Going to School in Taiwan

After reading 'Going to School in Taiwan' by Megan Williams the Justice League compared going to school in New Zealand with going to school in Taiwan. Where would you prefer to go to school?

Going to School in Taiwan

Many people move to New Zealand for a better education for themselves or their children. However different cultures from around the world have their own ideas about what makes a good education. This means that children’s experience of school can be very different. Two cultures with different perspectives of what makes a good education are New Zealand and Taiwan.

                     

Languages - Dev and Israel

Both students in New Zealand and Taiwan learn a different language. In Taiwan they learn English and Chinese at school. They learn Chinese for half of the day and then the other half of the day they spend repeating all their subjects again in English. In New Zealand learning Maori is important because Maori language nearly died out because it was not taught at schools and was speaking Te Reo was banned in some schools, like my Nana’s school (Israel).

School Times

Both students in Taiwan and New Zealand begin school in the morning and finish in the afternoon. However the Taiwanese students have a much longer day compared to students in New Zealand. Taiwanese students begin school at 8.30 am and don’t finish until 4.10pm. We however begin our school day at 8.55am and finish school at 3.00pm. We think it is better to have a shorter day because you would probably end up being exhausted from the long days.

Jobs/Responsibilities - Sherlyn and Priscilla

Both students in Taiwan and New Zealand have responsibilities and jobs. Taiwanese schools are really strict with jobs like mopping, cleaning and dusting whereas New Zealand students have easy jobs such as tidy up the shelves, recycling, book distributors and art monitors.

When I went to Taiwan mopping was the hardest out of all the jobs, carrying the heavy bucket and water was really hard. Now that I’m in New Zealand I think that the jobs are way easier because you don’t have to carry heavy buckets every day! (Priscilla)

After School - Skye and Kalani

After school both students have places and commitments they have to go to, such as English lessons and piano lessons. Taiwanese student’s lessons take a lot of their time after school. Where as we have different after school activities such as netball training, rugby training and Kelly sports on Wednesdays. In our school these after school activities only take about 30 minutes or an hour. In our opinion we would prefer to be in New Zealand because we get to choose an after school activity and it doesn't take up most of our precious time!         

Furniture - Chantelle

One difference about what is best for learning between these two countries is the setup of desks. In Taiwan their desks must be set up in rows facing the front  and must also be kept tidy whereas in New Zealand our desks are spread out around the room and we also get beanbags, kneeling tables and a whiteboard that has an Apple TV projector. In my opinion it is a better learning space in New Zealand.

Conclusion

Overall we prefer to go to school in New Zealand because our days are shorter, we don’t have to repeat lessons in another language and we don’t have to clean the classroom with dusting rags and a mop. However in Taiwan the students can bring and share any food they like and they can have a nap too! We think although there are some major differences Taiwan has some good ideas about education such as teaching two languages and skills such as cleaning, which would be useful when we are older.