Tag: Taiwan

Japanese Juxtaposition – Part 5

Thus concludes my second conversation with Chris. In this final instalment we get into what it’s like to teach in Far East Asian countries, both official schools and cram schools or bǔxíbān (補習班), analysing similarities between our experiences. There were also extensive tangents into South African trivia, including reminiscing about university. We ended up getting somewhat philosophical at times, probably courtesy of the accompanying Bain’s whisky. Plus the wildlife here insisted on being part of the recording.

At some point in the future I will do a short tangent series on teaching at the various types of schools in Taiwan, but my immediate plan (now that I’ve finished moving house and have relocated my books) is to get back into the history side of things.

Here are some example pictures of an open learning system from my time in Taiwan, specifically for second language English at the lower primary school level.

Rhodes University in Grahamstown, South Africa, our alma mater.
Website: https://www.ru.ac.za/

Japanese Juxtaposition – Part 3

A conversation with Chris.
This is the third part of my interview with Chris. We discuss names, worldly awareness, elements of history and concepts of culture, amongst other things.

TRIVIA FROM THE EPISODE
The video by Tom Scott that was mentioned:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5u9JSnAAU4
The intro song to Mina Moo, a puppet South African TV show for children from the late 1980s.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UiQAQ6kgbhE

Japanese Juxtaposition – Part 2

A conversation with Chris.
This is the second part of my interview with Chris. Our conversation flowed from South African obscurities to drinking and karaoke in Japan.

Songs mentioned in the discussion:
Fokofpolisiekar – Koma
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TDqNyL2KPQ&list=RD6TDqNyL2KPQ&start_radio=1
Koos Kombuis – Lisa se Klavier
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSNZar71U0A&list=RDeSNZar71U0A&start_radio=1&pp=ygUPTGlzYSBzZSBrbGF2aWVyoAcB

For those who remember Joe Merrell from the interview about Taiwan’s beer industry, here are links to see what he’s up to now.
Website
Instagram Account

Taiwanese Society

In this episode we take a look at Taiwanese society, as viewed from a foreigner’s perspective. We look at elements of society that are likely to have shaped who the Taiwanese people are and how their society works.

Taiwan Night Markets
Two examples of riverside parks:
Guandu Riverside Park (in Taipei)
Hsinchu Riverside Park
Story about the old elephant slides of Taiwan’s parks

Episode 26 – Zhilong’s Son

Zheng Zhilong (merchant, translator, pirate, naval tactician and Admiral of the Chinese fleet) has a key role in the history surrounding Taiwan. No less important – in fact, arguably more important – is the role that his son, Zheng Chenggong, would play. To understand the role he played, it is important that we look at his childhood, his family dynamic and the world in which he was growing up.

The late Ming Empire.

If one follows this link to the Wikipedia page on events of the 17th Century, one could be surprised by the number of entries that relate to war.

Belizean Perspective, Part 2: On Taiwan, with Marci

This is the second half of my interview with Marci in which we talk about her experiences as a student in Taiwan. We discuss differences in education and look at various aspects of Taiwanese society.

LINKS
Scholarship info – ICDF
Scholarship info – MOFA
Info on various scholarships, link 1 and link 2
Taiwanese Universities List
LINKS
Scholarship info – ICDF
Scholarship info – MOFA
Info on various scholarships, link 1 and link 2
Taiwanese Universities List

Erin Meyer’s book The Culture Map
(The book I mentioned in the interview whose name I couldn’t think of).

Belizean Perspective, Part 1: On Belize, with Marci

I had an interview with a lovely young lady from Belize who is currently studying and working part-time in Taiwan. As our conversation focused more on Belize for the first half and Taiwan for the second, I decided to split the interview into two parts. This is the first part in which I learnt a lot about Belize and its complicated, mixed culture.

Taiwan’s International Co-operation and Development Fund (ICDF)
Mutually beneficial endeavours such as this exist between Taiwan and the few countries that recognise its status as an independent country.

Taiwan and Football, with Matt

I am joined by Matt from Master Football Academy Taiwan located in Beitou, northern Taipei, to talk about football, as this sport slowly gains popularity in Taiwan. Our talk focused on children’s football (Matt’s area of expertise), including his team’s recent success in the JSSL tournament in Singapore, as well as discussing general aspects of Taiwanese culture.

LINKS
The Kid Sports website (which includes MFA Taiwan)

In our discussion we briefly mentioned the NT$500 bill and the fact that the obverse (front) of the note has an image of children playing baseball. Placing that image on the bill is a celebration that Taiwan has been the champions of the Little League World Series seventeen times (their first victory being in 1969 and their most recent victory being in 1996).
Little League World Series records
News article discussing the social significance of baseball in Taiwan

Episode 25 – Spanish vs Dutch

After a quick recap of the Spanish and Dutch influence in Taiwan (as well as taking a broader look to encompass the ongoing Eighty Years War), we look at how changes weakened the Spanish position in Taiwan. The Dutch would take advantage of this to try push the Spanish off Taiwan and claim control over the whole island for themselves. This culminated in the battle for San Salvador, the Spanish fortress in Keelung (Jilung).