I. Elementary School
English textbooks in Taiwan are very thematic, with very little continuity between books in a series or even units in the same book. Thus students never really need to build upon existing knowledge, but rather "reset" their knowledge to accommodate whichever textbook they're studying during a given semester. Grammar concepts are introduced in the books, but tests are often written in such a way that students can guess their way through most test questions.
1. Super Fun 4
Grade 4 students are studying the "What are these/those?", "Where's the (object)?", "What time is it?" and "Do you like (food)?" sentence patterns.
One problem with the word "these" is that it sounds a lot like "this," and many students never learn the difference between "this/that" and "these/those" anyway. "What time is it?" is a valid inclusion, but it's really hard to have a conversation around "What time is it?," especially with fourth graders.
The words for this semester are: yo-yo(s), kite(s), doll(s), ball(s), robot(s), box, desk, chair, in, on, under, eleven, twelve, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty-five, cake, ice cream, milk, juice, water and pizza. Good luck getting kids to master "eleven" and "twelve." Those two words seem to evade most students.
2. eStar 6
Grade 5 students are studying the "What day is today?", "What subject do you like?", "What does he/she need?" and "How much is the (item of clothing)?" sentence patterns.
As with "What time is it?", it's hard to have a conversation centered around "What day is today?" and "How much is the (item of clothing)?" is an even more difficult task. Most students' knowledge of English numbers and math terms doesn't often correspond to a real-world discussion of how much items cost, sentences and vocabulary related to buying and selling, and any array of commonly-seen objects in Taiwan.
The English textbooks should really include "Taiwanese" or "Minnanese" as an academic subject. But maybe doing so would be too political? I don't know.
The words for this semester are: Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, English, math, Chinese, social studies, PE, music, art, science, smartphone, gloves, robot, umbrella, tablet, watch, sunglasses, T-shirt, shorts, skirt, jacket, pants, shoes, socks and dress. "Smartphone" seems to be a new inclusion.
3. eStar 8
Grade 6 students are studying the "What do you do after school?", "What do you want to be?", "Where were you yesterday?" and "Where was he/she yesterday?" sentence patterns.
Elementary level textbook series usually introduce the past tense during the end of the sixth grade, when the school calendar is full of activities. As a result most students go on to junior high school blissfully unaware of the past tense, the future tense, or any other tense beyond the tense in which colorful characters constantly quiz one another on likes, dislikes and personal characteristics. To make matters worse, most textbook questions can be answered with "yes" or "no." I think of it as the 50/50 approach to English.
The words for this semester are: play basketball, play the piano, read comic books, bake cookies, go camping, go jogging, go swimming, singer, scientist, writer, baseball player, police officer, vet, firefighter, pilot, yesterday, two hours ago, an hour ago, thirty minutes ago, airport, train station, restaurant, museum and theater. I'm calling it right now: after this semester most students will have entirely forgotten "yesterday" and "ago."
II. Junior High School
I case you're new to Taiwan, 下 means "second semester" in the context of school textbooks. The first semester is 上.
At the junior high level there are too many sentence patterns to list here. I suppose the expectation is that students have mastered the grammar introduced in the elementary textbooks, and in junior high school they're be able to flexibly apply their knowledge of English grammar to a variety of new sentence structures. In some parts of Taiwan maybe this is the case. Where I am? We're a long way from that.
Junior high English textbooks have six units per book where elementary English textbooks only have four. I'm still not sure how I'm supposed to divide 20 or 21 weeks by six, and I doubt that I'm the only one having this difficulty. I think sticking with four units per semester would have made more sense. This would have both given more depth to the books and made them less discouraging.
4. English 1 下
Topics covered in this book include sports and hobbies, recreational activities, holidays, fruits and other food, chores and places in Taiwan. There are 10-20 vocabulary words per unit, and given the fact that I tested both the seventh graders on unit 1 today, I know that they're not learning many of these new words. Hopefully it'll get better. I can only hope so.
5. English 2 下
The six units in the eighth grade textbook introduce personal characteristics (adjectives), describing things (more adjectives), sports and activities (comparative adjectives), holidays and life events, emotions and weather. When you think about it there's a lot of overlap between the seventh and eighth grade textbooks, though I doubt that many students notice this, and I doubt even more that many benefit from it. In 20 weeks, even with English class being three times a week, it's difficult to give these books more than a cursory examination.
In the eighth grade textbook the number of vocabulary words in each unit is closer to 20 than to 10, and these vocabulary words are less theme-specific, and more like keys to a selected text. The second half of each unit has more worksheet pages, with lots of fill-in-the-blanks exercises provided for those willing to actually do them. Does anyone check these books at the end of the semester? I highly doubt it.
6. English 3 下
I don't have that much to do with the grade 9 students. I teach the 907 "Arts Class" four times a semester, and during these four classes I only cover the first unit of their textbooks. Grade 9 finishes the school year earlier than the other grades, and they're also on the other side of the campus from my office.
This textbook returns to a four unit format. The English 3 上 book retained six units, so I can only assume that this four unit structure is a reflection of the fact that ninth grade students have a shorter semester in the spring.
This textbook adopts a more social studies-centric approach to English, an approach that I heartily endorse if you've been in Taiwan long enough to know the country better. Even if you don't know it better, introducing your own country in English to Taiwanese students can be very meaningful.
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