Owl Preschool
貓é 鷹幼兒園
Additional advice from previous teachers
So, teaching!?
You will teach every day from 9am-10am, 10:40am-12:10pm, and 3pm-4:30pm, Mon-Fri. Lunch is provided at the school (12:15). There are about 40-45 students at the school in three different classes-- 3/yo class, 4/yo class, and a 5/yo class. You will develop your own curriculum and lesson plans. Many books and resources are provided. Chinese speaking teachers are in the room with you and they can help with discipline and in other ways needed.
9:00-10:00: 30-minute lessons-- games, songs, stories, physical exercise, hands-on activity etc..
10:00-10:40: Break/Lesson Prep
10:40-12:10: three 30-minute lessons—language arts, educational activities (classes are split by age groups)
12:10-3:00: Lunch/Break/Lesson Prep
3:00-4:30: two forty-five minute lessons-- themed crafts and games (there are different themes for each month to design these lessons around it. This week, for example, our theme is "houses").
You don't get a lesson plan, although you do get a fairly general idea of what subjects are to be taught everyweek. Coming up with an outline is up to the teacher, and that can be fairly difficult and require a lot of planning. Coming up with materials for lessons is the school's responsibility, but they need to be notified on Monday of the materials you would need throughout the week. It is therefore required of the teachers to plan detailed lesson plans for the week before the week actually starts. *You do submit them to the school and a copy of the schedule is sent home with each student. (Feel responsible?)
However, we do have a lot of materials and information here. We have many books with sample syllabuses that could be used for every lesson. It is not necessary that you come up with all the information or activities yourself, but you will be required to select what to teach every class.
Some of the activities in the books can be used directly in every class, and some require a little adaptationfor kids. There are a lot of materials here to aid in your class preparation. Of course, you can always ask Yuling or the Chinese teachers for suggestions of what works and what doesn't.
ESL
The kids have a lot of energy, and love it when you keep their attention. All of the teachers that have been here have expressed how challenging (and rewarding) the job can be. You will have to be creative and inventive and be willing to try many different things.
The preschool is for 3-, 4-, and 5-year-olds from more well-to-do families in the area. The kids are a joy. There are about 10 to 15 kids in each age group. The 3-year-olds’ English is really limited, and more caretaking goes into teaching them. But the 5-year-olds can carry on a conversation and understand most of what we say. We do a lot of songs and games and group activity.
Each intern usually tutors for 1 to 3 hours every night, starting at 5 pm for $10/hr. It's a busy schedule, but a great opportunity to teach English as a second language, to adorable children. Also, tutoring can range from young kids to older kids (under 18).
What to bring?
Teaching supplies: Yuling will be able to get almost anything you need if you ask her in advance. But there are plenty of office supply stores in town. (Rememer, this is Asia. You'll realize all those stereotypes are true). But, you probably won't find brown lunch bags, but that's about all we can think of.
Home accessories: You would be provided your own room in an apartment directly above the school. All utility charges are covered, as well as wireless internet. Your room is furnished with a desk, internet access (wireless only), cell phone, bed sheets, pillow, etc. You might want to bring your own pillow or case. There is a washer at the school for clothes and a bamboo shoot to hang them up to dry.
Clothes, etc.: Depending on which internship, it will end cooler or it will start cool. Bring some light layers (sweater, jacket, pants), a warm hat, scarf, etc. You can get a good poncho here. Your definition of tropical island might change. Within the 6-month internship the weather changes. (It is 2 seasons!) Taiwan also has two rainy seasons. You might even experience a typhoon (very common, and nothing scary like portrayed in movies). Even earthquakes occur regularly, although rarely noticed.
Fun: Two movie theaters showing English movies. And any fun you decide to create yourself. Hiking, Biking, Surfing, Traveling, Camping, Shopping, Night Market.
Gifts: Our time has gone by really fast, and there are a lot of people we feel close to, so we wish we had brought more gift items from the states. Being "from the states" makes them more special. You might like to bring small things like postcards, candy like Swedish Fish or red licorice, starbursts, resse's, etc.
Personal medications or other:
Also. Mosquitoes. If mosquitoes weren't themselves enough of a nuisance, Taiwan has another black bug of the devil. In addition to bug spray (which you can bring with you or buy here - just look for Deet), wearing longer pants and shirts is actually one good way to protect yourself. These tiny mosquitoes (what Taiwanese lovingly refer to them as) are resillient to bug spray and after the first two weeks of shorts has turned your lovely legs into 'red bean popsicles' (what Taiwanese lovingly refer to your legs when they are covered in mosquito bites) pants will be your new best friend.
B1 vitamins also help repel mosqitoes for some people. If it works for you, it might be good to bring as well
Travel
Taipei: It's a convenient train ride and the members usually go monthly! There is lots to see, even if you went every month!
Green Island: a perfect weekend get-away (for about$NT2500) to explore the reefs while snorkeling, hiking the island, goat-chasing and enjoying sea-water hot springs (1 of 2 in the WORLD!).
A weeklong trip to Thailand is pretty convenient for around $18000NT for the whole package—elephant rides and boat trips and all.
Roundtrip tickets to Hong Kong go for around $200USD.Travel within mainland China is cheap, but it’s tricky to get a visa from here.
Tickets to and from Taiwan are usually around USD$400.
In-country travel is cheaper than in Europe or most of South America. Make sure you work with Yuling on all travel plans. She is always great to work with, and makes great efforts to accommodate interns.
Green Island is a popular destination and receives visitors from all over the world!
Collected Experiences from past interns
Here are some ideas of things to do and places to see:
First of all, hopefully you like to ride a bike. That's how American interns or teachers get around everywhere: shopping, restaurants, to the church etc. There are a 20 minute bike rides to the ocean and a 15 minute bike rides to the mountains. Bikes are provided for all American interns or teachers. If you aren't directional saavy, it would be good to carry Yuling’s school business card or for emergency conditions. People are SO friendly and helpful everywhere.
Day bike rides right around the school: Explore cool cemeteries, pretty parks, Buddhist/Daoist temples, etc.
The LDS church building is about a 5 minute bike ride from the interns’ apartment/ school.
Up the canyon: A main road that runs from the mountains to the ocean is called Jian Guo St. If you go
west towards the mountains you'll get to your second bridge across the river, where you can take in sun,
cool off in the water, etc. We've gone hiking up in further, but you have to get a little permit and pay 30 cents.
Along the mountains: If you go up close to the mountains (about 10 minutes away), then head south there are some neat biking trails. One is called the Sun trail, taking you through some of the rainforest. Another road takes you further to an Air Force memorial, and further along to a lily pad pond. If you have a friend to go with you can ride for an hour or so and get to LiYu Lake and use the paddle boats or go hiking above it. Really pretty area.
Along the river: Go down Jian Guo St towards the ocean until it merges with another big road. Take a right to the next block, then a left. You can look to your left and see a bridge going up over the river. There's a really cool Buddhist memorial hall across the bridge, or you can just go right along the river towards the ocean. It's a really pretty ride for about 15 minutes until you get to the ocean. If you like volleyball, you'll pass a park called Bei-bing really close to the ocean. There are two really nice sand courts, and I've gone on a couple Saturday nights to join in a game.
Along the ocean: From the Bei-bing park, you can go left or right along the ocean and the bike trail goes in both directions for several kilometers. If you go left you'll pass the harbor, small shops, and some really pretty lookout points. Eventually you'll get to Qixing-Tan, Hualien's biggest beach. You can ask church members about a beach called Ji-qi where you can go swimming.
Shopping: Downtown is a fun place to be from about 6am to 11pm. Their mango smoothies, hockey-puck looking pastries, and dumplings are really good. There's a lot of clothing, shoes, etc., places to look around as well. There are several women's Chinese clothing stores as well around Hualien. Of course, night market is the best place for all interns to find cheap food and it just two blocks away from the school. It opens everyday from 4:30pm-12:00 midnight.
These are some places we foundthrough "exploring," but there is a lot more to find if you have time on a bike. Hualien is a very safe place to be in. There are wonderful members and young single adults in the branch you can meet. Some of them speak great English. So they can accompany you on bikes or scooter to check out different places. Yuling or Stephanie will always be able to give you suggestions and often take you different places on weekends.
Finances: Most interns are able to save the majority of their scholarship. The school puts the money into your ownTaiwanese bank account, and you can choose whether or not to withdraw anything. Interns find that they can live pretty comfortably on the money that they make during individual tutoring after school in the evenings. They tutor 1-2 hour(s) per night and are paid by the students between $300-400 NTD per hour. It's pretty reasonable to pay tithing (including the set scholarship), groceries, souvenirs and anything else with this.
FAQ:
1. How much money on average does it cost, aside for the payments that the school already covers?
Most students find that they are able to save a significant amount of money from being here. In other words, you should be in the green, not the red after the internship is done. That includes travel costs, but we do require students to pay for their airplane tickets themselves before arriving. Again, it can be very easy to make enough money to cover those costs and have plenty left over when you are here.
2. Are we responsible for the children at any other time other than in school?
No, but the school is in session for most of the day. Interns are also asked (but not required) to tutor children after school (for additional money). In general, interns should be ready to work 4 hours a day.
3. Do you know of any current BYU students that taught at the school that I would be able to talk to about this program?
Ask Yuling to give you their emails.
Other frequently asked questions: Sponsored internships are from July-December and January-June. If an intern would like to come and not receive compensation, they are welcome to do so, free housing will be provided. If you wanted to participate in an unpaid internship, you could start basically any time that you would like. You would just need to send us a resume and tell us what time you are available.The school itself would charge you nothing and give you free housing as well as the opportunity to privately tutor children.
4. Culture Shock?
If you've never lived abroad, you may experience the regular initial wave of culture shock. It’s helpful to expect to live without some comforts. It is usually not safe to drink the water, but you can get your water from a filter at the school . It is rare for a teacher to get sick.
5. Do I need to know Chinese?
You do not need to speak Chinese. Many people here know a little English and engaging in a game of charades with a complete stranger can be pretty fun! But, take advantage of the language immersion while you are here and learn some basics.
6. Traffic is crazy. Good luck figuring out traffic rules and then see if anyone follows them.
Play it safe and always stay on the cautious side.