Smart Maker Classroom at Taoyuan Elementary School
Education and Future Competitiveness Upgraded
Exploring Taoyuan at Aspects of Digital Technology and Bilingual Education.
Taoyuan as the Municipality of National Gateway has the top fertility rate amongst the Six Special Municipalities. Education is the way to enhance competitiveness of children and their capability to link up with the world in the future.
The teacher operates the large touch screen occupying more than half of the center of the blackboard as she leads the students sitting at desks reciting English out loud. "This (interactive screen) is used in every classroom on a daily basis. Perhaps we're the first public elementary school in Taoyuan with such installation in each and every classroom." Fan Ting-Yu, a Wen Huah Elementary School teacher in Pingzhen District, explains the technological devices of the classroom while skillfully operating the interactive screen.
Attaching the Purpose of Teaching by Student Aptitudes in a More Effective Manner through the Assistance of Technology
As one opens the door of the trolley next to the front door of the classroom, his eyes would be met by a cabinet full of charging tablet computers. According to Fan Ting-Yu, every student who comes to this classroom to take class will go to the "tablet trolley" to claim a tablet for use during class. "The tablet is something necessary since it allows differentiated teaching for students at different levels. For example, students are assigned different main tasks, and then are assigned bonus tasks. Students at higher level tend to accept bonus tasks. This means the teacher must know very well the level of each student, so the students receive appropriate guides in accordance."
Wen Huah Elementary School is an urban elementary school, and Fan Ting-Yu, as part of Wen Huah's faculty, stated that location of her school in an urban area is exactly why the disadvantaged students tend to become overlooked when students come in different levels. "You would see some first graders having an English conversation with you, while some other fifth graders are still struggling with the ABCs." Fan Ting-Yu spent a lot of time to not only stimulate the children's learning motivation but also try to understand the situation of each student, thereby achieving the purpose of education according to aptitude of students.
Exalting Education Divides through Technology
Following promotion to Special Municipality, Taoyuan has promoted the "Smart School and Digital Classroom Plan", with a total of 5,698 smart learning classrooms built currently, allowing teachers to conduct personalized and differentiated teaching via the power of technology. In addition, to prevent the digital divide from affecting teaching equality, the Department of Education allocates an annual subsidy at NT$ 30 Million for procurement of hardware and equipment to children in need and for reserved computer additions for student use. During the Covid-19 pandemic, a total of 5,800 devices and equipment have been lent out, while rental of SIM cards and routers under subsidy have been conducted.
Tu Shu-Jing, the parent to a pair of twin brother who are third graders of Yi Hsing Elementary School in Pingzhen District, has personal experience of digital teaching, "during the epidemic, because of distance instructions, I can see how my kids perform in class.
On top of lectures by foreign teachers, domestic teachers utilize multimedia as supporting material to the lecture, such as playing videos, or direct demonstrations. It's because sometimes body language and practical operations allow children to learn faster."
Yi Hsing Elementary School is one of Taoyuan's "Bilingual Innovative Teaching Schools". Currently, 7 elementary schools and 3 middle schools under this program have one-third of their courses taught in full English lecture by more than 100 foreign teachers. Tu Shu-Jing said, "Children are more sensitive to language learning when they are young. One day he suddenly said to me, 'Our teacher is from South Africa!', and they said "South Africa" instead of Nan Fei (South Africa in Chinese). I was startled, as it was like they have already hardwired English vocabulary inside their head." This immersive language teaching with English integrated into children's memory naturally without memorizing is the best way of learning.
Linking Up with Local Features to Make Education More Interesting
Fan Ting-Yu is also a bilingual course teacher, "I am currently in charge of the Life Curriculum for the 1st and 2nd graders, as well as the English courses for 5th and 6th graders. The Life Curriculum for 1st and 2nd graders are taught in bilingual, and English teachers like me will prepare bilingual courses and corresponding teaching materials centering topics such as "local cuisine", which consume us a lot of time to study local fruits and foods in Taoyuan. Life and Integrative Curriculums with topics adhering to children's daily lives allow them more opportunities to express themselves, and they would appreciate this type of course without any objection. Sometimes I'd spend a lot of time preparing a class and a lot of games, and if the children show positive responses, it will be worth it."
Regarding Taoyuan's education, Tu Shu-Jing, a parent, said, “I don't think the school has anything to be picky about. It’s the moment of epidemic as we speak. In fact, the school and the teachers work really hard, and so far they have done a good job.”
As the saying goes, "It takes ten years to nurture a tree, but a hundred years to train a man". Taoyuan is the City with the fastest population growth. In order to provide a better education environment for the next generation, the City Government's annual budget for education, science and culture tops the proportion of the total budget with a view to create sustainable and innovative education environment for children.