Special Education in Taiwan

    So today (November 4, 2013), I decided to observe two periods of the special education classes since I don't teach on Mondays. The first class I observed had only two students, a 2nd grader and a 4th grader.  The two students were learning Chinese. I watched as the teacher worked with the 2nd grader. She had him read a paragraph in the textbook and then he had to do Chinese character writing. I was able to help the 2nd grader with his stroke orders as he also sounded out the chinese words. It was difficult when the student started talking to me in chinese, asking me many questions or just explaining things to me. All I could do was nod and agree or look completely clueless in hopes that he understood that I couldn't understand anything.

This is one of my special ed students. He teaches me chinese

yoyo sometimes :D

     The second period that I attended was an outside class. The students were taken outside by two of the special ed teachers and they were taught how to be safe on the playground. First, they would read the rules in the playground first and then one by one, the students would go try one by one. I realized that during this class period, there was a designated staff member who was taking pictures. Another important fact about my school and Taiwan in general is that they are really into taking pictures. I have never taken so many pictures in my life. I like to take pictures to have memories, but Taiwanese pictures LOVE to take pictures for everything!!! I find it very interesting and different from American culture. Overall, I enjoyed watching the students and being able to interact with them on a weekly basis. I have quite a few of the special ed students in my English classrooms. I am thinking of working with special ed students in the future, whether it is being a full time special ed teacher or an after school program.