End of the Semester and Winter School

Well, here I am sitting on the weekend after we just finished the semester. It went extremely quick, and as any teacher knows the last couple of weeks are much more intense as grades are being compiled. The next 2 weeks start something called Winter School.

Winter School is "non-mandatory/mandatory" school for students. This is kind of like open practices or summer gym sessions for basketball players in America. You don't have to attend, and the coach cannot make you...but everyone still does and knows that unless they have a great excuse they need to be there.

The same is true of this school time in Taiwan. The government does not allow schools to have mandatory school during these next 2 weeks, but nearly every Middle and High School has a Winter School time. On top of that all of the students still come to class, even though they are not required. Taiwan also has a summer school time that is similar to this, and here's how most schools approach the situation. Maybe they send a letter home that says something like this:



Dear Joe Tenth Grader,

We will be starting winter school for the next 2 weeks. As you know you do not have to come. During Winter School we will continue in the curriculum and our physics class will be analyzing Chapters 8-10 of the textbook. If you choose not to attend please catch up on your own so you can continue next semester.

Have a good break,

Jane Physics Teacher



Now...letters like this are probably not written and I threw in a little saracasm, but the general idea is the same. Classes continue as they normally would and if a student misses class they will have to make up all the work their classmates did. Parents also like to have their kids in school because they don't get a break from work, and would rather have their kids studying then home alone playing games.

So during Winter School I will have the same schedule as the first semester. Andrew and I are not too keen on the idea of winter school. We fully believe our students' lives already revolve around studying and could use a break, so we decided to show movies during this time. It will give them a chance to relax and also the movies are in English, so it is a chance to practice some listening. Plus it is no prep work or grading for me :) The exception to this is my Advanced English class, who will be working on a fun project invovling Shakespeare. I know...I know..the words "fun" and "Shakespeare" do not go together, but I think the students really will enjoy it. I can write about that at a different time.

During the second week I will going to Vietnam on a mission trip. The school approved the trip and thus are excusing me from the second week of teaching. Andrew will be around to finish showing the movies and I will have a substitute for a couple of classes.

I'll write more about Vietnam in a future post.