School Placements

The results from the Fulbrighter-Taiwan School pairing results are in. From the Fulbright side, the results are decidely mixed. My personal experience was decidely awkward.

After spending about an hour at each of the 12 schools last week, sitting through 11 power point presentations on the advantages/assets of each school, and participating in circular conversations about who wants to work where...I was ready to just know where I would be based for the next year!

[Here are the first 5 schools...they were all incredibly well equipped, beautifully landscaped grounds, and dedicated English language labs. Not too surprisingly, we weren't shown any schools that were in dire striaghts. Unfortunate. I would have liked to see more of a spectrum. This will definately be one of my goals... to visit schools on the other end of the spectrum.]

Jhong-sing Elementary

Lo-Tung Elementary

Kai-Shun Elementary

Wan-Fu Elementary - this is the school I will be teaching and researching at. There will definately be more photos of this place and all the people who hang out there.

Kuan-Shing Elementary

Monday arrived with moderate fanfare. This morning, courtesy of Mel and K.Mann, we spent a good twenty minutes noisily moving about the room. It oddly reminded me of one fateful Saturday night when I accompanyed a friend to Julip for a rather unsuccessful go at speed-dating. (more on this below)

I bring up this modern-day match making ceremony for the obvious transferability of the model that was used in our selection process. The Taiwanese schools played the role of the guy in this altered version of dating - having been assigned a number and a station in the room to sit and await their eager American. The Fulbrighter played the role of the gal, fluttering about the room from stop to stop.

Each pair was given 5 minutes to make judgements about the person in front of them. Some of the conversations were purely conversation under the pretense that some matches had already been made. Ooooh, the politics! (High school popularity contest ring a bell?) Instead of a whistle sounding off just as each conversation got going, we had a Ph.D from Florida yell out the cue to move. Oye.

I went into this excercise with some concern. As mentioned in emails and in a previous post, my physical appearance as an Asian American can be an asset or a detriment in getting what I desire here in Taiwan. I would very quickly see my "Asian-ness" work in the latter manner today.

Fulbrighters were to draw up a list of our top 6 choices for schools. The Taiwan teachers returned the favor with their half dozen choices for "best American English Teacher for our school!" How our venerable Advisory Council used this data in their match-making algorithm remains to be clear and/or scientific.

One teacher remarked, "it will be so nice to have an American at our school" in a way that made it clear she was confiding to me a private thought; from one Taiwanese-to-another-Mostly Taiwanese pal. Turns out she got what she wanted, a qualified American who looks American. As fr me, I'm working with the one school who doesn't have an English teacher at all and whose Dean doesn't really speak English. Wonder why I got put there? (note sarcasm)

All in all, I know I will make an impact on whatever school I am placed. I will bond with cute kids, I will conduct valuable (at least to me) research, I will organize events, I will participate in art class, I will learn and grow, and I will be happy. However, I am obliged to note that coming back to the mothership doesn't mean I returned to a place where preferences based on race aren't as close to the surface at they are back home the good old U.S. of A.

[At a chic bar back in the city, my beloved bud proceeded to meet and greet 25 eligible bachelors (some were clearly single for great reason) in a series of micro-dates. I sat on the other side of the bar drinking my VodkaCran without overtly spying on the spectacle and providing the supportive wink and silent prayer a dutiful friend would on such an occassion. My prayers were a failure, but the experience actually rather interesting, or so she says. (it was aferall, a gift) I can't remember if she said thank you in the way that one does when one recieves a package of socks from Uncle at Christmas or not. Regardless, I do subscribe to the general idea that people only need a few minutes to feel chemistry of the romantic variety. Maybe I'm being idealistic. hmmm.]