First Day of School: July 5, 2010

The first day of school began with an Opening Ceremony with Mr. Pan, the principal of San Sin High School.  His comments were translated into English for the audience.  Then Dr. O'Kon's comments were translated into Chinese!  She said:

Hello Mr. Pan, teachers, administrators, and students! Greetings to all of you from your Sister School, Tallahassee Community College!

We are so pleased to be here in Kaohsiung for the Summer English Program. This program began in 1993, and it has been very successful. Teachers from the United States have visited your school and your beautiful city year after year to help San Sin students learn English. In return, the American teachers have learned about Taiwanese culture and the kindness of Taiwanese people.

The Summer English Program has provided the opportunity for the students and the teachers to become lifelong friends. As technology has changed and improved, the teachers and students have communicated through distance learning, videoconferencing, and even Facebook. We hope that all of you who are enrolled in this program find it to be helpful and rewarding. Thank you for inviting us to be with you in the San Sin Summer English Program!

After the ceremony, teaching began immediately.  The teachers hurried to their classrooms and utilized their prepared curriculum materials on the first topic of the summer program, "Hair Salon."  Some computer equipment worked---some didn't!  Faced with the challenge of having things go unexpectedy wrong, the student teachers learned about adaptability, quick thinking, and moving on to "Plan B." This photo shows the teachers at the end of Day One, enjoying their pizza lunch and their daily debriefing meeting!