My Fulbright Year in Taiwan

This week we began classroom observations. The advisory panel will visit every ETA’s school for a formal observation. We sit in the back of the classroom and watch the class. We also video the class and give the ETA a copy of the video. After the class, we give the teachers feedback.

Because the four ETAs who teach in middle school go to two different schools, we visit each of them. Eight observations plus 12 observations for the 12 ETAs who teach in elementary schools means a lot of observations. Traveling between the schools throughout the county is time-consuming, so at most we can do one observation in a morning, and one in the afternoon.

It’s great to get out of the office and into the classrooms to see the ETAs in action, but it’s a lot of work. In addition to the feedback right after the observation, I am also expected to write a formal report on each observation. Guess what I’m going to be doing for the next month?

We finished the 4th observation this morning. So far, I’m really pleased with most of what I’ve been seeing. The ETAs are working well with their local English teachers, and we’re seeing some good instruction in the classrooms. One interesting phenomenon is that when four or five adults are sitting in the back of the classroom, the children are very well-behaved. The teachers are able to teach without worrying about classroom management. As a consequence, though, they tend to finish their lessons early, and have to scramble to fill the last five minutes or so.