MRI report

I've got my MRI report. I don't want to talk about it. I love hiking, backpacking and nature. This is a life style change....

MRI and Knee

I get my MRI report on my knee in two days. Great. At least I will know what is going on in the knee. I think I know where I hurt it - at Bill Gates' health club in Redmond Washington. I was working out on one of the machines and over-did-it. I will find out - after six months of symptoms what I over did. One of my friends emails said that I was getting old....okay... it's true I am getting older. But my mind and spirt doesn't feel older. Yet the bod is not mod....
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Six grade projects report

These two were kicked out of my class last week for different offences. One threw something at another student and the other was laying on the floor...sigh....


The projects are going as I predicted. The group of 4 boys who wanted to do something about basketball and Allen Iverson were instead working on their grammar. The 7 girls are doing great. The two boys who are working on kites are doing okay and I took a boy out of the "bad" group and put him with them. The 4 boys and 2 girls are borderline. I'll see how it goes tomorrow.

Challenges Teaching 6th grade ESL

Teaching 6th grade ESL is so challenging to me. I struggle to find a way to reach the students and for my own peace of mind. First, they are 6th graders. Just like 6th graders everywhere, they are going through crazy body changes in a land where such things aren’t talked about – not too far off from what it was like 30 something year’s ago in Toledo, Ohio. Second, they know everything and could give, well, a shit about learning English in a place where they only use English in the classroom. They are also used to “backpacker” taught English and not “real-school” English. Third, I don’t know what they’re talking about when they speak Chinese. They don’t know enough English to only speak English in the class and do anything else besides the text-book driven curriculum. So Chinese is necessary in the class for projects. Fourth, the English level varies widely in the class. Some can speak okay and most can write and read pretty good English while others can hardly speak and write at all. Fifth, I have a couple of students on medications. One likes to make “poo poo” jokes and I kick him out of the class regularly. He wants to remain in the class so this seems to be working. Sixth, the school has a “play it by ear” attitude towards English. Policies and guidelines are lacking. This has an advantage in that I have a lot of flexibility to teach what I want and how I want. In a way I can experiment.

So with these and many other factors in mind, I started a new project with them yesterday. I have the class of 22 broken up into 5 self-selected groups working on self-selected projects. The groups are like this: Three boys making ice cream and an instruction book. Seven girls making a large comic - cartoon mural with dialogue. Two boys are making a kite and an instruction book. Four boys are making a basketball and story about Allen Iverson. And finally, two girls and four boys are making a comic book. I had them assign themselves into responsible roles in their groups – leader, note-taker, spokesperson, artists and time-keeper.

Here are my feelings and predictions for this group project. The following projects will be successful – meaning the students will put effort into them and produce quality products and learn some practical English while having fun - Ice Cream, Kites and Mural comic – cartoon. These groups will do well working independently and with my guidance.

The two-girl and four boy comic book group and the four-boy sports group will be screwing off a lot and I’ll have to devote a lot of management time to them. I think the six-person group will be broken up into two groups by me because they will not be able to focus. The sports group may end up doing grammar text-book work because of their inability to stay focused. Okay, there it is 3 groups to 2 groups. Ten students on the down side and 12 on the up. I make this assessment of the groups because of past experience with the students. If I hadn't done prior project work with them in the past these predictions would be impossible.

I want to state one more thing. One of my motivating factors for choosing this project is to give students a chance to work on their English while not being dominated by the “screw-ups” in the class. It’s interesting that the screw-ups chose to be in the same groups while also taking a few “non-screw-ups” with them. What I’ve done is taken my class and divided it into 5 smaller classes.

Shouldn’t I be getting a Master’s Degree or something for trying this? Stay tuned for updates.

An Evening in Taipei

The restaurant is supposed to be famous and expensive because Tom cruise ate - but not drank - there and the director of Slap Shot also ate - not sure if he drank there or not - there.

Willie and Cindy and I had dinner at a Schzuane place that was so delicious. We then ate dessert Taiwan style - Peanut soup with sweet potato. It was great! The dessert place is a little stall famous for its Taro \ peanut soup....

Taipei 101 building (The tallest building in the world right now) and the waxing gibbous moon (the largest moon in the solar system right now).

Christmas in Taiwan

A few photos of the song wheels made by 2nd graders.


They do celebrate Christmas here although there isn't much or any of the Christian part. It's more good feelings and sales. Similar to the US I think. In my school I am teaching the second graders the twelve Days of Christmas and using a "song wheel" to help.

Cold and MRI

I have a cold now. In Asia it is common for the person who is sick to wear a mask. So - when in Asia, do as the Asians do.

I continue to have some health problems though. My toe is healing fine but my knee which started to hurt and swell in June or July in Hawaii, is getting worse.

I had an MRI Monday and the tech said she thought she saw torn ligaments. I looked it up on the web - in the knee this may mean I have a torn ACL. If that is true then there are some big decisions to be made. I have a doctor's appointment a week from Thursday.

By the way. Since I am a member of the National Health System here through my work, my MRI cost me less than NT$500 or about $18 US including knee specialist visit and medication that I don't want to take.

Sunday at the Coal Mine

Mining coal here must have been a hard life. Most employees were female.

Last Sunday we went out on a tour of an old coal mine area and had a lunch buffet. Here are a few shots. Annie, Cindy, Lisa and Willie. By the way, those aren't their true names. I am still working on their real names. Taiwanese people and other Chinese are polite enough to make up English names for us westerners. I never thought of making up a name that would be easy for Chinese speakers to understand. I think it's pretty western centric. So, because I have a job, medical, bank account etc., I've found that I need a Chinese name. Here it is. 柯傑洛 So from now on I want you all to call me by my Chinese name. Hardy har har.