Today:
志工感言 (Reflection) >> Atlanta
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Chu, Justin (朱柏頤)
When I first arrived at Chientan, I wasn't expecting to meet dozens of amazing friends at AID Summer 2015. I wasn't expecting to teach an elementary class of 18 wonderful children, and I certainly wasn't expecting to have so much fun during the entire experience, from the teaching to the tour.

At Fuan Elementary School, I quickly got along with my groupmates (shoutout to B3-1!), and we even had group bonding time on weekday nights and the weekend. I honestly think our coach, Kurt, is the best coach in all of AID. In fact, we got to know him so well, it may be better to call him a close friend rather than a mentor. I think my teaching parters and I were one of the closest groups, and this definitely positively influenced our teaching methods. The first day was somewhat messy, and we had very little idea of what we were doing. But luckily, with the help of our coach, we were able to drastically improve our cohesion and fluidity within the next few days, and by the second week, our schedules were perfectly on time and each activity went very well. Even though the children were rowdy at times, we were always able to get them under control. I will admit that I am not a very sentimental person. When we had to say goodbye to our coach, everyone else in my group was crying, while I simply stood there. It may not have shown on the outside, but in my heart, I really do miss the children at Fuan Elementary.

The week of the tour was definitely the best part of AID. It was the first place after two weeks where I could meet people outside of my teaching group, and I did meet tons of interesting and hilarious people. After this week, I may not ever see them again, but I will always have our memories -- and social media contact info!

I've really learned a lot from these four weeks at AID -- not only about leadership and confidence, but also about myself. The friends I've met and thr conversations we've had have led me to become a more outgoing and expressive person, both mentally and physically. I just want to say that I will never forget this wonderful experience.
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Huang, Sherry (黃玟伶)
My teaching experience has been nothing shy of life-changing and exhausting... I have learned that ten year olds love to cry and color. I have also learned the true meaning of patience and working with others.
Throughout my two weeks teaching, there were some bumps that we had to overcome. Among them include fellow teachers who are hard to work with, unruly students leading to permanently damaged vocal chords, and more. After seven hours of sweating profusely and pretending to be much more energized than we actually felt each day, we often collapsed in our dormitory rooms and took short naps only to be awoken by our teacher soon afterward to continue working on lesson plans for the next day. This would usually take several hours, and we would work well into the wee hours of the morning.
Two weeks seemed to last forever as each day seemed to drag on and on, but the Friday of the closing ceremony certainly did creep up on us. The last day was a blur of tears and goodbyes. My heart felt heavy as I thought about never seeing many of these sweet faces again. Despite the challenges, I had an amazing group of kids and I know that the two weeks were such a blessing. I will miss everything; from trudging over to our classroom at 8:20 every morning and getting attacked by the biggest, most sincere hugs to lining them up at the end of each day and singing the goodbye song together and waiting with them for their parents to come pick them up.
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Yuan, Jessie (袁潔皙)
Post your reflection after the volunteer services completed.
AID Taiwan. I would have never thought this program would be as memorable as it really did end up being. AID was everything I expected and much more. Over the course of only one month, I’ve made friends for life, learned from talented teachers on how to teach, taught underprivileged students in a rural area, learned from the students themselves, explored beloved Taiwan, and changed for the better. I can’t think of any other opportunity that could offer this life-changing experience. As I’ve always had a passion for serving others in need, being able to volunteer while learning about Taiwan’s people and culture has been so rewarding.
The first week of AID involved learning about different ways of teaching and engaging students. I originally thought that I didn’t need training because teaching seemed so easy when my teachers at school and college taught. However, I soon found out that teaching was not just spouting information but also engaging the students, making sure they understand, interacting with them, and helping them practice using the learned knowledge. After preparing our posters for class with my group mates, I felt finally ready to teach on the second week! The first day of teaching was unexpectedly very tiring and chaotic. Learning from our mistakes, me and my group hurriedly fixed our lesson plans and teaching techniques for the days to come. Thankfully, the rest of the teaching period in the second and third week went by smoothly, and in the end, I had new found appreciation and admiration for my mentors and teachers. Not only were my students learning during these two weeks, I learned as well. I learned patience, hard-working mentality, and perseverance from the kids I’d only known for two weeks yet will stay in my heart forever.
Thank you AID coordinators and administrators for planning this amazing, once-in-a-lifetime event for changing not only the Taiwan students’ lives but also my own. I think this program is unique in its ability to combine volunteering with a learning experience. AID is like a culture exchange. The Taiwanese students learn about American culture while American students learn about Taiwan culture. I am thankful to be able to live out the best of both worlds here.

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Wang, Miranda (王燕蓁)
I was hesitant at first to do this program because I’m a bit shy and this is my last free summer before I have to start doing internships. So I wanted to stay home and hang out with my friends. However, my mother has been telling me to join this program for many years now and my friend also did this program last year and absolutely loved it. So I decided to do it. I’m really glad that I did it because this was my best summer as of yet!

I came about a week before the program started and hung out with other AID people who were already in Taiwan. We went to many places and night markets together and I became close to them. Also, about three days before the program began, there were two huge AID meet ups with about 20 people each time. We had so much together and I got to know more people.

When training week began I found out that every other group had six to eight people but I was in the smallest group, which consisted of only three people including me. I was disappointed because one of the reasons that I wanted to do this program was to meet new people. And during training week when we had to make posters and come up with creative ideas I was a bit disappointed because no one in my group was artistic and we couldn’t come up with as many ideas as other groups. Plus, most schools had two AID members to teach a group of nine kids. But since my group only had three people one person always had to teach one class by herself. But luckily we had two very polite and helpful civil military service people help us out. We grew close to them and had so much fun together.

Teaching week was very challenging because I had no experience in teaching children and my school didn’t allow us to speak in Chinese. So communicating with the students took a long time. But this was also good because eventually the students began to use more and more English with us. Also, our classes were split into lower and upper level. But some of the people in the lower level didn’t even know their ABC’s while some of them could read a bit. So the gap made it hard to teach them and everyday we stayed up late to plan the next day’s lesson. Thankfully, we had a great teacher, Amanda, to help and guide us. She was so nice and took such good care of us. By the second week we were getting the hang of things and the students were becoming close to us. But I want to point out to future AID people that it’s great to grow close to your students but make sure to draw a line somewhere because I found out that as the students grew close to us they would play around with us during class time thinking that it was okay to goof around with us.

Towards the end of the two weeks, I honestly felt sad that I would be leaving the students and that I would soon be leaving my new friends. I wished that I had done AID earlier and this experience has definitely encouraged me to try new things and to hopefully do more programs like AID in the future. This was a great and memorable summer! I want to thank all the sponsors and people that make it possible for people like me to have the opportunity to do AID and for kids in disadvantaged situations to be able to interact with outsiders. And, to thank all the teachers out there for being teachers because being a teacher is definitely not easy and is a lot of work. I hope that we made an impact on the children’s lives even if it’s small. I want them to be able to go out of the mountains one day to travel and learn and bring their newfound knowledge back to their hometown.

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Huang, Alan (黃光宇)
As I arrived at the Chientan Youth Activity Center, I honestly did not know what to expect. I was nervous and extremely excited at the same time. From the countless praises I had heard about the AID Summer program from previous participants, I felt nothing short of exhilaration and honor. However, a week of hard work and communication was to come…
To be completely and utterly honest, the first week at Chientan was a slight struggle for me. During lectures in the infamous Room 318, I felt like our team was one of the more uncreative ones, one of the more “inferior” ones. Being the only 4-person team in Group C definitely hit me harder than it was supposed to. I watched us struggle in being creative when it came to making posters and coming up with song lyrics that the kids could learn. “Oh no… What are we going to do?” I thought to myself, countless times. However, I live up to my long-time motto: You don’t really know what’s going to happen until you experience it. And, that is exactly what happened.
On the flip side, the few hours of downtime we had during non-instructional hours at Chientan were used effectively in making friends, playing so many card games that I can’t even count, doing magic tricks, telling stories, chillin’ on the roof, and just talking about life to random people from all over the states and even the UK to whom I now call my friends. Being able to connect with people in such an interesting way was definitely an experience to remember.
One of my first acquaintances, Kristie Liao, was actually from the room across mine. We first met on orientation day when we helped each other carry our luggage upstairs to our rooms. What started with this simple relationship became so much more as we discovered how much we had in common. Friendships like these last for a lifetime. I felt the lump in my throat and the holding back of tears and the tug at my heart as the last day at Chientan approached as we departed for our separate buses. I am forever grateful for the privilege to be able to make the friendships and unique connections that I made.
Now comes the real deal: arriving at Li Shin Junior High School. As I met Official after Official, Principal after Principal’s friend, I still did not know what I was getting myself into. After dancing Just Dance 4 What Makes You Beautiful for 2 ½ hours, practicing and singing the Anna Kendrick’s Cup Song for 3 days in a row, and preparing an excerpt of a violin piece, I was pretty pumped. But, getting to meet the kids was the best part.
From absolute dead silence and shyness on the first day to energetic attitudes and active participation on the 4th day, it was amazing to see the transformation that the students went through in our presence as they learned English in a fun manner. The major different in the way American students behave in the classroom versus the way Taiwanese students behave was the most interesting part. The way language was spoken, body language, and attitudes were all so different and intriguing in the best way. As they took great interest in American culture and the way my teaching partner and I interacted, it made me feel great inside. I flashed back to my time at Chientan. Why was I so worried about my 4-person group? Is it really quantity? Or quality… As aforementioned, you don’t really know what’s going to happen until you experience it.
If I were to say anything about AID Summer, I would say it is a spectacular, once in a lifetime opportunity to be a teacher and learn not only more about yourself but also more about Taiwanese education and culture while doing good for the community. I cannot wait to see where this program is a few years down the road. I am definitely recommending this to all my high school friends who speak Mandarin. Go AID Summer!
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Zhang, Eileen (張愛琳)
At the beginning of my experience at Rui Fang Junior High School, I was nervous yet excited. It is not only my first time in Taiwan but also my first time living in such a rural area. When I began my first day of teaching, I saw that the children felt similarly. Though shy at first, I witnessed the children begin to slowly open up to me, through the cheers, chants, and interactive lessons. Never had I seen such a desire to learn. The students were fascinated when we taught them about “burritos” or when we broke down the structure of the word “bicycle” to define it. Seeing the lightbulb moment go off in their minds has been the most rewarding instance so far. Though students are not undergoing intense grammar lessons, they are learning about a world bigger than their own. I hope to bring to the students a better understanding of what else there is in the world, be it educational or professional opportunities.
Being a part of Rui Fang Junior High School’s first AID Summer Camp has also been greatly rewarding to me as well. I feel while I am teaching the students about my own culture, that they are teaching me theirs. The teachers, administrative staff, and community here has been so generous and sweet to take us out to see their Taiwan as well. The community has been so accepting and welcoming towards us; I could not have asked for a better school to have been placed at. As our second week comes to a close, I realize how short these two weeks have been. The students have grown right before my eyes. Some of the students willingly have conversations in English with me, which, two weeks ago, I did not think would happen. Though some students are still shy to speak with me, I find that they only need a little push to try. The students are always attentive in class even if quiet. Over the course of two weeks, I have seen the students grow in confidence and interest in culture outside their own.
I am so thankful to have had the opportunity to teach these children and to have experienced these two weeks at Rui Fang Junior High. I honestly could not have asked for a more fulfilling experience. Teaching the children has been rewarding in more ways than one. Their fascination with our culture and desire to learn has been so interesting to experience. As we teach the children English, they simultaneously teach us Chinese. Together, we gain so much from each other. Though the children learn important terms and phrases in class, we also share our culture outside of class in the details such as the music we play between classes and the conversations we have after class.
Not only did the students learn new themes over the course of two weeks, they also developed confidence in their English abilities and had fun along the way. This program has been a win-win experience for all involved including the children and teachers alike. Thank you.
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Sun, Lee-Kai (孫立凱)
The AID Summer 2015 program was an extremely rewarding and life changing experience. I had come to Taiwan multiple times before with family, but teaching native students was completely different than what I had in mind. During the training at Chientan, I was told that I had horrible living conditions. To make things worse, the teacher that supervised our group was traditional and of older age, whereas alll the other groups seemed to have teachers that were young, interactive, and energetic. I pretty much only looked forward to the evenings where I could hang out with roommates and make new friends. As the week of training drew to a close, I dreaded the weeks to come more and more.

I was completely proven wrong. At the HSR station in Hsinchu, one of the best people I've ever met, the assistant principal of Dong Hai Elementary School, Michael. Michael was close to a father figure, he took care of me, gave me advice, and gave me one of the most fun and exciting experiences in my lifetime. He took us around the city, treated us to amazing food, and most importantly, provided us a house with air conditioning.

The kids will be unforgettable to me as well. While we might have had certain communication issues due to language barrier, and conflict due to behavioral issues, these kids make me proud. Their diligence and eagerness to learn really surprised me. I did not expect such attentiveness from kids at that age. I eventually got really close to them, and by the time the closing ceremony was over, everyone was in tears.

Honestly, the AID Summer 2015 program was a lifechanging experience. I have learned so much, not just Chinese, but also survival skills, social skills, cultural differences, and so much more. I hope that this program was as impactful to others as it was to me.
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Lin, Justin (林鈺傑)
Through these two weeks of teaching at Fu An Elementary School, I have learned 3 valuable lessons on where I want to go with my life, and I hope that the people I’ve taught have learned something valuable as well. Lesson one: I am not a teacher. I have not the empathy needed to understand what students need. I lack the stern manner with which discipline is taught. Furthermore, I don’t have the physical endurance and the mental fortitude to maintain the teaching path of the straight and narrow for even two weeks. Lesson two: I will make many mistakes because I am not aware of the contexts surrounding others. I will try to teach English traditionally and fail doing so because I did not know that the student is a visual learner. I will be confronted with a dilemma, and will often choose wrong because I failed to hear a vital message. But I can’t hesitate on my decisions, not because its the right thing to do, but because doing nothing means gaining nothing. I can only prepare myself for the consequences and hope I get a second chance. Lesson three: one chance is all you need to become great. This I know to be true for everyone. Life is hard and teaching is harder, one might be inferior and he will be tired, but there will always be days where chances will show themselves. All one needs is to reach up, take it, and become greatness.
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Jeng, Andrew (鄭安德)
The first week at Ruifang Junior High School has been a very rewarding experience for not only me, but to the students as well. Leaving the bus at ChienTan Youth Activity Center to Ruifang was initially a bit hectic due to the typhoon. After taking a nap on the way to the school, we were welcomed by many people despite the gloomy weather conditions. We were then led to the second floor, where we had a delicious pizza lunch and received a goody bag containing many useful things. The principal then gave us a quick tour of the school and we proceeded to our dorms. That evening, we went to a restaurant where I talked with the leading community members about what life in Ruifang was like and what our vision was for the kids.
On the first day of teaching, I was unsure of what to expect from the kids. I was worried that teaching them may be a struggle if there was going to be a language barrier or if they were going to be shy. Regardless, I gave them all a handshake as they walked in and told them "Good Morning." They were all a bit shy and after introducing ourselves, they started to talk amongst themselves. By the end of the day, they were all smiling and each gave me a high-five as they walked out. The next four days were better than the last, as each student became more and more responsive. At every break and lunch, the students would eagerly come to me to talk to me about their lives and teach me some Taiwanese. Teaching the ninth graders has been an easy job as they are well-behaved and eager to learn.
We went surfing on Saturday and although I didn’t enter the water that much, it was still a very fun day. Being in the sand and in the ocean was a fun. On Sunday, we went to Pingxi to release sky lanterns and it was truly a sight to behold watching all the other sky lanterns fill the sky. We later went to the Shifen waterfall and as the principal said, “It’s a mini Niagara falls.”
On Monday, teaching the science topics was the highlight. By showing them videos and the coke with Mentos experiment, they were fully engaged. They were also interested in learning the nervous system when shown the different optical illusions. Tuesday was a fun experience as we went to the gold museum, visiting the cat village, and hiking back to school. Learning the history and seeing the experience of the region was an eye-opening experience. On Wednesday we went to another high school to play paintball survivor. It was the first time for me playing paintball and it was a fun experience. Touring the school’s library and seeing the pizza oven was also an interesting experience.
On Thursday, we stayed in school to practice for Friday’s performance and the students did an excellent job learning the dance routines and making very colorful posters. They were also given time to write letters to us teachers. Upon reading them, I realized that their English have improved these past two weeks and they wrote many meaningful things. Friday was a bit hard on me as I realized that may be the last time I’ll ever meet them. Regardless, I felt the closing ceremony wrapped everything nicely. Each day spent here was very enjoyable and I made many memories that would last a lifetime.



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