week 10 - Bloome

When I was reading this article, it reminded me of post method in teaching ESL students. The author mentioned that “when students are allowed to read and write about things that are congruent with their home culture, they may read and write more and with more sophistication” (p. 132). I wonder if this kind of teaching approach applies to both ESL and EFL contexts. When I was learning English, the textbooks we used in cram schools were printed in the U.S. and most of the contents were about American cultures. Even in junior and senior high schools, the textbooks rarely incorporated Taiwanese cultures into the contents. Since the education system in Taiwan is exam-based, I am thinking about how this kind of teaching method that Bloome mentioned in his article may fit into the Taiwanese context. How do we use this teaching method to assist students to compose within a short amount of exam time?

Also, I was looking for some Taiwanese stories translated in English for a friend of mine who wants her daughter to understand different cultures. I had trouble finding them and most of the stories I saw in the bookstores were about stories from the U.S. and other English speaking countries. I am not sure if this similar situation happens in other countries as well. But in the Taiwanese context, it seems to me that foreign cultures create better business and education markets. Sometimes I think some of the teaching methods are very interesting and useful for teaching ESL students, but the environment may not allow certain kind of teaching methods. It is really frustrating when I can’t use whatever I learned from classes.