How do we give our children these abilities?
Learn for Yourselves
We develop Hua Wen's children to become "comprehensive interdisciplinary critical thinking talented individuals". We use the "Ten Abilities" to deeply nurture "strength", change students' learning methods, speed, and content, and build adaptability and competitiveness for their futures.
Academic Ability
"The Analects of Confucius" repeatedly said that "A gentleman is erudite in literature" and "erudite and devoted to his ambition," all of which suggest that a gentleman should learn extensively. Dr. Casper Shih believed that it is necessary to train children to become people who know how to "learn how to learn." He quoted "The Analects of Confucius: Yong Ye Eighteen" “Knowledge is not equal to devotion. Devotion is not equal to joy." This is the true meaning of self-directed learning, and his desire to train children to transform learning into a part of life and become lifelong learners.
Communication
Communicating means working together, and includes "sharing" and "consensus building." We encourage children to continuously try, learn the ropes, and practice from the experience of interacting with others, listen openly from the "heart," practice self-disclosure, develop the abilities of grasping situations, interpersonal perception, and empathetic response, and be able to repeatedly correct and adjust, and establish good interpersonal and communication skills.
Critical Thinking Ability
Critical thinking is inherently complex, involving rational, skeptical, unbiased analysis, and evaluation of factual evidence. The Master said: "A gentleman thinks a lot: he sees clearly, he listens wisely, he looks gentle, he is respectful, he speaks sincerely, he is careful in doing things, asks questions when in doubt, he thinks of the difficulties when he is angry, and he thinks of righteousness when he sees gain to be got." (The Analects of Confucius‧The articles of Ji Shi). We cultivate this into a child's thinking program for them to habitually make judgments or take action after thinking, and become independent thinkers.
Creative Ability
Dr. Casper Shih believed that maintaining curiosity and concern for things around you is the motivation for learning. “No one is born omniscient” but "those who are fond of antiquity are quick to seek it.” There are two driving forces for innovation, one is "concern about things"; the other is "learning from the past." The purpose is to be able to be conscious of forward-looking scenarios, adapt and generate solutions to problems, so as to develop children's ability to show sensitivity, fluency, originality, flexibility, risk-taking, and sophistication for them to come up with "different and better ideas" or " new and useful ideas."
Ability of Character
Confucius believed that the purpose of education is for one to become “benevolent." Character education should come first followed by pedagogical knowledge because strength of character is a person’s foundation. The cultivation of character education can be carried out through learning by example, intellectual stimulus, encouragement and motivation, environmental shaping, experiential reflection, and positive self-expectation, etc. Hua Wen’s ability of character includes ten main themes which allow children to experience and discover the environment of their daily lives, promote the development of "man and themselves," practice "man and others" innovative life management, carry out concern for "man and the environment," and inspire good and honest virtues and sentiments to develop their personality and behavior.
Aesthetic Sensitivity
Plato believed that beauty is eternal, a state of harmony between mind and body. Beauty exists in our everyday lives, and aesthetic sensitivity allows children to experience and perceive the truth, love, and beauty within the people, things, and events around them. Cultivating and expressing aesthetic sensitivity is an emotional refinement that triggers and enriches children's aesthetic experiences. It builds aesthetic abilities such as sensation, intuition, imagination, understanding, emotion, and creativity, thereby fostering children's aesthetic literacy.
Cooperative Ability
Cooperative learning is a philosophy of handling affairs. We guide children to practice resource allocation, communication, distribution of powers and responsibility sharing, and bring into play each child's different strengths and expertise to encourage and complement each other in the team; in the process of team cooperation and message delivery, they can also listen to others’ thoughts with an open mind, give respect and empathize.
Technological Ability
We develop children's hands-on knowledge and ability to design and create technological tools and information systems through observation and daily life experience, and through the use of technological tools, materials, and resources, while also cultivating exploration, creative thinking, logical and computational thinking, critical thinking, problem-solving and other abilities, and guide children to be willing to use and make good use of technology. Dr. Casper Shih believed that the establishment of digitization advantages does not lie in digital technology itself, but in human-oriented thinking. We encourage children to broaden their horizons and minds, and let information generate value and become their knowledge.
Practical Implementation Ability
Practice is an important way to learn and explore. Dewey, a famous American philosopher and educator, especially emphasized "learning by doing." We develop children's habits of doing things by themselves, learning from activities, learning from real experience, and using thinking and knowledge. During this process they can seek the most suitable way to constantly accumulate practical experience. They are both learners and doers, linking the knowledge they have learned with life practice, so as to achieve the "unity of knowledge and action."
Adaptability
Dr. Casper Shih encouraged children to "travel thousands of miles rather than read thousands of books." They must develop the ability to take care of themselves and be mobile as soon as possible, step out of their comfort zone, and "dare to dream and dare to practice" without fear of difficulties and challenges. Global mobility is the integration of knowledge, skills, attitudes and values. With open and macro thinking and the ability to recognize multiculturalism, children can actively try various kinds of learning, share activities and international exchanges, and form their own values through internalization to enhance personal competitiveness.
TAIWAN'S
NEXT GENERATION
Chinese
The core of our Chinese language class is character education. The curriculum development principles are to combine humanities and technology, classics and modern, and east and west; and by utilizing innovative teaching methods to expand vocabulary, phrases and articles and comparative writings to create a new learning style. The curriculum also incorporates enlightenment literature, poetry, and classical literature to develop students’ cultural and language literacy.
Mathematics
Math is an exercise for the mind. We believe math should be the guide that leads children to discover the wonderful connections between math and their surroundings. All logics and thinking skills become children’s innate tools to understand the world and to help children develop a creative thinking mentality.
Through our math curriculum, children will learn to pursue the truth and stay curious, while providing the students with skills to integrate, summarize, analyze and solve problems.
CLIL
CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) is the core of our English curriculum. The interdisciplinary teaching material published by National Geographic Learning incorporates different themes from various subjects is developmentally appropriate allowing students to learn English in a natural and meaningful way.
For younger students of beginner levels, we focus on pronunciation and the basics of the English language. For intermediates, the application of vocabularies and sentences in real life situations are our focus. For advance levels, we place a strong emphasis on reading and writing.
In addition to our daily English classes, we also incorporate English learning into various subjects and activities to make language learning interesting. Language is a tool for communication and should be taught as such.
Science
With exploration and implementation as our core belief, while linking life experiences and scientific concepts, our hands-on approach curriculum design teaches students the process of scientific exploration and the ability to analyze and solve problems.
Through activity based learning, students engage in exploration, observation, inquiry, planning, experimentation, and induction to develop thinking skills such as critical thinking and creativity.
Coding
Our coding curriculum not only teaches coding but also computational thinking, digital literacy and 21st century skills through blended learning models and computer science teachings. Utilizing progressive learning materials, students interact with computers and learn to generate ideas, innovate and solve problems with hands-on approach, and gradually improve children’s skills and knowledge to lay the foundation for the future.
Social Studies
Our social studies’ action-oriented curriculum feature not only fosters the world citizenship mindset and problem-solving skills among students, but also encourages collaboration, inquiry, induction, analysis, critical-thinking and presentation skills. Students will engage in field studies and interviews in the community to learn to act autonomously and to be caring. Our digitalized and internationalized curriculum also aims to help our students become global citizens.
Music
“Music education opens doors that help children pass from school into the world around them.” – Gerald Ford
With music literacy cultivation as our starting point and professionalism our goal, we’d like our students to be able to experience the joy of musical appreciation. Our curriculum includes world music, modern, jazz, classical, film, and much more, combined with digital media and flexible teaching material, allowing our students to enjoy creating music instinctively, playing music and realize one’s own potential.
ART
Art is the language of children. Creativity is an innate ability, and it is our goal to provide an unrestrictive space for children to develop that ability.
Our curriculum design centers on hands-on activities and art appreciation. Students will learn about the elements of art, design thinking, artistic content and more through a variety of creative themes. Furthermore, character education will be implemented in our art class. Students will learn about collaboration, respect and empathy through design thinking lessons.
Physical Education
Believing in the concept of community resource sharing, we work together with different sports centers and institutions to bypass campus space limitation and allow our students to experience high standard sports facilities.
Under the guidance of professional coaches, students will engage in sports activities such as swimming, cycling, gymnastics or electives like dancing, tennis, badminton, parkour, fencing and golf. We arrange two whole afternoons per week for our students to enjoy the benefits of regular exercise and develop a lifelong sports habit.
Adventure Time
Our adventure time is a mandatory part of our curriculum. Once a season, students embark on a week-long outdoor adventure, engaging in diverse activities in natural settings such as mountains, forests, and waterways. Through these experiences, children develop essential outdoor skills, cultivate a sense of empathy, collaboration, and environmental stewardship, and build resilience, stress tolerance, and emergency response abilities. By fostering a sense of self-reliance and mobility, we help children understand and appreciate the diversity of cultures and societies.