GEPT

In Taiwanese schools we concentrate more in grammar. Weekly, students will have eight hours of English class. This will include two hours for Listening and Speaking and the other six hours will concentrate in reading, writing and grammar. Most of students will get extra help after school, that we call Cram Schools.

Also, in our school and in Taiwan, the Taiwanese government said that everybody has to pass GEPT this stands for (General English Proficiency Test), in Chinese is (全民英檢). This is kind of TOEFL test that all international students have to do when they want to go and study at university in English speaking countries.

I think this is one way to help students in Taiwan to study harder in their English. As a teacher, I think it is hard for students here in Taiwan to practice their English daily. They can be excellent in grammar, reading or writing but not very good at speaking or listening. You see, after school, they go home or they go for extra help at cram schools. However, the society, people speak in Chinese. The TV, radio programs and life everything is in their main languages (Taiwanese and Chinese). But, when, they can use their second language, this is only at school when an English teacher will ask the student a question in English, the two seconds that the student has will just answer in English. Just imagine, two seconds, how a student will improve their listening and speaking?

Some schools like mine will have study abroad program for it. Every summer our study program will go to Australia and England. But, parents must spent a lot of money for their children to go. Everybody invest their money on their child's education. Taiwanese society is very stressful because parents just think how to make money for their children's education.

What is a Cram School?

According to Wikipedia, Cram schools are usually privately owned. They are prevalent in East Asia, where rote-memorization education plays a greater part in adolescent life. In fact, there are so many cram schools in Japan, mainland China, Taiwan, South Korea, Vietnam, and Hong Kong, that they have become a de facto parallel educational system, and high school students may need to attend cram schools after regular school to master certain important courses, like English, mathematics or natural sciences.

Cram schools usually specialize in a particular subject or subjects. Cram schools that prepare students for high school and university entrance examinations are also frequently specialized to particular schools, and the staff may have access to previous years' examinations. Special cram schools that prepare students who have failed their entrance examinations (known as ronin in colloquial Japanese) to take them the following year are also common. Such students may spend up to eighteen hours a day studying to retake their tests. Students who attend regular after-school cram schools may study four hours or more.

As the name suggests, the aim of a cram school is to impart as much information to its students as possible in the shortest period of time. The goal is to enable the students to "parrot," that is, to unthinkingly repeat, information that is deemed necessary for particular examinations. Cram schools are sometimes criticized, along with the countries in which they are prevalent, for the lack of training their students receive in critical thinking and analysis.

Cram schools (also known as crammers) are specialized schools that train their students to meet particular goals, most commonly to pass the entrance examinations of high schools or universities. The English name is derived from the slang term "cramming," meaning to study hard or to study a large amount of material in a short period of time. Cram schools are more common in non-English speaking countries, especially in Asian countries, and they go by various names, such as:

Juku (学習塾, Juku?) (Japanese), Hagwon (학원) (Korean), ''Buxiban or bushiban (補習班 or 补习班) (Mandarin), Tutorial school (補習班 or 補習社) (Hong Kong), Grind School (Slang, Ireland), Frontisterion or Frontistirio (Greek: Φροντιστήριο), Curso pré-vestibular (Portuguese, Brazil), Dersane (Turkish, Turkey).

Essay composition!

This is the second assignment that I gave to my 8th grader students at Sheng-Kung Girls High School. The topic is "Who is Really Nice?" Junior two C (J2C) is a very good in English not only in writing and but also in speaking.

The assignment is each student will:

• Write 220 words in English that is not include punctuations.
• They have to tell me who is really nice to them.
• They must use phrases from the book.
• No Internet translations.
• Everything in their own words.

Who is Really Nice?

This is the second assignment in writing "Who is Really Nice?" Again, Amy from J2C, a 8th grader student from Taiwan did a great job, she told about her parents in this short essay.

Who is really nice?

My father is really nice, and mother is, too. When I have some math problems, my mother will teach me. She teaches me slowly that I can understand. She's really a good math teacher. If I do something wrong, my father will correct me, and tell me some principles. That really helps me a lot. They are very kind. If I didn't do well on my tests, they always said, “That's OK. Just do your best!” I felt warmth and love. I was moved to tears. Now, I just hope they can be happy.

If I am sick, they'll be very careful. They take me to see a doctor, ask me to take the medicine. They really care about me. I am so moved. They always do many things for me. I think I have to do something for them, too. What should I do? I don't know what I can do for helping. I really need to think about it.

They're really nice. My father is very friendly. He likes to write papers in his office. He is hard-working. I want to study as well as him. He's so hard on everything such as doing everything perfect on his job. However, his eyes are getting worse and worse. I am worried about it. My mother studies hard, too.

Both of them are my greatest teachers. Someday, I hope I can be an excellent person. Just like them. They're so nice and so good, I love them very much!

Language

This is a very good site to learn so many different languages such as English, Italiano, Español, Português, 普通話, 普通话, Français, Русский, and more. They have from simplest grammar to more complex ones. Also, you can find all kinds of different topics and vocabulary. Listening is also important, you can heard many kinds of accents and pronunciations. And at the same time, cultural point will be introducing.

Check out here!

Essay Composition

The assignment of this week, students need to write 200 words in English describing or telling me about their best friends.

My Best Friend

Today, I was grading my student's' paper, I found this one is the most wonderful essay for students here in Taiwan. This essay wrote by Amy (吳 秉學), she is in the 8th grade at Sheng-Kung Girls High School. Her essay is in the following:


Best Friend

My best friends are Polly and Kerry. We often draw some pictures, listen to music and play. We like to do same thing. When I unhappy or upset, they will try to cheer me up！I really thank for them. After they cheer me up, I fell much better！ If I have some problems, they will give me some advise. They are really my best friends. I won't forget them forever. They are really care
about me,and they are important to me, too.

In the future,I don't know what we will be. But one thing is for sure, our profound friendship won't change. I think we will still keep in touch. They help me so much. Final, I want to say "Thank you！".

Gareth Gates "Stupid Mistake"

My seventh grader like to sing a song of any handsome male singers. I picked up the song of Gareth Gates, "Stupid Mistake." All of the seventh graders like this song because it is easy and fun to sing. Singing a song is another way of learning English in Taiwan. Students will heard English only at schools, and English is not their first language which they do not have a chance to practice it everyday. Teachers have to make fun in the language classroom, otherwise, they will loose desire in learning.







In the following is the lyrics of the song "Stupid Mistake"

I´ve been letting you down, down
Girl I know I've been such a fool
Giving in to temptation
When I should´ve played it cool
The situation got out of hand
I hope you understand

Chorus
It can happen to..
Anyone of us, anyone you think of
Anyone can fall
Anyone can hurt someone they love
Hearts will break
´Cause I made a stupid mistake
It can happen to..
Anyone of us, say you will forgive me
Anyone can fail
Say you will believe me
I can´t take my heart will break
´Cause I made a stupid mistake
A stupid mistake

She was kind of exciting
A little crazy I should´ve known
She must have altered my senses
´Cause I offered to walk her home
The situation got out of hand
I hope you understand

Chorus

A stupid mistake
she means nothing to me
(nothing to me)
I swear every word is true
don´t wanna lose you

Travel Brochure

In my class, we covered unites 11 and 12 from the book Impact Listening One. As little project, students can do a travel brochure. They can choose any country they want to and they have to introduce the city. They have to do 5 days tour, also, they have to write down the cost of the trip.

Students will get together 3 to 4 people in one group. Each student has to do something. As an illustration, one student will introduce the county and the location; as an example "Taiwan", one students will say Taiwan is in Asia South-East of China. Taiwan is located in the Atlantic Ocean. Map has to be included.

The second student will introduce the city of the tour. She will say Tainan city and what tourists can see. Of course, the students have to include pictures.

The third student will introduce the five days tour. For example, day one what we will do and how are we going over there.

The last student will introduce the total package, for example, how much should be, what kind of hotel are we going to stay, is this package include three meals? when are we leaving and what time, and more questions or information that they can come up with.

After they have done their brochure, they have to introduce in front of the classroom for three minutes presentation.

This project can be fun and great. I do this project with my junior ones, they can search unknown words on the Internet or use the bilingual dictionary. It is a great opportunity for them to translate Chinese into English.

The rule is, if there's a students who is left our in my classroom, I will choose a group to let her in. Sometimes, this situation works and sometimes will end up in argument between peer teams. How students will deal with it? they have to find a good solution for it and not to argue in the classroom. In my classroom everyone is equal, so students have to respect each other in my classroom.

The most important rule is that they must write it down in English, not in Chinese. Also, the presentation will be in English only.

Teacher's Note

School can be fun if students knows how to respect their teachers. Sometimes, students can make teachers angry and sometimes they are very sweet and lovely. It is like the weather sometimes is raining, cloudy or sunny. Like students, I do not know when they are in a good mood, when they are sad, when they are energetic or excited. How do I know what they are thinking.

Junior Two J

It is tome for Sheng-Kung Girl High School to have the first monthly test. My junior two students did not even care for it. They do not even put an effort to do their homework or have their tests. Only three groups did a great job and the other members of the class did not even care. They told me that teacher we want to have the test for next time. I asked them why is that? They told me that had a lot of homework to do and they do not have time to prepare mine.

Well, at least they did not lie to me, they told me the truth. But still I did not like the idea that they want to have their test done next time. This is not the way to show a responsible students. They really made me angry and I went to talk to their homeroom teacher, but nothing. She did nothing, I really do not know how I am going to deal with this group.