Reflective thoughts and notes from Teacher Training workshop at Taipei American School    by Nancy Tseng      Day two 7,30,2008 I enjoyed the time spend here because people are really kind and supportive. Lectures were conducted in a steady pace without rushing and pushing, in the same time, ideas, materials, and information were distributed, generated and delivered. I also treasured the conversations and experience sharing with teachers from various Taipei County schools. At the end of today’s session, again I happily went home with a hopeful, joyful, and fruitful spirit thinking that tomorrow there will be more fun and learning, I believe. In the morning, Peter provide us with facts about brain, which bring me the “eureka” of the day. I then realized that 80% of memory retention are obtain from our directly experience, i.e., the activities such as lab experiences, guided projects, and field trips. Teaching others will help us to obtain 90% of the memory of material presented. I will keep this in mind each time when I work on lesson plans. Thru the theories and practices during the day, this certainly is very true as I have experienced thru out the training sessions at TAS. 

Today we also discussed on language aptitude, including factors such as ability on first language, personality, gender, family support, nature of first language, age, teaching approach, etc. Lyn stressed about how important it is for a person to have a strong 1st language background so that the person can achieve a great level in learning a 2nd or foreign language