When the Spring Festival holidays are completed, Kinmen students will return to the classroom and continue their education. The Kinhu English Theme Learning Center, the KETLC, at Kinhu Elementary School, will continue to allow students to have new experiences and greater opportunities to use English to their fullest.
New this semester, the KETLC will welcome 5th grade classes from all over Kinmen to come and experience two full days of English speaking, listening, and reading.
During the fall semester, every 6th grade class in Kinmen came for two days to the KETLC and was able to experience three of the six themed classrooms which include, the Kitchen, the Airplane, Customs & Duty Free, the Restaurant/Hotel, the Beach, and the Transportation Station.
6th graders returned to their schools with stories of the fun activities at the KETLC like surfing and tanning, or the new food they tried, like the peanut butter & jelly sandwich.
Now, it is time for the 5th graders to have their turn. Laticia Lee, the director of the KETLC, said that it is important for 5th graders to come to the KETLC because the variety of classrooms will excite them and hopefully inspire a lifetime interest in English.
At KETLC students apply their English in simulated real life situations with native speakers. Mrs. Lee hopes that when 5th graders come back for their 6th grade year and come to KETLC, they will realize the great improvements they have made.
While the grade level of the students changes this spring, the primary goals of the KETLC remain the same. Students practice vocabulary they have already studied in schools, students learn new vocabulary and phrases for excelling in real life situations, and students can be excited and inspired to study English in the future.
The KETLC teachers are actively planning new lessons for the classrooms in order to make the lessons more appropriate for the 5th grade level. For instance, 5th grade students have not yet studied much of the vocabulary used in the classrooms, vehicles like car or bus or numbers greater than fifty.
Designing lesson plans for the different classrooms is proving challenging for teachers. Teachers first need to find out what the students know. Then they must overcome what students don't know, without overwhelming them with too many new vocabulary words.
In order to maximize the benefit to students, it is helpful for English classes in Kinmen schools to preview the KETLC vocabulary and phrases before coming to the KETLC.
The material is found on the school department's website
http://esd.km.edu.tw/etrc/Index.aspx. On the website, teachers and students can download the lessons and vocabulary lists for this semester as well as other free English learning material. Teachers should encourage students to be brave when coming to the KETLC. Using English is not a one-time event, but rather a lifetime adventure.