Showing posts with label Teacher's Day. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Teacher's Day. Show all posts

April 13 – Teacher's Day in Ecuador

Posted on April 13, 2019

Ecuador - the South American nation whose name means "equator," a nation which lies on the equator (no surprise!), one of only two South American nations that don't border on Brazil.

Ecuador celebrates teachers on the birthday of one of the nation's outstanding authors: Juan Montalvo was born on this date in 1832.

Here are some special things about Ecuador:

It's one of the 18 "megadiverse" countries in the world. There are many different kinds of habitats in Ecuador, including high-altitude mountains and low-lying rainforests, the far-flung Galápagos Islands and the productive coastlands. So it's no surprise that the plants and animals are varied as well...







What is a surprise, perhaps, is that Ecuador has a constitution that specifically gives "nature," or the ecosystem, legal rights. It's the first nation in the world to acknowledge the Rights of Nature. 

UNESCO World Heritage Sites are places that have cultural, historical, or scientific importance. They are legally protected for all of humanity by international treaties. At this point, there are more than 1,000 World Heritage Sites...but when the first conference was held in 1978 to choose the first few sites, the very first one was Ecuador's Galapagos Islands, and the very second one was Ecuador's capital city, Quito.

All these years later, Ecuador only has five World Heritage Sites, a number dwarfed by world leaders Italy (54) and China (53). But it's amazing that the very first two sites were located in the teeny nation of Ecuador!








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September 28 – Teacher's Day in Taiwan

Posted on September 28, 2018

Many years ago, I wrote about the birthday of Confucius. Because today is his birthday, and Confucius is considered a great teacher, today is Teacher's Day in Taiwan.

This holiday starts early, with ceremonies at temples of Confucius all around the island. At 6 a.m., drum beats begin the ceremony. 

Musicians and dancers perform. Colors and numbers are important - there are always 54 musicians dressed in purplish robes with blue belts, and there are either 36 or 64 dancers dressed in yellow with green belts.


The holiday continues at schools and includes students entertaining their teachers with humor, song, and dance. Some schools schedule field trips to enjoy natural beauty or sporting activities. Students usually give their teachers personalized cards.

Here are some lovely spots that teachers and students may want to visit today:

Taroko National Park


The Golden Waterfall


Shimen Cave


Nantou County




Also on this date:
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September 10 – Teacher's Day in China

Posted on September 10, 2015



It's so nice to show appreciation for the people in one's life, isn't it?

Many kids have teachers of one kind or another in their lives. Some kids homeschool but still have ballet teachers, hockey coaches (coaches are a kind of teacher), or painting teachers. And in many different nations, there is a special day set aside to honoring teachers.

In many communities, the custom is to giving a teacher a present, some flowers, or a card on Teacher's Day. It's a nice custom. It shows people that you really care – and it means that many teachers will never have to buy a mug or a vase!

However, nice customs can run amok. And that sounds like what has happened in China.

I read that, in China, gift-giving to teachers on teacher's day has become almost a competitive sport, with people giving gifts worth more than TWO THOUSAND U.S. dollars!

Chinese parents are left scratching their heads about why there seems to be an unwritten rule that flowers just aren't enough, anymore, and that gift cards or cash are needed as well. Or that some really creative gift is needed. Parents wonder, “If I opt out, will my teacher be prejudiced against my child?”

I read that more than 60% of the parents want schools to outlaw teachers accepting gifts from students!


By the way...

Educators and journalists in countries all over the world seem to be wringing their hands over the state of education “these days” – and to some extent are looking to see what other nations are doing to improve their educational standing in the world.

China has long been seen by many as having an excellent but highly competitive school system – but then leaders have historically worried about the lack of creativity of the students who emerge from that same system!

Here are some of the things that the government has been trying to institute in order to change and improve Chinese education:

  1. No tracking students. In other words, each class should represent a balance of low- and high-achieving students, rather than having a “fast-track” class and a “slow-track” class.
  2. No written homework for grades 1 to 3.
  3. No standardized testing for grades 1 to 3.
  4. No numeric grades. China used to use a 100-point system to compare student achievement; the government recently mandated that grading move to categories: “exceptional,” “excellent,” “adequate,” and “inadequate.”
  5. At least one hour of physical exercise.

I hope that China is having success at enforcing these new regulations. And I sure wish schools in the U.S. were trying to copy these changes!

Also on this date:

























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June 22, 2012 - Schoolteachers' Day in El Salvador



Many different nations celebrate a version of Teachers' Day—but each on a different day of the year. Today is El Salvador's turn!

This nation is the smallest in Central America—a bit smaller than the state of Massachusetts. It is the most densely populated nation in the Americas. Despite its small size, it has the largest shopping center and the largest airport of all of Central America. It also has 21—count 'em, 21!—volcanoes.

El Salvador is one of the most industrialized Central American nations but is also one of the few that is experiencing reforestation. In other words, too much of the tropical rainforest has been cut down, but now some of it has been replanted and restored.

El Salvador has some of the best surfing beaches in the world. Check it out! 

This tourism video shows a bit of volcano action, surf action, and other sights in El Salvador. 

Also on this date:



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