Thews_Taiwan_Jan2021

Christmas Joy!

While the Christmas season has officially passed, our joy in the newborn Christ child continues. Each Christmas, Concordia Middle School students prepare Bible story displays from recycled materials. Students begin planning their projects in October, organizing classroom teams and materials for the school-wide Christmas competition. It’s a major highlight of the school year, and it’s my favorite event to celebrate Christ’s birth in Taiwan. 

Click the button below to watch a 3 minute video documenting the execution of stunning student-created Bible story displays. 

Problem Solving

During the first semester of the school year, I had the pleasure of designing an interest group curriculum for Junior 1 (7^thgrade) students. It’s essentially an elective course to practice English while studying a high interest subject. Students in my “Problem Solving” interest group, worked together to solve challenges, problems, or puzzles using math, science, and English. One lesson was a particular hit.

In 2016, U.S. high school senior Michael Sanatore flipped a water bottle at his school talent show. A friend posted a video of Michael’s flip on Twitter, and a new craze was born. The water bottle flipping trend is still popular today. To capitalize on student interest, I created a lesson to test bottle flipping. It incorporated math, science, and English to find the best number of milliliters to successfully flip a water bottle. 

The results were delightful! My students eagerly engaged in the activity while reading and writing in English, sharing their results with small groups, and demonstrating what they had learned. It was a happy day for this teacher and her students! 
 

You’re invited to watch a brief video (1:30) of the Water Bottle Flipping Challenge. Click the button below. 

Pictures vs. Words

Pictures are a valuable tool for instructing English as a second language. The foreign teachers at Concordia Middle School Taiwan often use images to reinforce vocabulary and concepts. Occasionally, we as ask the students to demonstrate understanding by drawing a picture. This exercise provides quick feedback for the instructors to gage student knowledge during a lesson. Students are happy to set aside words for few minutes to indulge in designing the picture they’ve created in their minds. 

While studying David and Goliath, some Junior 2 (8^th grade) students provided insight into the story, adding their personal spin on the possible realities of the war. I always look forward to the student interpretations of Bible stories. Below, you’ll find two examples of their work.

It’s a joy to share Bible stories with students. Their enthusiasm, humor, and heart show in their drawings and our class discussions. We are blessed to share the Good News of God’s love with our school community!  

Please Pray For:

• A recent Covid-19 outbreak in northern Taiwan has placed more than 1000 people in strict quarantine. Please pray for health and healing as Taiwan prepares for Chinese New Year celebrations. 

Give Thanks For: 

• We praise God for the gift of the Christ child and the opportunity to share His story with our students and colleagues at CMS. 
• We give thanks for rest and rejuvenation during our Chinese New Year break. 
   

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