Several days ago, a mother brought her elementary-school-age son to the clinic. Over the course of our conversation I discovered that she and her two sons had only recently returned from the US for the children to start school here in Taiwan.
The first surprise was the complete lack of accent in the little boy’s Chinese, even though the family had moved to the US shortly after he was born. His elder brother was even able to understand a little conversational Taiwanese.
The mother told me she had insisted that from an early age the children use only Chinese when speaking to each other at home. This shows quite some persistence on the her part.
Among my family living in the US, either the parents speak English with the children or the parents speak Chinese between themselves while the children converse in English with each other.
The mother told me that her children had protested and asked why they had to speak only in Chinese, but they are beginning to realize their parents’ wisdom now that they have returned to live in Taiwan.
I learned that the family had returned in March this year and I was curious about why they had made that decision. Were US schools not offering online courses?
The mother just gave a wry grin and said that the online courses were not compulsory, which essentially meant that students were not doing them. Also, teenagers being what they are, they needed to get outdoors and socialize with people their own age: It is not normal for them to be stuck indoors all the time.
I asked whether the two boys, having grown up going to school in the US, would find it difficult to adjust to the school system in Taiwan.
The mother told me that the younger brother was really happy, because the classes in Taiwan are full of things to do and the teacher takes the students out to look at the moon, unlike in the US where they had to stick rigidly to specific courses, and would only be in class until 2pm every day.
What, she asked, could they learn in that time?
As for the elder brother, who is in junior-high school, I wondered whether the mother would be worried about the pressure of schoolwork.
She could not say enough about the social clubs at the school. The elder brother initially chose the basketball class, but decided he wanted to pull out after the first lesson. She told him that he had to think carefully about this, and that if he still wanted to stop taking the class he would have to go and talk to the coach about it himself, since he had initially said he wanted to do it, and it had, after all, been his choice.
After a short while, the boy asked his mother if she would allow him to stay in Taiwan until at least the third year of junior high, as he wanted to continue training with the other members of the team.
It seems to me that elementary school in Taiwan is so much more open and flexible than it used to be, and with a good teacher the schools, depending on their specific environments and resources, offer some very diverse and interesting classes.
Meanwhile, the social clubs and sports teams inherited the Japanese emphasis on the importance of team spirit and training, both of which contribute to a strong sense of unity and cohesion within the peer group. Not only did this make it easier for the two brothers to be comfortable at school in Taiwan during the COVID-19 pandemic, but it also enabled them to excel.
This is good news not only for education in Taiwan, but also for the many families that are bringing their children back after living overseas.
Chang Chien Hsiao-yun is a pediatrician.
Translated by Paul Cooper
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