She also talked about the educational situation in Korea, and I would like to share my experience with you since I am from Taiwan. What she shared about the educational situation in Korea is general in Asian countries. Students in Taiwan, Korea, China, and Japan have to learn so many subjects and they are asked to be great so that students can go to great colleges in the future. Compared to American children, children in Asia have no childhood because they have to learn so many in their children. What they have to do is study and learn instruments such as violin and piano. Therefore, children have lots of pressure before they go to college. What's more, because of the teaching style, many children don't have critical thinking. They don't know how to think, and they just wait for others' instruction. It is a culture shock when I first had class in America because everyone is willing to express themselves. This would not happen in Taiwan.
I keep thinking about why I cannot integrate so many interesting activities into my teaching. The main reason is we have to catch up with progress, and we won't have enough time if we do activities in class. The other reason is we don't have enough technology materials such as computers and projectors. Most of the schools don't have computers in classrooms, so it would be quite difficult to do some technology things in the class. If I can integrate some web 2.0 tools, my students would have interest in it. After I go back to Taiwan, I hope I can figure out how to stimulate students motivation to learn English.
Thanks for sharing your experiences about the educational system in Taiwan! I found it so interesting and glad you were willing to share your thoughts. Students in your country are very successful so you wonder sometimes which is actually better? I would hope some day that we could come to a balance of letting children learn, but also be a child... it happens in America too!
回覆刪除