I live in Taichung and ride the bicycle to the Shengang Middle School for 7 graders conversation practice. The weather is sunny and cool; in the 60's. Since it is holiday season in America, every middle school wants me to do a Christmas program, including Shengang. So I give the children the full scope of festivities between Thanksgiving and New Year. I slide in with a brainstorm on the Winter Holiday
Season with a racetrack matrix. The 8 graders begin a re-telling of an O Henry story, “Gift of the Magi” for
the holiday season before Christmas Day; it would be fun doing it. It was the opening salvo in delightful visits to five Central Taiwan middle schools, one of them twice, with English as a Foreign Language programs to bring fluency and good cheer.
December 12th was the first night of Hanukkah in Taiwan. We light the candles in Asia before The Middle World, Europe, or America gets around to it. When I am asked to give a presentation here to school children about Christmas, I talk about "Winter Holidays" and Christmas shrinks to one night and day, but it’s a nine day holiday that most American children (and teachers) enjoy away from school. For the eight nights of Hanukkah, we light candles. The month between Thanksgiving Day and New Years Day is a celebration for all, no matter how many Santa songs they play on the radio. The candles glow to show that miracles are real; Kwanzaa candles glow, too, for the seven virtues that helped the survivors of slavery cope with this holiday. Charles Dickens knew how tough it was.
On December 4, we were driven to Yunlin for three classes in Tse-Tong Middle School; there would be three more classes the following week. Forty-five minutes was just enough time to brainstorm December festivities with reported speech culminating in board contests. There would be no reading, songs or handouts, well, maybe a short song played from my smartphone onto a Bluetooth mini-speaker: “We wish you a Merry Christmas.” I couldn't rely on audio-visual equipment in rural classrooms. The one 7th grade and two 9th grade classes went very well. The rudimentary cooperative learning experience, because of antiquated EFL teaching methods, not any worse than in a big city, was all the students could muster; the students had never been called on to participate in comprehensible discussion before. In the lower level, it was impossible; they didn’t know basic vocabulary, so I taught them the pattern and lit their fire to caucus and then come up to the board with responses to my cues. The first few rounds they sat in their seats. The first 9th graders were better. I heard their teacher say she was disappointed that they couldn’t use past tense she had taught. The method I used was a shock to the students who had never practiced it.
While brain-storming December Holidays” went well with many children participating verbally, they ignored my suggestion to copy down the ideas we shared from the board and weren’t prepared for the race matrix contest that followed. Most of the six row-team’s responses were inappropriate and flippant but I didn’t let that dampen the outcome; I merely erased the waste and let the students caucus for a revision. The second round responses were better but the lack of discipline was detracting from the outcome. Their teacher remained docile in the back of the room and didn’t help; instead he loudly said the children didn’t know enough English the copy the six words: “In December, there are many holidays.” After the
morning program in Yunlin, the publisher drove us home. I rested for an hour, and then drove to the regular class in
Shengang at 4pm; I was too exhausted to ride the bike. 
The 8th grade evening class at Shengang started with the same December Holidays brainstorming activity As I had done in Yunlin, I took out a Menorah the rabbi in Taipei had gifted me, put on my yarmulke, and lit four candles with singing blessings in Hebrew. The children had never heard Hebrew before and were silent with reverence.
The brainstorming contest went well but I wanted the children to remember the kids who had nothing. I segued into the “Haitian
Family Budget” cooperative learning activity. Each group was now a poor Haitian family trying to make ends with the little money they were paid. The children brainstormed items to buy from an actual shopping list. I told them that the goal of the activity was to live and not die of malnutrition. The next week they would give presentation of their family budgets. If there was time, they would then hear a holiday
story to retell or answer questions about. I would do the brainstorm
activity with the 7th graders the following Wednesday but leave much more time for the lower level class. A retelling activity would have to wait. 
I still didn't know how I would handle a 45 minute presentation for 300 students at the Dec. 21 event and allow for participation for prizes. I couldn't do a brainstorm, retelling, or question answering as I had done in Yunlin. I could do a power point presentation but how could I incorporate participation. I started a PPT I was calling “Season’s Greetings” and would figure out how to use it later.
It was a unique
presentation at Caotun Middle School in Nantou on December 21. It was the first time
I had done enrichment in any public school in Nantou however I did present “Judaism;
My Faith” in Amber Zhang’s class at the college there. Typically, I was asked
to do a Christmas program for the student body; 45 minutes to 300 students. I
decided to make a power point presentation that I call “Season’s Greetings”
that puts Christmas day in its place among the other holidays celebrated in the
U.S. and Canada.
The big challenge
I had with this presentation was figuring out how to keep all the students
involved while handing out 20 little gifts the publish had put into separate
plastic bags. I knew I wanted to ask the children questions to see if they
understood the basics about the seasonal holidays but I couldn’t have board or
panel contests as I had with Shengang and Yunlin classes; this group was too
large. I didn’t want anybody moving around creating chaos. My solution was to add
numbers and letters to 8 of the 10 slides dealing with holidays, regional
climate, outdoor activities, Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa, and
New Year’s; the first slide was the title slide and the last was the video and
lyrics of “Ding Dong” by George Harrison that I would save for a sing-along at
the end if there was time. It worked like a charm. I went through the slides
and 
commented on each one; the foods, festivities, customs, commemoration, and
activities. I pointed out the connection between the photos and the smart art
cycle matrix within. Speaking in Mandarin I told the ten classes of twenty plus
students what I would be doing and warned them there would be a contest for
gifts when I went through the slide show the 
second time. I randomly called the
class sitting on the gymnasium floor to their feet and told them to raise a
hand if they knew an answer to my question about the slide on display. They
didn’t have to say the difficult words; only the letter associated with the
photo or the number of the caption. It worked out so well that I had five
minutes enough to play and sing the “Ding Dong” song. I told the classes that
the class that sang the heartiest would win the remaining five gifts. One
slightly boisterous class won and the event concluded on time with everybody
happy. 
We went to the Jianguo Middle School English Choral Competition where I was to be one of five judges, the only native English speaker. Only the teacher to my left could speak with me. We chatted between performances and it was quite pleasant. The ninety minute drive from Taichung at 6:30 am was worth getting up early for.
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| "Fight Song" 1st place |
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| "My Songs Know What You Did In the Dark" 4th place |
Even though many of the songs were song off-key, you could tell that the children had been practicing hard for many weeks on pronunciation, singing, and choreography. So what if the phrasing wasn't smooth? Who cared if the words were mispronounced? It didn't matter that some songs were inappropriate love songs between a man and a woman in which a dozen boys hugged each other while a dozen girls did the same. It was brotherly love just the same. Who cared that "I Will Follow Him," the "Little" Peggy March anthem of girlfriends worshiping boys was sung with "Sister Act" gusto to Jesus? I held my mouth in the face of the exposure since then of pedophilia in the church; the song was appropriate after all. I had a hell of a time listening to all the selections and the groups I picked to win all one, though not in the places I suggested. My first place pick, "My Songs Know What You Did In the Dark," finished fourth; they were the largest ensemble, sang fluently on-key, had good rhythm, stereo effect, and had the most interesting and appropriate lyrics, but there was corruption afoot. Unbeknownst to me, my second place pick, the one that sang "Fight Song" well, won first place instead because they were the music class and two of the judges were their teachers. 
In the evening, I returned to my regular class at Shengang. The entire 90 minutes was
dedicated to “The Gift of the Magi” and its group retelling. The 7 graders listened carefully, caucused in teams for fifteen minutes, and then relayed
putting chronological details on the board.
I read each paragraph and drew red circles around the errors I saw. Once
the initial round of 10+ details 
was complete, I assigned each of the five
members a role to return and correct errors in grammar, spelling, details,
subject-verb agreement, and tense; they were told to use present tense for a
story summary. I then asked for volunteers to read their own summary but there
weren’t any so I randomly picked children to do so. I asked the children to
copy their group’s revised paragraphs but few of them did. I hope something
sticks in their mind from this activity. 
This time of year in Taiwan, I remember my last class at my bushiban in Taipei many years ago. I knew I would have to be returning to New York City, but I couldn't tell anyone. I taught “I’ll Be Home for Christmas,” a happy holiday song, but I was crying in my heart. I broke down after my last class; the owners knew I didn’t want to leave. Twenty-three years later, I returned to retire, but teaching will always be in my blood. It is such a gas visiting children around Central Taiwan to share English language cheer and wish them all "Season's Greetings." 
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