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February 2009 ESL Newsletter

Happy Chinese New Year!

We hope everyone enjoyed their time off during Chinese New Year! For those that stayed close to home or others that took the opportunity to travel, we hope everyone experienced something new and exciting here in Asia.

The weather has certainly been warming up and it has been a great time to explore the outdoors. Reach To Teach recently took a day trip to Yangmingshan National Park just outside of Taipei and had a wonderful time. We hope to see more of you at our next event!

Reach To Teach Hike in Yangmingshan - ESL Abroad

Reach To Teach Events!

This past Saturday, January 31st Reach To Teach lead an expedition to Yangmingshan National Park and the lofty peak of Seven Star Mountain. With the weather initially in our favor we reached the peak in record time, but alas cloud cover rolled in and diminished our view of the city below.

We ended the day at Shilin night market and enjoyed some good local food while we got to know some new faces.

With the weather improving day-by-day we will certainly be exploring more of Taipei's surrounding areas in the coming months.

Upcoming Events

Our next two events will be jointly organized with the Language Café, a local business that promotes the exchange of languages between the local and ex-pat community here in Taipei. These are great opportunities to meet new friends and practice your Chinese!

Lantern Festival

Lantern Festival, ESL in Taiwan

"January 15th was the 1st full moon of the lunar year, and it also means a "new start". With this first night of the new year comes the Spring. Everybody revels and celebrates the new beginning. It is also the last celebration of Chinese New Year.

Lantern Festival is also the last celebration of Chinese New Year. There are different activities throughout the country. Including, Fen Pao which is the crazy firecracker show in southern Taiwan and the Sky Lantern Festival (which is one of the top 10 world celebrations) in northern Taiwan.

We will prepare a Lantern Painting so that you can design your own Chinese style lantern, then we are taking you to PinShi, a small village outside Taipei where the Sky Lantern Festival is held, to see one of the best festivals in the world. In ancient times, sky lanterns were used to warn the people when an enemy was coming. Sky lanterns are essentially hot balloons and fly by using hot air. Today people write their wishes on the lanterns and let the lanterns take their wishes to the sky."

Time/Date: 1:30pm on Feb 7, Saturday
Location: 18F No.50, Sec.1 Chung Xiao East Road, Taipei (MRT Taipei Main Station, exit to Mitsukoshi Department Store.)
Material Fee: NT400 (transportation and dinner are excluded.)
Transportation: MRT to MuZa, then shuttle bus to PinShi.

!! Please don't forget to bring your camera to catch the unforgettable moment of Sky Lantern !!

RSVP to languagecafe@gmail.com or you can call Amanda at 0939-916-609

Speed Dating

Information for this event will be sent out soon in a follow up email!

Learning Chinese while teaching English in Taiwan

Learning Chinese!

Interested in learning Chinese at a more intense level? There are a number of great institutions and universities around the country that offer Chinese classes for all levels and time commitments.

Learning Chinese is a great way to adjust to living in a foreign country, meet new friends and learn a valuable new skill. We have listed here a number of the better-known schools and a link to each of their web sites.

Mandarin Learning Center at Chinese Culture University

"Conveniently located in Taipei, the Center is easily accessible by bus. Upon arriving at the MLC, placement evaluations are given to each student in order to determine his or her appropriate class level. Each level includes training in the four major language learning areas:speaking, listening, reading, and writing."
www.mlc.sce.pccu.edu.tw

Taipei Language Institute

"Do you dream of accessing and controlling the Chinese market? Do you wish to become a dynamic member of the new economic era. If you master Mandarin Chinese, your future is in the palm of your hand. Discover your potential, study Mandarin Chinese at Taipei Language Institute, it's your best choice."
www.tli.com.tw

For a full list of language schools in Taiwan, visit our web site Here

Tastes of Taipei

Jolly's Beer Gardens, ESL in Taiwan

This month in Tastes of Taipei I am encouraging everyone to try Jolly's, a rather unique dining experience here in Taipei. Located near the Nanjing E. MRT station on the brown line, Jolly's cuisine is Thai inspired with a Western touch.

You will find your traditional curries and fried dishes that will leave the mouth singeing, but what really sets Jolly's apart are the crafted beers brewed on site. There are usually six beers on tap that include pilsners, weizens, amber ales and a special brew that changes monthly. For those looking for a great crafted beer here in Taiwan or others looking to try something new, Jolly's is definitely worth checking out.

Main course entrees range from $NT250-350 a plate. Beer costs $NT160 a pint

Address: No. 29 Qingcheng St., Zhongshan District
MRT: Nanjing E. Rd. (on the brown line just one stop up from Fuxing)
Phone: (02) 8712-9098 (during the weekends it is advisable to call ahead to reserve a table)
Web site: www.jollys.tw
Getting There: This is easy enough. Once you exit the MRT station continue to walk straight for two blocks. Jolly's is located on the left side.

Teaching Tip

Teaching tips to teach English

Okay, this one might shock a few of you at first, but one of my most successful teaching games came straight from my college days, flip-cup. For those of you already familiar with the game you are probably already laughing, but for the rest of you I will explain how the game works and how it fits perfectly into a teaching environment.

Two teams with an equal number of players line up on either side of a table to form the basic flip-cup game. Everyone comes to the table armed with their own cup (cheap plastic cups work best) and the idea is for each player to place the cup on the tables edge and flip the cup onto it's head without it falling over. Both teams start at the same time at the head of the table with one member of each team starting the game. The next player cannot start until the previous player successfully flips their cup. This continues down the line until the last player flips their cup and the first team to do so is the winner.

Now, in the traditional game players had to chug a beer before flipping their cup, but we can neglect this little rule. Instead you can work in the class material in varies creative ways. I found spelling a weekly vocab word was simple and worked best. There are a lot of creative ways to play with the games rules and incorporate it into your lesson plans. Best of all, kids really seem to love this simple game and they will soon be begging you to play at the end of each class.

Enjoy!

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