Tzu Chi Junior High School

Here are some pictures of two classes from Tzu Chi Junior High School in Taiwan. The students here use First Questions in their English conversation class which they attend once a week. Each student has their own set, which allows lots of games and activities.


In each class the students learn ten questions and answers. So the class starts with a little bit of rote learning (not too much) until the students are familiar with the intonation and pronunciation of each question and answer. Then they split off into closed pairs to practice with a classmate, which allows the teacher to wonder around and listen and correct any problems.


Once everybody is familiar with the ten questions of the day and how to answer them, it becomes a little more challenging. In this class, with the aid of a stopwatch, the teacher challenged the students to see who could answer the ten questions, asked by the teacher, in the shortest time. The fastest today was 17 seconds!


Then they were separated into two teams, girls and boys, and took turns about reading the lips of the teacher, who mouthed the questions. The students then had to race to the blackboard to write an appropriate answer. Points, of course, were taken away for spelling mistakes and missing words! The girls, not entirely unsurprisingly, won today.