Week Two: Field Trips and Teaching about the Zoo

The San Sin students and their teachers went on two field trips during the week of July 7-11.  On Monday, they boarded the school bus and traveled to the Soya-mixed Meat Museum.  The owner of this thriving food production business is Ms Chen, a graduate of San Sin High School.  The students and teachers toured the museum and production areas. They learned how tofu, seaweed, cooked eggs, and many other products are produced and shipped all over the world.

Ms. Chen described the development of the company over time, and encouraged the students to work hard to achieve their goals. The group danced to the theme song of the company and worked up an appetite.  Then, they were treated to a delicious noodle lunch!

On Tuesday, the students and teachers traveled to see the Snoopy 65th Anniversary Exhibition. Snoopy is a dog cartoon character created by Charles Schultz in the long-running comic strip PEANUTS.  The popular characters Charlie Brown, Lucy Van Pelt, Linus, Schroeder, and others are known to millions. The exhibition honors Schultz's work and draws attention to the unique characteristics of Snoopy and the other characters.  The San Sin students took lots of photos and enjoyed posing with the large replicas of each character! 

The curriculum topic during Week Two was "A Day at the Zoo."  The new vocabulary words included: mammal, reptile, amphibian, species, ecosystem, habitat, rainforest, desert, forest, arctic, endangered, and carnivore.  The teachers described animal habitats and the reasons why certain species are endangered.  They showed pictures of their recent visit to the Taipei Zoo, and planned an afternoon trip to the Shou Shan Zoo in Kaohsiung.  The students also learned some animal idioms, such as "Hold your horses!" and "Raining cats and dogs." 

On Thursday, the teachers, TAs, and some students rode the MRT and the bus until they reached the Shou Shan Zoo. Despite the warm temperature, they enjoyed seeing the animals.  They rode the zoo train around the perimeter, and saw many animal exhibits!

 

Katie and Jessica finished off the day with a delicious spinach and bacon pizza Taiwan-style!