Turtle Island is an island made from a volcano.  There are several hot springs along the coastline coming up from the deeps somewhere.  The color of the water has a marked difference where the hot springs are, and there is the telltale sign of the smell of sulphur.  

 The purpose of the trip was for a special rite-of-passage for the eighteen year old students in Yilan County.  The students go to the top of the island (1,700 steps to the top) where a special ceremony is conducted by the chief administrator of Yilan County.  I am sorry to say, I only made it to about 425 steps, then came back down with some girls who did not fare so well on the boat ride over.  My concern anyways was the trip down – that is harder on my legs than going up!  But I got an award anyways saying that I had reached my goal of adulthood — in case any of you were wondering when I would ever get there!! 

There were special fun events planned for the students – hula hoop relays, hat relays.  We walked around a small inland lake before we had lunch which provided some very beautiful sites to see.  We were also able to go down into some military tunnels used for protection of the island during previous war times.    The warning sign at the entrance warned of several things – including poisonous snakes.  I’m happy to say we did not encounter any!   

Earlier this month, the villages of Nanao held some competitions – mostly sports activities with elementary and secondary students competing against each village.  There are seven small villages that make up Nanao.  It was interesting to me that some of the students were there competing in the events, while the rest were still in school.  On the weekend, however, there were more events, and some students were assigned to help explain to me what was going on.  Three young men were right beside me through several events, to make sure I wasn’t by myself.  I always enjoy seeing community gatherings – from babies to grandparents, all enjoying those events. 

On April 25, our school had a special celebration.  I think it was an anniversary of the school, but I am not sure which one.  The day’s events began with a tug of war competition between classes.  Later, some dignitaries from the different villages were there to watch some of the special events.  The school’s native aboriginal dance team sang a special song.  It was beautiful.  An awards ceremony followed for special jobs some of the students had.  There were several different competitions - some of the homeroom classes had dance competitions against each other.  Some of the outfits were very creative!  One class switched gender roles, and there were some very interesting ‘girls’ – for sure!!   In the afternoon, there were some athletic competitions between the different classes, and awards given out for the top contenders.  One of the students got too excited, nervous, or hot, and fainted, so the ambulance had to come get her.  Notice the number to call on the window.  Other than that, it was a really great day – with good weather, and lots of good fun.   And the mountains, as always, provided such a pretty backdrop for the day.

In one of our English Club classes this month, we worked on asking and giving directions.  We had a worksheet that we went through together, but I wanted to make it more practical for them.  So, I  wrote some directions for the students to follow to go on an adventure to find a treasure!  Each student had a slip of paper with instructions for each step.  They had to read the words, and then follow the directions.  We actually ended up back where we started, but it was sure fun to see them reading, and figuring out what some of those words meant.  The ‘treasure’ was a bag of cute little Chinese snacks wrapped in paper that made them look like little people. 

In my special classes I have been teaching this semester, we have been doing some interesting things – at least they seem to be mostly interested!  We just finished up Humpty Dumpty – with extension activities using shapes, colors, and patterns.  We used tangrams one week, and made some different shapes with them.  The students had a task one of the days to draw a shape out of a bag, and they needed to identify the shape and the color.  I have a set of magnets that are different fruits – so as I was creating a pattern, we would say the names of the fruits.  It was a great way to repeat the fruits and have a purpose in doing it that was useful!   

As the school year is winding down to an end, the students are showing some progress in the English acquisition over the year.  In several classes, the teacher will let the kids listen to what I say as I explain something further, and have them try to translate into words they understand.  I am amazed at some of the students who are really picking up words and concepts from the lessons!  The students are doing better reading, and some of them are even asking me questions showing some depth of understanding of the language.  It sure does this teacher’s heart good to see that!  (Is that correct English??) 

This past weekend has been a busy one – with invitations to special events.  There was a family get together to celebrate a grandfather’s 80th birthday.  One of the grandsons and his new wife were on their honeymoon here from America – to celebrate with the grandfather.  The extended family gathered at the house, sang songs, read the twenty-third Psalm, and shared some thoughts together.  I had been asked to share a little in English for the new couple.  Then the family adjourned to a local restaurant where we had dinner – food, food, and more food!  Delightful evening. 

Sunday morning was filled with firewords going off for some reason – which I found out later to be in celebration of a god’s birthday this weekend.  There were fruits and flowers set up in front of many homes and businesses, with incense burning alongside them.  The temple was full of people, gods, music, and flags. 

After our church was finished, the pastor and family were going to an engagement party which started at the home of the bride’s family.  They sang songs and read scripture there, too – this time the love chapter, I Corinthians 13.  Then, the family adjourned to a restaurant downtown for dinner.  Again, food, food, and more food!  I was very honored to be able to be a part of all of that. 

It seems that at the end of every school year, the question comes to mind about my effectiveness – did I do a good job this year, did my students learn enough, did I make a difference?  I have found that the most difficult part of teaching English is an accurate assessment.  Many of the students are still in the pre-production stage where they are just hearing the words but not able to produce them.  Then, there are students who are ready to try saying anything because they are so hungry to learn more words, and the rest of the students are somewhere in between. 

I have decided that for the rest of the school year, I want to teach a motto to my students that challenges each of us to keep striving to be better – to do our very best.  I hope they can all say this at the end of the year – “Good, Better, Best!  Never let it rest!  Until your Good is Better, And your Better is the Best!”  I challenge you to keep striving, too!