By Kamala Alister
“I’ll never forget the laughter, friendship and happiness…”:
Taiwan University student visiting the AM River School
In mid-July, eight student teachers from the Teacher Education Centre of Fu Jen University visited the Ananda Marga River School with their professor and Education Department head, Diinesh Teng Huang and another staff member. They stayed for one week, rotating through the primary school classes to learn about Neohumanist Education. They also had classes with the Principal and other staff to assist their learning. Their stay was part of a one month tour which included sight-seeing and visiting Steiner and Montessori schools and was supported by a grant from the Taiwanese Ministry of Education. Professor Diinesh’s 11 year old daughter traveled with the group, and she loved attending year 5 at the River School.
Learning Chinese calligraphy with lovely brushes and paper brought from Taiwan
From the beginning, the River School staff were impressed with the friendliness and openness of these lovely student teachers, and they seemed to enjoy the school very much. A highlight for the school was when the student teachers put on an impressive performance of Chinese Yo-Yo with music and then performed an energetic play sharing information about the country of Taiwan. Afterwards they delivered three beautifully organised workshops which the River School students attended by rotation. River School students learned and experienced Chinese calligraphy, lantern making and traditional rice-flour dumplings — and had a wonderful time.
At the end, the school held a special farewell program for the group, singing kiirtan and songs and presenting a gift bag to each student teacher. It was a tearful moment for some students from both sides.
Here are a few of their comments.