Stick a Fork in American Eagle

       January 19th was the last day this term at American Eagle. While other teachers continue to slug it out with little discipline or pedagogy, I am adorning the stairway landing bulletin board between the fourth and fifth floor with the children’s compositions and isolating children who can’t obey class rules outside my classroom door . In the rest of the landings, and in the classrooms, there is no student work displayed; only copies the liaison put up from years past. Most boards have nothing but shabby construction paper on them. My class is working up to the last day; no party because I want to set the tone for next term; I was asked by management to return again as their teacher.

   

     After the last day of class, management at American Eagle changed its mind about asking me to return  next term. The management liaison told me the news when she came up after my last class; she explained that only three children wanted to continue the class so it was dissolved. She said the parents were fed up with all the teacher changes. The class was out of control. The discipline I gave for some children was unbearable to their parents, but it proved something could be taught and learned in class with it. I was surprised but not upset about the news. Originally I was only going to stay until January 19^th. They’re sorry they asked me back. I didn’t mean to sabotage the class, but so be it.

      Thinking about American Eagle, how I should have quit instead of slugging it out in their chaotic atmosphere; it would have been that way next term, too. The little children, like J, would still be smiling through the discipline. Delicate flowers would wither to know they weren't as perfect as their parents let them believe. Children on the verge of fluency would fail the final exams. Some would stay in their own little worlds. But some children would get the message that they are capable of more, and shine. My favorite kids benefited the most from good pedagogical practices.

     There are a few classroom management techniques I used the last two weeks of class that I had not used before. In leading up the final exam, I still used a point and minus system to modify the behavior of the disruptive kids in class, but it was no longer working for a few who continued to call out, use Chinese, draw pictures, dawdle, lean chairs, and stand without permission. Instead, I used -10 to remove the disruptive student from the room, a point a minute. When a student, Jason in particular, talked back to me, I talked loudly to him and admonished him to show respect when talking with a teacher. 

      I mentioned the regression in school atmosphere in our school meeting on January 9^th. I explained how it had deteriorated over the last four years I was employed there; that it had contributed to my leaving in September 2016. It was not the children’s fault but the fault of the management for not keeping high standards. The school rules were not being followed and so the quality of student behavior dropped dramatically. Without management leading the way, no improvement in class atmosphere and academic progress was possible.

At that meeting, I suggested management encourage parents to monitor their child’s behavior by rewarding them with discounts for each week their child was polite; I flippantly said 100 NT a week discount could be offered, a possible 2000 NT discount over the term. I mentioned how the students should be expected to speak English in the hallways as well as the classroom; that would go far in creating an atmosphere for learning. Certainly, when I started at the bushiban, the children did sit on the steps and floor in the halls and play up and down the stairs, but they were spoken to by staff and told not to not only because it is dangerous, but it sets a poor tone for the school. Finally, the teachers should be monitored, assisted in the classroom, and required to have the students produce quality creative work worthy of being placed on well-adorned bulletin boards.

My shouting back at a student talking back and isolating him outside the room were techniques I had never used before at American Eagle. The management was aware of what I was doing because I asked permission in advance and was not told not to do it. They heard me talk angrily but did not ask me why, tell me not to do it, or send assistance. I explained how I’d put construction paper on the classroom door so isolated students couldn’t distract the class. I was not going to work there under other conditions. I was hoping my measures would be temporary once the class was controlling itself. My plan was working, I got many nice compositions and discussion with Community Curriculum material, but a few parents balked at their child being disciplined. They were rightfully fed up by so many personnel changes; at least three in the three months before I came in.  

I am glad to not have to work with children without good bushiban atmosphere. It would have been bad for my health and aura of calm to have to do that, but that was the prospect I was faced with. I’m glad I won’t have to do that, but no teacher or student should have to suffer chaos and no learning for the sake of the school survival. “Immersion” is a sham when every child uses Chinese in the bushiban.

I had conflicts whether I should continue working at American Eagle or not. I like the rush of riding there and back on the bike, of being in the classroom for ninety minutes, and the regularity of it; it paced my week and separated my day from evening nicely. 

Stick a fork in American Eagle; it's cooked.

     Off the hook now forever from American Eagle, my commitment complete, just a day after, when last evening, I got a call to sign a contract to be a publisher’s English as a Second Language resource person for Central Taiwan with additional contracts for the 7^th grade textbooks I edited last summer, with 8^th and 9^th to follow. I assume with it will be more responsibility that would make being tied to a crappy little bushiban a hindrance. Today is the day I would have started the spring term. It feels good to be home studying Mandarin instead. 

Groups protest use of Hanyu pinyin for new MRT line

By Sean Lin  /  Staff reporter

Pro-localization groups opposed to the use of the Hanyu pinyin romanization system for the airport MRT line demonstrate in front of the Ministry of Education in Taipei yesterday.

Photo: Sean Lin, Taipei Times

A number of pro-localization groups yesterday rallied in front of the Ministry of Education in Taipei to protest against the government’s adoption of the Hanyu pinyin romanization system for translations of station names along the MRT line between Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and Taipei Main Station, calling on the Democratic Progressive Party government to reinstitute its former policy of pushing for nationwide implementation of Tongyong pinyin.

The protesters called on the ministry, the governing body for the nation’s languages, to abandon the Hanyu system adopted by former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and reinstate the Tongyong system, which was promulgated in 2002 as the nation’s standard Mandarin romanization system.

Although the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) identifies Taiwan as a province of China, the organization uses the Tongyong system when referring to places in Taiwan, Taiwan Mandarin Romanization Alliance convener Yu Bor-chuan (余伯泉) said.

“For example, the ISO 3166 standard does not spell Kaohsiung as ‘Gaoxiong,’ just as it retained the spelling for Hong Kong, rather than ‘Xianggang,’ after the territory was handed over to China in 1997,” Yu said.

In addition, the ISO 7098 standard states that Hanyu pinyin is “the official language of the People’s Republic of China,” of which Taiwan is not a part, so the version of Mandarin used by Taiwanese does not fall within that scope, Yu said, adding that Ma led the nation down a path of “suicide” when he submitted to China and made Hanyu pinyin the national standard.

The administration of President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) could have readopted Tongyong pinyin as the nation’s official romanization system after it took office, but it has instead treated the issue with indifference; essentially restricting itself to a framework set by Ma, he said.

As Taiwan’s culture and people have diverse origins, Taiwanese have formed a language that is uniquely Taiwanese, Taiwan Frontier convener Hong Hsien-cheng (洪顯政) said.

“The Mandarin used in Taiwan sounds different from that used in China and should have an independent system, just as British English is different from American English,” he said.

The nation’s use of Hanyu pinyin should not be made a political issue, ministry National Language Education Promotion Office head Wu Chung-yi (吳中益) said.

“The romanization used on road signs and at transportation stations is intended for foreigners... Every foreigner learning Mandarin learns Hanyu pinyin, because it is the international standard,” Wu said. “The decision has nothing to do with the nation’s self-determination or any ideologies, because the key point is to ensure that foreigners can read signs.”

“It is impossible to reason with the groups, as they are bent on politicizing the matter,” he added.

Teachers’ union to protest pensions

By Abraham Gerber  /  Staff reporter

The National Federation of Teachers’ Unions yesterday announced plans for protests against aspects of the government’s pension reform plans, as it continues to tread a careful line between support and outright opposition.

“In our view, this is an abrupt reform which is just what we feared in the past, and it will influence teacher turnover. Training of new teachers might as well be stopped for 10 years,” union president Chang Hsu-cheng (張旭政) said, announcing plans for protests outside local governments around the nation next week.

He cited Executive Yuan Pension Reform Office plans which would immediately increase the seniority required for teachers to retire by five years followed by annual hikes of at least one year which would keep most teachers from retiring until 60.

“As far as we can see, the only teachers who would be able to take advantage of the transition period [to retire before 60] are those who graduated from junior colleges before 1971, because they began teaching at 20 and have extra seniority,” he said, while also criticizing the government for failing to specify why and how it would conduct reconsideration of reforms after five years under official plans.

“They’re cutting pension payments, but they do not specify how they will make pensions sustainable,” he said, adding that the plans also fail to specify how the government is to address the chronic underfunding of pension funds.

Union protests are to occur mainly during school vacations to avoid affecting students, with local union officials stating they would be “soft and firm” without “causing trouble.”

While local protests are intended to influence the national government by putting pressure on Democratic Progressive Party local governments, there are currently no plans for national protests, Chang said, adding that that union measures constituted “action to express controversy” rather than “taking a stand against” pension reform.

“We’re using the term ‘action to express controversy’ because we still support the government’s pension reform, but we also believe that the government is acting as an ‘evil employer’ by refusing to acknowledge its responsibilities and guaranteeing the sustainability of pension funds,” he said.

The union is notable as one of the few which has drafted a pension reform proposal, last year drawing criticism from competing unions for refusing to endorse a massive demonstration against pension reform.

It has since grown increasingly critical of the government’s pension reform reportedly because of pressure from its members.