~ Zachary Warmke
Curriculum Coordinator

　English projects at Kang Chiao involve research, collaboration, and use of English to accomplish goals. We strive to make our projects authentic, meaning that the goals and actions taken by students have a real impact on their lives. They may develop important life or communication skills, such as working with others, or they may focus on language arts skills, such as delivering a persuasive speech. 

　In our most recent grade 4 project, we challenged students to not only use their communication and language skills, but also to make a positive effect on their homes, classrooms, and their community. The project, Keep it Clean, culminated in a community of fourth grade students working hard to reduce pollution, energy and water waste, and more. 

Abstract Concepts become Real

　We began by reading The Top Ten Ways You Can Reduce Waste, an article which explains some shocking facts about how much waste the average person produces. Students were amazed to learn how most people use too much electricity, food, or water. This waste can lead to pollution and other problems in the environment. While this reading was interesting, most students had never considered that they have the power to stop these problems. We challenged them to do just that.

　In our school, we looked for sources of waste, such as forgetting to turn off lights or air conditioning when not needed. The fourth graders took the role of building inspectors who looked for irresponsible use of electricity or water. Students quickly understood that such waste is very common, and it is easily preventable. So, we gave students a goal: prevent the waste from happening again.

Action in the School and Beyond

　Before long, students became excited to find ways to stop waste. Then, they noticed other forms of waste, such as food waste during lunch time, or classmates putting recyclable materials into the trash instead of the recycle bin. They expanded their view to all forms of waste. But cleaning up the school was just the beginning. Now that our students understood the goal of the project, we turned their attention onto their homes and communities.

　Just as they had inspected the school to reduce waste, they went home and searched for places where they could help clean up. Each group of students created a “green action plan” in which they explained the kind of waste they wanted to target, how they would stop it, and what they would do to prevent it from happening again. Some groups targeted their own homes, but many cleaned up their community parks and public areas.

　Teachers helped students follow their green action plans over several weeks, including asking them to take photos or videos of their work. In class, groups checked in with each other and shared their progress with classmates. Sharing ideas helped them develop their green action plans even further. They created a community of “green activists” who were all trying to clean up the environment.

Sharing and Teaching

　At the conclusion of the school year, we invited some of the most successful groups to present their photos and videos to their classmates on the big stage in the school auditorium. The selected groups mimicked the presentation style of TED talks; sharing their work and giving a hopeful message to the audience.

　Keep it Clean was very successful at the three goals we outlined above: students used communication and teamwork; developed their English vocabulary and speaking skills; and addressed a real-world issue. We were proud of their hard work. Some selected projects are displayed on the following page. Please have a look at the green actions our young learners completed!

Beach Cleanup

★ Amelia Liu 劉珈岑 507

  Plastic cutlery and tableware usually saves your precious time, but the packaging produces a lot of unnecessary waste and harms some marine animals. This is because some trash ends up in the ocean even if we throw it away properly or recycle it. Another reason is people leave their trash on the beach when they go there. 

  Every time I go to a beach, it is full of dirty trash so I can’t play at all. I really want to help the earth and marine animals, so I decided to make the world a greener place.I wanted to make posters and videos to show everyone that we have an obligation to protect the earth. But if only a few people want to help, that is not enough, so we need everyone’s help and attention. Earth is everyone’s, so everyone should help.

  My friend Effie and I worked together. We went to the beach and started to clean. We collected a  bunch of trash before we went home. Our cleanup went well, but when I returned to the beach, there was already a lot of trash there again. So, we cleaned up again. We wanted to stop pollution again, so we also found people on the beach and street, and talked to them. We asked them to sign a pledge not to pollute the beach!

  I expanded my plan by drawing posters and making videos. I also went to a park and stuck up anti-pollution posters. A lot of people saw them! This plan also turned out great.

  I felt a sense of accomplishment for helping the earth. Our plan worked well, but I want to say that this is really, really hard work. We should maintain the environment. We need to care about this issue, because everyone wants a clean and beautiful beach. Please remember:  Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. Reusing. So why don’t we help to make the beach into a paradise? Start your green action plan now! We still have time to save the earth!

Reducing Water Waste

★ Yathin Chan 陳逸軒 501

  Imagine you lived in a place with no water. Everyone would die in three days (or less)! Yet according to the World Wildlife Fund, Unicef, and the EPA, 785 million people around the world don’t have regular access to water. Also, 2.2 billion people in the world don’t have clean drinking water. 

  I knew we needed a plan. To help this out, I made a water filter myself. I also made a water collect that catches rain water to use in my water filter. We can use the filtered rainwater to water plants, flush toilets, and many other things. 

  My plan was really successful! I got a lot of water in 45 minutes of rain. I made the filter using plastic bottles, sand, soil, and small rocks. 

  I want to expand this idea by building a water recycling center in Xindian. I will put filters made from recycled plastic bottles in the center to collect rain and clean it. I will also build rain collectors in communities in Xindian. I will collect water that people already used to wash rice. If we filter that water, they can use it again.

  If we all do a little bit to reduce water waste,we can all together make a huge impact!

Reducing Uber Eats and Food Panda Waste

★ Emma Jiang 江亭樂 502

  Did you know that even if you recycle paper and plant trees, in your everyday life, you still make a lot of waste? People usually don’t think much about it. They just want to use online ordering to buy meals with huge amounts of packaging. If we don’t reduce packaging, we’ll watch the Earth die. We must do something, so I decided to learn to make my own food and make a recipe book to reduce the waste of packaging to protect the environment. 

  First, I found the food that my family ordered often using apps like Uber Eats and Food Panda. My family often orders omelets and Chinese fried rice. I took notes in my notebook and researched the ingredients and steps. I bought their ingredients at the supermarket, which was cheaper than Food Panda. Then I cooked an omelet and Chinese fried rice. They are not hard to make, but to make them beautiful is kind of difficult. So they were a little ugly but tasted not bad. It took a lot of time and I was tired after that, but it was worth it.

  I finished my recipe book in Canva, and my mom helped me print it out the pages that I made. I put the book together with pins and glue. I hope to add more recipes later so people can learn from me. Then we can all reduce packaging waste.

Reducing My Pet’s Waste

★ Ailey Chen 陳沛琳 501

  Pets are humans' best friends, but they can make almost as much waste as we do. People buy cheap disposable clean-up materials and other pet supplies. We think it's so easy to put one for our pet to use one time before we throw it out. I think all pet owners should try to lessen all the trash their pets make. That would be a strong start for making the world a greener place. Many people have pets in the world, and if they all use washable clean-up materials then we could say goodbye to a lot of garbage!

  Lots of people use disposable “puppy pads” to clean their dog’s waste. When I first got my puppy, we bought tons of them to potty train him. After the first few weeks he started to get the hang of it, but our trash bin was always overflowing. I sometimes had to use two pads because they didn’t absorb all the liquid. I tried putting out more pads underneath. I needed to throw out even more pads, and it was very wasteful.

  My mom helped me thread my sewing machine. I spun thread around my bobbin, then I took it off to start the machine. My mom showed me how to do it. She helped me thread the needle and use the foot pedal. I learned to use the lever and hold the fabric steady.

  My mom bought different types of fabric to try. I especially liked the boxy pattern on one of the purple fabrics. I made several puppy pads with different patterns. After that, my dog stopped trashing our house by using too many pads. It was a huge hit! Dog owners may benefit from these easy DIY puppy pads and they will save lots of trash and pollution.