Richard's Visit to Class 214

Last Friday, I invited Richard to talk to my class. Richard, from German, is an exchange student in our school.

To prove that one can speak a foreign language quite fluently as long as he really wants to, I suggested that he speak Chinese. Amazingly, not knowing a single Chinese word before he came to Taiwan, he talked nonstop in clear and fluent Chinese for about 45 minutes.

First, he talked about how to learn English. With his successful experience of learning Chinese, he suggested that English learners speak the target language as often as possible, learn from people around, and read in the English newspapers what interests them.

Speaking of the education in Taiwan, he thinks students here have too many tests and the test items have room for improvement because they put too much emphasis on rote memorization. When asked what education in German is like, he said critical/independent thinking is more emphasized there. For example, the students are often asked to write long essays, say, in more than 1000 words, on the exam instead of just choosing correct answers.

Then I asked him about the English class in Germany. He said most of the time the teacher walks around and challenges the students to answer questions in English.

As for what aspect of Taiwan's education impresses him most, he anwered without hesitation that it was the club activity. According to him, there are clubs in German high school too; however, the students just enjoy the process and don't give performance. He was very impressed by the club performances he watched a few days before.

Finally, he told the class his favorite Chinese food was dumplings and that he hoped he could learn to make them.

During Richard's talk, laughter was often heard. His sense of humor and confidence in talking to a group of 40 for 45 minutes are also something for many students his age in Taiwan to learn.

Thanks, Richard.

P.S. For those who would like to download the group photos. Here they are.




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