Due to COVID-19 coronavirus quarantine regulations and other transportation issues, many teachers are still stuck in other countries outside of Taiwan. To make up for their absence at Taipei American School, teachers started long distance teaching via Zoom or other platforms. Here is a Q&A featuring a few teachers teaching online and their experiences. 

Ms. Louisa Christen (she/her), Upper School Spanish Teacher 

Why are you not here teaching in person right now?
Throughout the pandemic, the Taiwan government had blocked entry for foreigners without an ARC, so we were unfortunately unable to get in. We have just received news that they have approved emergency entry for foreign teachers, so hopefully I will be there in person soon! 

Any experience with teaching the class you are currently teaching or teaching in general? Can you compare your past experience with the ones currently?

I taught Spanish 1 and 2 at my last school as well, and also joined Teach for America after I graduated from college as a Spanish teacher. 

The school that I was at before TAS was a public school in D.C. serving a low-income community, so the challenges were very different to those at TAS. At that school, our work was to ensure that students stayed on track and received a quality of education that most of them had not experienced for the majority of their schooling. Because of the pandemic, I was also teaching virtually for the last year and a half, so it has been a relatively easy transition!

How do you teach your classes now?
Right now, I teach my classes through zoom and a mix of synchronous and asynchronous instruction. 

Any interesting tricks you use? Or what tools/media do you use to help? Why those?
I feel lucky that despite teaching ‘virtually,’ students are in fact all together in the classroom in person! This means we can still do many of the more interactive and collaborative activities and games that enrich language learning. In some of our recent classes, students have been playing a translation game using small whiteboards. 

Are there any advantages from your teaching methods/teaching online?
We know that teaching in person is far superior and more engaging for students, but I have definitely been trying to take advantage of students already being on their computers logged into zoom to use all the technology that can help with learning, like watching videos, using certain practice websites, working on Class Notebook, etc. 

What challenges do you face teaching (online)? (ex. time differences, grading, work)
My primary challenge is the time difference! Since I am on the East Coast, it is a 12-hour difference and I have been living a bit of a flipped schedule to teach through the evening. The good thing is that now, about a month in, I feel like my internal clock has finally adjusted a bit better to the new schedule! 

Mr. Shawn Kang (he/him), Upper School English Teacher

Why are you not here teaching in person right now?

​At the moment, I am not teaching physically within the TAS campus because I am unable to enter Taiwan. The government’s strict border restrictions, which were implemented in May, have not yet been loosened for K-12 educators (although they have for university students and professors). However, after working remarkably hard to bring all new faculty into Taiwan, the TAS Human Resources Department has recently acquired permission from the Taiwanese government for new faculty and staff to be granted visas, so I am expecting to make it to Taiwan by the end of this month. 

Any experience with teaching the class you are currently teaching or teaching in general? Can you compare your past experience with the ones currently?

I am teaching English 9, English 10, and Honors English 10 this year. This is my tenth year in the teaching profession, and I have prior experience teaching every grade level in high school. However, the course texts for my current courses vastly differ from those I had to use in previous years, and so it feels as if I am teaching three entirely new courses, which has been a challenge but also much of the fun. I am constantly astonished by and grateful for the professionalism, passion, and warmth displayed by my colleagues at TAS, and I am also consistently awestruck by the amount of thought and effort students here put into their work and discussions.   

How do you teach your classes now? 

I am conducting classes through Zoom. It’s an odd setup where the students are together in the designated classroom while their teacher is not, but it’s been the only option given the circumstances.

Any interesting tricks you use? Or what tools/media do you use to help? Why those?

The most invaluable sources of help in ensuring smooth (at least as smooth-as-can-be) class sessions have been two people – my lifesavers – Mrs. Trudi Charlesworth and Mr. Jason Kiang. There have been quite a few unexpected challenges that came with conducting classes through Zoom with all students in one room. Mrs. Charlesworth has been in the classroom in my stead to do everything that I can’t do from a distance, which includes preparing handouts and packets, organizing groups, conducting activities that can’t be carried out on Zoom, and adjusting speaker & mic volumes to ensure that we can all hear each other while avoiding that horrible and scratchy audio feedback that occurs when multiple mics and speakers are in close proximity – just to name a few. Mr. Kiang and the IT department have also been instrumental in setting up the most efficient environment we could facilitate and in resolving all technical challenges that have come along. 

Are there any advantages from your teaching methods/teaching online? 

Since I am not physically on campus with the students, I have tried to make most tasks completable online. While certain tasks still have to be carried out in person, I have learned to be more efficient in minimizing paper usage as much as possible.  

What challenges do you face teaching (online)? (ex. time differences, grading, work)

Fortunately, my time zone is only two hours ahead of Taiwan’s, so I have been more fortunate than other new faculty who are half the world away. However, my inability to be in the classroom with my students still leads to a sense of physical detachment, which has been challenging because I personally love to see my students, listen to them, and interact with them in person. This hasn’t prevented me from witnessing the dedication and hard work that the students put in to maximize their learning, but I still eagerly await the day I get to meet everyone in person!  

 Mr. Jeff Laufer, Upper School Physics teacher

Why are you not here teaching in person right now?

I’m not in Taiwan teaching in person because the government of Taiwan is not processing new entry visas. 

Any experience with teaching the class you are currently teaching or teaching in general? Can you compare your past experience with the ones currently?

I’ve taught the classes I’m currently teaching at Suncoast High School, a magnet school in Palm Beach County, FL. 

Online learning was managed much better by the Palm Beach County School District. The technology platforms worked a lot better with each and were optimized for online learning. It made things run a lot smoother despite having to manage addressing students in the classroom and students online on Google Meets at the same time. I haven’t been in a normal classroom environment since March 13, 2020; which was an extremely surreal day as the principal came on the announcements to say that spring break was starting a week early and to monitor district press releases for reopening information. 

How do you teach your classes now? 

I teach on Zoom, which I don’t like using nearly as much as Google Meets, which was easier to manage as it only involved 1 window. 

Any interesting tricks you use? Or what tools/media do you use to help? Why those?

I had a pretty advanced digital teaching on my PC set-up I used back in Spring 2020. All that equipment was shipped to Taiwan months ago, so I’m forced to make do with a MacBook Pro and iPad Air. 

Are there any advantages from your teaching methods/teaching online? 

Having taught online for thousands of hours at this point and a decade in person, I can pretty confidently state that there aren’t really any benefits. The only thing I can think of is being able to easily record lessons for students who were absent. This was useful last year when students were unable to either come in person or log into a Google Meet. Unfortunately, a lot of students had to miss classes last year for pandemic related reasons.

What challenges do you face teaching (online)? (ex. time differences, grading, work)

The main challenge of teaching online is not being able to monitor how students are doing in real time. Teaching online from home, and not an actual classroom is extra challenging as it takes a lot more set-up to make sure all the files used in various phases of a class are in the right place.