Isabel Wasserman: Teaching English and Cooking – Taiwan November 2022

The view from the roof of our university building (the teacher took us all up there)

這個月是特別的月，因為跟大學的朋友們一起去附近的小學給學生教英文。我們一起做了披薩，聊天，喝附近的茶園的茶。學生都是11歲所以沒學太多英文，我們一起說了很多中文。也有很多聽不懂的事，但也能很多說話所以那天非常開心。我覺得有機會再去小學，所以很期待。

在課我們用中文給別的同學們介紹料理，也給同學們做！吃了韓國，英國，台灣跟俄羅斯的菜。我用從英國帶了茶包給他們跑英式紅茶。吃了以後跟老師一個小時聊天因為有很多想問的問題。

11月也考試了，考了很好因為我很努力，老師也給我們教很多的事。很期待我的中文越來越好了！我會寫很多漢字但是還覺得聲調有一點兒難。下個星期也考試，加油！

今天我也想介紹一種英國沒有的菜：冬瓜！冬瓜是一種瓜果，含很多維他命比方說維他命C，也含鐵質。我覺得冬瓜非常好吃，可能用作湯，茶。我常常喝冬瓜茶因為非常好喝，也很便宜。在台灣一杯冬瓜茶差不多35塊錢（也會買冬瓜奶茶）。在英國買的冬瓜茶有一點兒貴，但我希望大家會試試喝！

I have had a very enjoyable past month and once again learned a lot. With a few classmates I went to a nearby elementary school to teach the students English which was a really new experience. They were only around 11 years old and hadn’t learned a lot of English yet, so beyond introductions we spoke in Chinese. It was a great challenge to use what I’ve learned so far as children are often much less forgiving audiences to bad pronunciation! I had a lot of fun talking to them, I was able to hold conversation for the three hours we were together and they were very very cute too. We spoke about what school subjects they like, have they ever been abroad, what food they like, etc.

We also went together to Shenkeng Old Street, a traditional market street near the school. It was my second time going but the first time the shops weren’t open, so it was wonderful to be able to look around. Before the end of the afternoon we were taught basic tea steeping using local teas, and I was really delighted that I was able to understand the instructions in Chinese – my study is paying off.

Although an unsual thing to talk about, I  will also mention the dust bin lorries here in Taiwan.

The system is quite different to the UK: the dustbin lorries come around in the evening playing a loud jingle, signalling everyone to run out into the street with their rubbish to throw it in the back of the lorry.

It’s quite a cute jingle and I will miss hearing it when I eventually go back to the UK. You also have to buy specific bin bags from the city which counts then as payment for the rubbish collection – you can’t use just black binbags like in the UK.

Also, in the last month we had our midterm exam and I scored top of my class! The final exam is next week and I’m excited to see the results of my effort. There’s a huge library very close to where I live so I plan to spend some time in there to prepare – it is a wonderful environment.