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Chen, Lynn-Chian (陳琳谦)
AID Summer 2015 was, undoubtedly, the shortest four weeks of my life. I had previously heard and seen a few of my friends partake in this program through word of mouth and Instagram pictures, and of course, they had nothing but praise for it. During my first year of college, I began to want to reconnect to my Taiwanese culture, and so jumped at the opportunity to teach with AID Summer. I loved kids, loved culture, and loved Taiwan – I couldn’t see anything that I’d rather do more.
It was nerve-wracking, at first. Naturally uneasy when it comes to meeting new people, I was hesitant upon arrival. I found this feeling completely ungrounded, however, after meeting my roommates and teaching group; strangely, I don’t recall ever being strangers with them. Our group, A1-3, became especially close to the rest of A1, and A1-2 in particular. In regards to the lectures, the information was useful and my group ended up integrating a lot of the strategies and ideas into our own lesson plans.
Our welcome at He-Ping Elementary was as warm as it could have been, and this warmth lasted for the duration of the two weeks. We were being treated to delicious food even before we began teaching, and a lot of the students’ parents prepared unbelievably generous amounts of food for us. At the start of the first Monday, I realized that a lot goes into teaching. Our class was made up of a majority of 5th and 6th graders, with the occasional 3rd grader, and a particularly talented 2nd grader who easily won our hearts from the very first day. Since our kids had a better knowledge of English than the younger classes, they were expectant, impatient, and not easily impressed. A lot of the times, we would stay up until 1 or 2 in the morning preparing, knowing that we had to wake up at 7 the next day. I taught while sick, with a sore throat, and often running on 4-5 hours of sleep because I knew that they were dependent on us to teach.
Teaching the older class also gave us more room to cultivate friendships. Our kids were a lot more composed compared to the younger students, could be civil in their interactions with us, and held a lot more meaningful conversation. After just a few days of teaching, some of the shyest kids began to open up to us, asking about our day and our love lives, the things we like to do, and sometimes sitting and listening to me play the ukulele. I play computer games in my spare time at home, and some of the boys in my class played Minecraft, which I played, as well; I taught a lesson on Nature using Minecraft as a teaching aid, just to cater to this group of boys.
The latter few days of teaching were some of the best. During the closing ceremony, the tears began while I was reading my speech, and they didn’t stop until after the ceremony was over. Even some of the most unruly students in our class cried. At the end, all of the kids added me and my partner on Facebook and Line, and we have been keeping in touch ever since.
Being able to teach this group of students has fostered in me a drive to learn Chinese, a know-how for teaching, and an even stronger affinity for children. We slept on straw mats, showered with buckets, and found Australia-worthy bugs everywhere, but if I had a choice, I would stay there with the kids, the servicemen who took care of us, and the company of my group. Loving and leaving so many people in such a short amount of time is painful; I don’t exaggerate when I say I’ve cried a total of about 5 hours at the conclusion of the two teaching weeks. In the end, I know that I’ll be able to continue to follow the students and servicemen through life via Facebook, and I hope that one day, I’ll see them again by a means more organized than coincidence and an end more loving than duty. These people will always have a piece of my heart, and I wouldn’t trade my AID Summer 2015 experience for the world.
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Chou, Zachariah (周書涵)
Everyone has a different perspective-changing experience. For me, these four weeks have been a humbling reminder of privilege, an insight into education from the perspective of a teacher, and a chance to connect to my heritage.
There’s many definitions of privilege. My favorite is that “privilege is something that benefits you without you having to think about it.” For me, this trip was a reminder about my privilege. Being born in America, speaking English, having glasses, or even being able to keep the air conditioning on all the time are all different sorts of privilege. It is only when we leave our comfort zone, that we realize how blessed we are. It was good then to see so many advantaged youth coming together to use their privilege to assist disadvantaged schools and students. I think there should be a sort of equilibrium in how we deal with privilege. Because others have worked to make us who we are, we should work to use who we are to help others. The many cold showers and the nights sleeping on the floor humbled us and exposed us to our privilege. It is only when we recognize privilege that we can truly show humility, understanding, and loving-kindness to our fellow human being.
Another perspective-changing aspect of the program was teaching. To me, this was the closest I’ve gotten to the childhood of my parents, except that I was the teacher. Was I teaching kids that would go on to college and then grad school in the US? Perhaps so. Would these children go on to have their own children in the United States that would come back one day to teach English in Taiwan? I hope so. There were moments where I felt as if I had the future of Taiwan in my classroom. I often wondered what these children would grow up to become. Of course, there were also moments where my kids, entering 1st and 2nd grade, drove me crazy, but I guess that’s just part of the job. There were also my interactions with the student’s parents. Positive or negative, these interactions gave me more insight to how much my own parents likely cared for me though, as a child, I was probably woefully unaware.
As a teacher, I got a first person view into what the achievement gap looks like after our pre-tests. There were those in my class who were able to attend bilingual school and those who had no English education at all. Teaching my students regardless of these differences was a challenge, but that’s why we were there. In the closing ceremony video, I remember recording a sound bite saying that we were there to teach that English was fun, exciting, and accessible to everyone.
As a teacher, I also worried about the students I suspected had learning or mental disabilities. Would they ever be diagnosed? Kid in my class that once told me that she couldn’t see what I was teaching? Did she need glasses? Would she ever get glasses? I thought of my third grade self, getting my eyes tested at the behest of my teacher who suspected that I was having trouble in the classroom because I couldn’t see. My time teaching also reminded me of how teachers can be the canary in the bird cage or bellwether to the mental and physical health of a child. I’ve got to say, after all of this, I both empathize with and respect my own teachers, past and present, a lot more.
My genes say “Taiwanese,” but my passport says “American.” Two years ago, if you had asked me of my ethnicity, I would have definitively replied “American.” Today, after two consecutive annual trips to Taiwan, I am unequivocally “Taiwanese-American.” Culturally, this trip has meant a lot of to me. There’s the whole banana-Twinkie comparison that my parents and I, among others, like to use; yellow on the outside, white on the inside. But after the training, the teaching, and the tour, I don’t think that’s the case anymore. For example, there were many instances at the dinner table where I had to eat foods that I wouldn’t have normally dared to eat. Enthusiastic hosts and even my school’s principal piled stinky tofu, bamboo shoots, and sea snails onto my plate. Upon being informed of all my [slightly obligated out of respect] exploits, my dad replied in an email “Wow! You truly are Taiwanese.” I don’t regret a single instance in which someone else put something on my plate for me to eat or dragged me off to experience some activity I wasn’t willing to do.
After every perspective-changing trip, I’m always curious to what the takeaway is. How differently will we act when we return to our perpetually air conditioned rooms and lofty lives? I doubt that the change within myself will be manifested physically; I don’t think I’ll be recycling any more that I already have been back in the States. Nor am I particularly inclined to somehow make it possible for me to shut off the air conditioning when I leave my room. But, I know that my time here in Taiwan has changed me as a person. Who I am and how I view myself has forever been changed by my time during AID Summer 2015.
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Lin, Tiffany (林翰婷)
When my mother called and asked if I was interested in applying to a program to teach English to children in Taiwan, I was beyond excited. I looked up the program, loved it, and told all my friends about it. I started working on my application immediately and applied the first day the application opened. I checked the AID website obsessively until I finally read the acceptance letter. This is my first time in Taiwan since the age of two.
The first week of training was very rigorous, reminding me of all the lectures I’ve received from my parents about Taiwanese education. Yeah, sure, they had an entire day of school and stayed up until odd hours to study. Now I finally believe them. If this program happened in America, there is no way high school and college aged students would willingly sit through a full day of lectures with no breaks and no WiFi. My seating posture was corrected twice in less than 10 minutes, and that’s when I really realized how strict the education in Taiwan is. I looked forward to get it over with and start teaching.
The two teaching weeks passed in a blur. My group taught at He Ping Elementary in Shih Ding of New Taipei. I taught the beginner class which consisted of 6-9 year olds. We started with the alphabet and taught numbers, colors, animals, and other fun subjects. Although many kids were rowdy, we found alternative ways to channel their energy. One of the best methods of having a well-behaved class is to target the annoying ones. If a student isn’t paying attention in class, I would call him or her up to help me teach a lesson. This way, I have them feeling special, engaged in the curriculum, and not distracting other students. Another fun thing I tried was to have the kids who loved to play rough with each other to give me back massages… They loved hitting me, they weren’t hurting other children, and it felt really good.
I grew close with my students, and they would always draw me things or make me origami gifts during craft or break time. Others would bring me candy or hugs. Then there were the ones who would tickle me relentlessly and call me names, but that’s how we bonded so of course I tickled them back. We had a “Tiffany Teacher Can’t Catch Me” game of tag that the boys loved to play, we rewarded good behavior like eating eggplant with M&Ms, and we always translated things into English that regular English teachers may never teach them. If “bathroom” is too hard to say, going to America and saying “I have to pee/poop” is a lot better than not finding the restroom. I’d like to think I taught my students some important life words that don’t necessarily fit into a regular school’s curriculum. They could ask me anything about English or America and I would never send them away with “We aren’t going to learn that.”
The last day of school was bittersweet. During the closing ceremony, our principal presented a speech in English and I could not stop crying. I was so touched by his effort and how nervous he may have been to speak entirely in English. When it was my turn to present my speech in Chinese, I stood on stage and cried even harder. I looked at all my students and told them how amazing the past two weeks were, and I swear I even made the most obnoxious kids cry with me. My two favorites cried the entire day. Although I practically hated them for two weeks and they’ve even made me cry during teaching, I still love every one of them.
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Ng, Eric (吳逸聰)
This summer through the AID program I was finally able to visit the beautiful country of Taiwan. AID gave me the opportunity to learn and grow as an individual as well as make a difference in young lives. English is a language of opportunity that broadens horizons, and to be able to share the English language with young Taiwanese children only gives me a feeling of warmth satisfaction.
Spending my first summer in Taiwan teaching English was an amazing experience. Before arriving to He-Ping Elementary, I was extremely nervous about the school as I was told the schools were rural and disadvantaged. I worried about trivial things like whether there would be seated toilets or whether or not there would be air conditioning. But upon my arrival to He-Ping my worries easily faded. The school greeted us with warmth and hospitality and I was relieved to find out there was A/C and seated toilets. Our military servicemen, Roy and Jimmy, were the kindest they could be and helped us prepare for what was to come.
The first week of teaching was a dive into uncharted waters. For once in my life I was actually going to be the teacher rather than the student and that was surely an experience to behold. Teaching on the first day went smooth as we simply did our opening ceremony of songs and dances as well as a mandatory pre-test to analyze our student's abilities. The next few days were a little more wild. My partner and I was given the intermediate level class and the class was more than just a little rowdy. A large majority of the boys were in a rebellious stage where they enjoyed punching and screaming at each other as well as climbing tables and banging on drums. The majority of the girls were well behaved aside from a few who talked and drew a lot during class time. In the first week we had taught a wide variety of subjects such as colors, shapes, and holidays. While the kids were extremely rambunctious some of the students were surprisingly fast learners and very smart.
The second week was more tame as the relationship we built in the first week proved to be beneficial. In the second week we had more students participating and they seemed to be genuinely having a good time. In the second week we learned subjects from animals to food and we also practiced a lot for our closing ceremony. The closing ceremony for our class was a dance to the song "What makes you beautiful" and the students absolutely adored it. On the last day of teaching my whole group cried. The bond we had built with school and it's student proved to be strong and leaving the school seemed to take a piece of me away.
While the training week wasn't as exciting as the rest of the program, AID summer was ultimately my best experience yet. The connection I created with my students and the staff truly surprised me. Never before had I thought that I would cry over people I had only known for two weeks but AID proved me wrong. I miss my students, teacher assistants, school staff, and especially the military servicemen, Roy and Jimmy, who made us feel the most comfortable at He-Ping Elementary.
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Shan, Grace (單詠)
At first, I was nervous and sorry because I was late due to my flight. However, my group members and teacher were extremely friendly and made me feel welcomed nonetheless.
Although the first week of training was really tiring, I enjoyed being able to bond more with my group members by playing games and making posters. The first day of teaching was very intimidating to me because I am quite shy and was sick. However, the kids' enthusiasm for learning allowed me to break out of my shell and be more enthusiastic as a teacher.
On the last day of class, during the closing ceremony, a lot of us and a lot of students were crying because we didn't want to say goodbye to each other. The next morning, a whole crowd of them came out to send us off. We cried together for about 3 hours. Even after we left, our entire group still video chats with our students. The bonds that we made with our students through teaching, playing, singing, and dancing are so strong and we all miss them so much.
The bond between the rest of my group members and I is very strong, too. I am sure the seven of us will keep in touch after crying together as we leave on Saturday.
AID has given me an amazing four weeks that I was able to spend not only teaching but also learning. The friendships that were made with the students and group members will be cherished even as the program comes to a close.
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Fang, Sarah (方迪)
My time in AID Summer has been equal parts frustrating and wonderful and I wouldn’t have had it any other way. The sheer volume of people that are willing to sacrifice their time and energy to help us young students succeed is unbelievable and overwhelming. Honestly, the first week isn’t the most interesting week, nor is the tour week the most fun I’ve ever had. When all the groups are together, there’s honestly just too many people. It takes a lot of time to get through anything. Presentations take a long time and getting all the volunteers in the same place at the same time can be a chore. We learned some games and tactics that really came in handy during the teaching week. It was a good way for groups to start working together. The tour brought us to some unique places that I know I would’ve had little opportunity to visit were it not for OCAC. We got to see some really beautiful views and visit some really interesting places. None of this compares however to the experience of teaching in the two weeks in between.
There weren’t many days I felt totally prepared to teach, even less days that I woke up feeling rested but even so, I wouldn’t trade it for anything. Having some of the most playful kids in the school in our class was certainly a challenge. They didn’t always want to listen, they knew more than they often led onto and sometimes, they just really didn’t want to stay still. It was a constant struggle to constantly come up with new games that could both keep them interested and make sure they were learning. We didn’t always accomplish the second. Even so, as I got to know the students and see them try earnestly even when they didn’t totally understand, I truly enjoyed teaching these kids. It seems like such a cliché to say, but despite the long hours we spent agonizing over lesson plans, doubtful the students would be interested, when the students worked on the activities and laughed and played along with us, it really did make it all seem worth it. I don’t think I could’ve picked a better teacher to have been helped along by. Teacher Wang was always so supportive of us, my group members and myself included. He was generous with his good advice and patient with how new we were to teaching. He generously gave his time and energy and I could not be more grateful to him. The two weeks spent in Nanhua allowed me to really bond with my teaching group. I was fearful at first that I would not get to know them well, but the time that I’ve had to spend with my teaching group has been some of the greatest times. I really don’t think that I’ve ever laughed more than I have in the past couple weeks. I was so sad to leave the students, Nanhua Junior High School, Teacher Wang and the beautiful mountains that surrounded us. Nanhua District gifted me with more joy than I could’ve ever have imagined. Those are two weeks that will be held in my heart for a long time. I came into AID Summer with lots of ideas of what I thought might happen or how I wanted things to turn out. I can’t say that much of it was correct or true. It wasn’t always perfect, or even great, all of the time. It was more work than I anticipated and sometimes, less organized than I might’ve wished for, but in all honestly, experiences that I’ve had here and the people I’ve met cannot ever be replaced. With all the mishaps, even so, I am grateful for the summer that I’ve had here at AID Summer.
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