Day 18: Student Presentations, World Religions Museum, & PTSA Dinner

We began our day with a visit to Museum of World Religions, which I was really excited about! The museum is dedicated to all faiths and promotes peace, understanding, and most importantly, universal love.



"The doors to goodness, wisdom, and compassion are opened by keys of the heart"

Upon entering the museum, we stopped at the purity waterfall. 

Standing at the Purity Waterfall

One of the parts of the museum I really liked, was the many quotes imprinted on the walls. 

Seen below is one of the golden pillars in the museum - the love and peace pillars are written in 30 different lanuages from around the world and surround a representation of heaven and earth.

My favorite part of the museum was the "Hall of Great Religions." Here, several major world religions are showcased: Zoroastrianism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity, Judaism, Taoism, and Shintoism.  This was so informative and very exciting for me because I teach about all of these religions. 

The coolest part of the hall were the miniature religious buildings aimed to recreate the facade and interior furbishing of famous religious buildings.  The buildings are perfectly scaled and looked identical to the real thing! 

Minature of the Dome of the Rock

 

Students hard at work on their presentations

Jacki, Kelly, Jim, and I had to judge the presentations.  Many of the students came up with several innovative ideas on how to make Taipei more eco-friendly and "green." I was happy that my assigned group won 1st place! I helped them develop their idea of creating a "green friendly" school.  They applied the knowledge they had learned and created a model school using solar power, renewable engergy, and recyclable materials.

All aboard the solar train

So many of the presentations were really great! The students used skits and humor to impress us with what they learned. After the presentations, we debriefed with our groups and so many students were anxious to find out what they could do to improve and make their presentations better.

Posing with my student group that took 1st place

That night we had a wonderful dinner sponsored the Yong Ping HS PTSA and staff



With the staff of Yong Ping and PTSA



Seen here with Wendy (from my host family)

Picture of the team

Ending the night relaxing with Jackey #3 and Principal Lee

We headed back to Yong Ping High School after the museum.  Students were finishing up their presentations on what they learned about eco-friendly buildings. Furthermore, the students had to do their entire presentations in English! Very impressive.