Discussing and Writing about Taiwan's WHO membership

Today's discussion is about Taiwan's call for full membership in the World Health Organization (WHO). This discussion was inspired by the news article published on China Post. see http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/national/national-news/2012/05/22/341834/Taiwanese-lawmakers.htm

The in-class discussion stirred strong feelings among my students. Anew, a male student, was given the opportunity to share his personal experiences and sentiments about the underlying issue that goes beyond simply being a member of the WHO. As an officer of AISEC, he pointed out how this dilemma affects all of Taiwan's young citizens. The in-class discussion became more interesting and more meaningful than what I hoped it would be. Riding on the patriotic feeling that was looming in the air, I thought of giving the students the opportunity to choose a writing task: they could either 1) do the vocabulary worksheet, or 2) write a poem about their country, their sentiments about its political presence in the world, which is often threatened by China and its one-China policy. Soon to be posted here are the works of my students. We'll see if something creative will come out of today's in-class activity. Aiden