Education and Entertainment of Children

Here are questions from some Taiwanese students in the university:

1. If you had another chance to choose, do you still want to be a Northern European?
* I think I would still like to be a North European. I think the things are quite good in here. I've got everything I need and I'm happy. I've sometimes dreamed about living in the United Kingdom, but I'm happy about where I'm from. I'm finnish, and that's what matters. I'm proud of my roots.

2. Since the welfare of your country is so good, do you still want to study?
* Of course, I think that education is really good on you. I couldn't really think much of anything else than studying, at the point of my life, because I'm so young.
I don't think there are many people who think that they would quit studying because of the welfare being so good.

3. In Taiwan, if a child disobeyed his mother’s words, wandering along the street, the mother will blame on him and say “the police will come to catch you and put you into the prison!!” If the same thing happened, what will the elders do or say in your country?
* If the child was really young I think the parents would say something as above, because they wouldn't want him to do it again, and the parents would think that if they said something like that, then the child would learn not to do it again. It depends on the parents, but I think many of them would say stuff like “We were so worried, where have you been? Please don't do that again, anything could have happened to you. We really were worried.”

4. What do you think about Taiwanese students (from seven to twelve grade) who have to learn every subject such as Math, Science, History, Geography...., whether they like it or not?
* I don't really think it's that great. But in Finland we also have to study some subjects that we don't like. I'm in high school and I've had to study chemic, which I really don't like and am not good at. Also maths. And we also have to study Swedish as a compulsory subject, because it's our second language, but not even that many people speak it! Most of the youngs dislike studying Swedish and get low grades studying it, because they don't like it at all.

5. How do the elders describe to children about death and divorce?
* I think that if a child's grandmother for example, died, the parents would say that grandmother is in better place now, she had to go, she has passed away. But that she will still be in our memories and she will look at us from the clouds and heaven. But about divorce, I don't really know. I've never been in that kind of situation and I'm really not sure what they would say. Maybe that these things happen, and that it's not the child's fault.

6. What is the normal age for kids to start talking?
* That's a hard question.. I think when they are about 2 years old. I asked my mom, who is a nurse, and she says that it depends, but usually between the ages of 1 and 2.

7. Generally speaking, when we are teaching little kids new words, we often use reduplication, for example, “che”which means car, and we will say“che che”. How about you? Are there any special methods to teach children?
* Yes, I think that also in Finland the parents will repeat the word few times for the kid to remember. Usually the parents also show the picture of the “word” that they mean. And for example “kello” which means “clock”, they would say “kello”, point at the clock on the wall and then maybe say it again, and they let the child try to say it after. Then also, they sometimes say the word, for example “kello, missä kello?” (clock, where is the clock?) and then let the baby find the clock from the wall and point at it.

8. If a child makes mistakes, what would the elders do? For instance, stealing, being late, breaking something, and lying.
* The parents will be “mad” at the child for some time, so that they will learn that what they did was wrong. But the parents are not too hard on the child. Just enough, to make them know what is wrong and what is right. Because when the mom and dad are not like how they usually are, the child will become a bit scared and she/he will learn that they shouldn't do it again, if they didn't want mom and dad to be different. If this makes any sense...



Moona Viinikainen, 19 years old