Back to School

I am back in school again, this time not as a student but as a teacher. Early this summer I was offered a part-time position at the School of Architecture in Shih Chien University to teach third year design studio. Yesterday was actually the first day of class. Classes started late for the third-year students because they were involved in a workshop with students and professors from Germany at the beginning of the semester. Now things are back to normal and I am at the school two afternoons a week.

I have twelve students in the studio. This semester we are exploring ideas about movement in architecture with a community athletic center. The project seeks to explore the relationship between the movements in the program and the space that contains them. Instead of an architecture that is about attractive appearance and structural stability, can a building’s form and space imply movements of its use and the dynamic qualities of the site?

Kindergarten

Vera started at Fuhsing kindergarten this week. So far she seems pretty happy with the school, teachers, and classmates. Fuhsing is actually where I went for kindergarten and elementary school. However, the school is very different now.

Fuhsing has K to 12 now instead of K to 9 when I was there. The school is still located at the same place, but the campus is completely different with all new buildings, certainly a vast improvement. The school now has bilingual education starting in first grade. Even the kindergarten has English classes. The school now provides breakfast, lunch, and afternoon snack, which is much easier for the parents. When I was in elementary school, I had to bring lunch in a metal bento box. Fuhsing has even modified the school logo.

What hasn't changed is the color of the uniforms for kindergarten and elementary school. It is still green and white; not my favorite color combination in clothes.

At least the uniforms are now made of all cotton, there used to be quite a bit of polyester.

Back to School

Today Vera went to a new pre-school in Taipei named Happy Kids. The curriculum of the school is similar to the ones in the U.S. and everything is conducted in English. Vera's main teacher is from Wisconsin. There are around eighteen kids in her class. For the four to five year old kids, the five days a week classes start at nine in the morning and end at three in the afternoon. The kids need to bring lunch to school everyday. Therefore, a few days ago we bought Vera a new Hello Kitty lunch box. We now need to think what to prepare for Vera's lunch. For today's lunch Vera had a prosciutto and provolone cheese sandwich with some pickles and grapes on the side. Tomorrow's lunch will probably be braised short ribs with carrots from our dinner tonight. There is also a half hour nap time after lunch and the kids are encouraged to bring their own pillows and blankets.

http://www.happykidsschool.com.tw/