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Lin , Darren (林李童)
The past month spent in Taiwan for the AID program changed my life. Since this was the first time I visited Taiwan it really allowed me to have a great first impression on Taiwan. I really enjoy the people and atmosphere around Taiwan. One of the best memories I will ever have is being able to meet and bond with a lot of new people. The people I taught with really made the program unforgettable and special. In addition the enthusiastic attitudes of the kids I taught made me feel that I was making a real impact on their lives too.
The first week at Chientan was very fun, everyone was very eager and easy to get along with. I met a lot of cool people and made some friends that I will never forget. The hard part was preparing for the teaching that was to come, it was a lot of hard work and required a lot of effort. The classes that taught you how to teach were also very tedious and not very entertaining. However, the energetic atmosphere at Chientan helped make my experience at the youth center enjoyable. One of my fondest moments were teaching my kids that I was assigned too.
The energy and drive of my class who wanted to learn English left me dumbfounded. The kids truly made the 2 weeks in Yunlin memorable and exciting.Even though teaching was hard and tiring the attitudes of the kids made me finish out strong. During the 2 weeks I made inseparable bonds with my class.Also I want to thank my teacher Sally Lu who was responsible for organizing us and was responsible for the successful two weeks of teaching at DongXing elementary school in Yun Lin. I was also surprised by how kind the people who hosted me and my group at Yunlin.
I am also very grateful that I was able to attend the tour at the end of the teaching weeks. Since I had no prior traveling experience in Taiwan I was very eager and happy that I would be able to learn more about Taiwan and what it is all about. On the first day of tour we visited the Buddha temple, however due to time restraints we were not able to attend the highest point at the Buddha temple which made me very sad. In addition during the tour we made paper fans, i was very surprised to see how hard it is to make paper and how tiring the job actually is. I am grateful to be able to make a fan out of paper that was hand made and not machine made. We also visited an aquarium where we saw penguins, sharks, and various other species of fish. The most enjoyable moment on tour was visiting Tapei 101 because I really enjoy shopping. All in all it was a very enjoyable experience to be able to go on tour, however, the time restraints given on the tour made the tour experience not as enjoyable as it could've been.
I am very grateful that I was given the chance to be part of the AID summer program.
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Chou, Caroline (周珏筠)
Honestly, I came to this program not excited and expecting anything at all. I wasn't too excited to teach kids, I wasn't too excited to spend a whole month away from my family and friends either. I most definitely wasn't excited to live in a rural area. But then I came to Taiwan and met everyone. I remember that on the first night, I called my parents, who were also on vacation in Taiwan, saying that I really didn't want to be here because I really wasn't used to the living and eating conditions. I remember my voice breaking on the first night, telling my parents that I wanted to leave after the two weeks of teaching and not going on the tour. I didn't feel like I made a difference, had any impact, or was important because there were so many of us, 426 people, that were so similar in background, looks, etc.
Before this program, I didn't really even like children because I couldn't relate to them. I volunteer at a program called Reading Partners. I teach a 5th grade student one on one, once a week for an hour. Though I've been teaching the same student for a year, I never really connected with her.
I would have never imagined to love this experience as much as I do now. The idea of leaving my family and friends for the first time, scared me to death. Being an only child and the youngest of my friends, I've always been protected by others, but that wasn't the case coming to a program with more than four hundred new people.
Then we went to the school in Yunlin, Dong Xing Elementary School. Prior to teaching, we had to make a teaching plan of what to teach the students. Writing the weekly plan was so difficult and allowed me to realize how hard it is to think of how to teach the students and how long it would take. I've earned so much respect for my teachers who give lectures and spend hours at night preparing for class the next day. When we arrived at Yunlin, we stayed at the principal's house and there were 12 people living together. It was so difficult because I am an only child and I wasn't used to sharing everything with 10 other people, but I got used to it! I learned so much about being independent and having faith in myself to be able to get through any situation. I learned a lot about making the best out of every situation as well.
When we started to teach the kids, my partner, Darren, and I, found out that we were teaching 3rd through 5th grade students. Despite having the students with the highest level of english, t was really difficult because a lot of the elementary school students were very shy because their english wasn't very good. We had a pre-test for the students to assess their english ability. Because the students weren't really comfortable with us yet, they were very shy and wouldn't speak up. Throughout the 2 weeks, though, we taught the same kids from 9-3:30 everyday and we easily became a lot comfortable with each other. My favorite student, "handsome" Leo, so he calls himself, started to call me "Caramel" because the students couldn't pronounce my name, Caroline, at first. It was really funny for the kids to give me this nickname because our topic for the 2 weeks was food.
I was so surprised at how smart and hardworking these students were. They are all such bright, hilarious, and talented students. Each student was had their own abilities, talents, hobbies, etc., and it was eye opening to learn about each and every one of them. I watched these kids become more and more confident in their english ability and social ability as well and it warmed my heart and made me incredibly happy inside. The day that we had our closing ceremony, I was the first one to start balling. I am not the type of person who cries easily, but I started crying tears of joy because I was so proud of everything that they've accomplished in the two weeks. Then, I started to cry tears of sadness because I knew that we had to part ways. Handsome Leo even made me a handmade bracelet that I wear everyday. I never imagined to become so attached to my students and my teaching group. There are so many memories and inside jokes that we all have with each other that I will never forget. I have grown so close to my partners, learning each other's stories, likes and dislikes, quirks, and lifestyle. They are my family. Especially during tour week, when our group of friends could live together, eat together, shop together, have fun together, we grew even closer. The amount of memories, happy moments, sad moments, hard moments, late nights, and early moments and we've endured together has made us closer than ever. Like I said before, they
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Cheah, Juliette (謝寶恩)
Applying for AID summer program was one of the best experiences in my life. I met so many wonderful and intelligent people, and I will truly miss them and the experiences we made together. I'll be honest in saying that the first week at Chientan is not very eventful as it is full of lectures, and it kind of sucks when your group never gets called on to answer questions, even though we tried very hard to participate. But that doesn't matter because the knowledge you take from those lectures is much more important and useful. The best part at Chientan was when they gave us breaks where we could bond with our groups. I must say that I believe AID paired up my group very well, and over these four weeks we have grown very close together.
On the day everyone was supposed to go to their schools, a typhoon hit Taiwan. A lot of the groups could not leave for their schools because it was too dangerous. My school, 有木國小, is located in the mountains, so I thought that we would be one of the groups staying at Chientan. However, we were allowed to go, and the ride there was both thrilling yet terrifying as our driver was driving as fast as he could on a slippery, windy, mountain road. It felt like we could fall off at any moment. But we survived, and we got to see some pretty waterfalls along the side of the road.
有木國小 is a beautiful place, but there is a catch--it is full of cockroaches and spiders bigger than your hand. Eventually we learned to get used to them, but it was quite frightening at first. Now we just laugh about them. Sleeping on the floor with just a sleeping bag was hard to get used to at first but then later on became natural; it felt uncomfortable when I tried to sleep on a pillow again. We were very lucky to have AC or else I don't know what I would've done.
Teaching the students proved to be challenging as my partner, Kevin, and I choose to teach the first graders. Most of them knew absoultely no English, so it was hard for them to absorb the information. Also, they were loud and hard to control. But they were a bunch of very cute kids that can warm your heart at any second. One day, one of the girls started tickling me and then it turned into a tickling war where all the kids started tickling me every day until we left. I will miss those times. After the two weeks, I could tell that their English abilities had improved, even if it was by the slightest amount. The last day with them was heartbreaking, and we all cried as we waved goodbye to them as they rode the buses home. I wish that I could keep in contact with them, but they are too young to have any type of social media.
The people I met at this school were all so nice to us. They played games with us, bought snacks for us, and essentially let us do whatever we wanted. Also they found out it was my birthday, so they went out and bought a cake for me. I was so moved by them because I takes at least 30 minutes to go down the mountain to find any type of food store. I am so grateful to them for what they did for us, and I will treasure their kindness forever.
My group was the best. Every day after teaching, we would all hang out together playing games, going biking, and doing other stuff together. We shared so much laughter and tears together, and going home without will feel wierd. I won't be able to see or talk to them every day. There will be no more group high fives and group sayings. Thinking about it right now is making me tear up. There will be an empty hole in my stomach as I say goodbye to all of them on Saturday. They made my experience even more pleasure, and I will never forget them.
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Tsai, Leslie (蔡詩敏)
I was really nervous when I first got to Chientan, but all the friendly volunteers and counsellors that I met the first few days quickly dispelled my fears. The first week was workshops and lesson planning, where we learned many games and teaching tips that helped us during actual teaching. Our group was picked to do our teaching demo in front of all the groups, which was scary, pushed me out of my comfort zone but was a great experience.
Once we arrived at Nanhe Junior High School, I didn't know what to expect. It took me a while to acclimate to the rural environment and all the bugs and critters that came with it. Raid and washbasins became our weapons of choice for killing cockroaches, and we made friends with Freddie the lizard that lived in our dorm room. There was nowhere to go around our school, so I got to know my group members really well when we stayed in the library playing card games, lesson planning, or dancing together until late at night, even though we all got sick. I really liked the atmosphere there; it was quite peaceful and serene.
As for teaching, we gave our students a pretest on the first day. After the students were split into classes based on English proficiency level, we realized we had to teach our group from scratch, starting with the ABC’s. My class was the group of students who had the lowest proficiency on the pretest, and we had difficulty with communication at first because they barely understood any English, and they were quiet and shy. However, as the two weeks went by, the kids started to open up and each class day became more lively and entertaining. I loved getting to know my students and their interests during the short time we had. The kids started becoming more comfortable with English by the second week and were more willing to participate in our activities. My favorite memory was playing dodgeball with them. They all loved dodgeball and would beg to play every day, and were so good at it I was scared to play with them. The two weeks flew by, and at the closing ceremony, there was a slideshow with pictures of us over the past few weeks that made us all tear up. None of us wanted to leave. On tour, I made many new friends and had fun winning 2nd place at the talent show (Bus 4 Fourte!). As the last week wraps up, I’ve realized this program has given me a different perspective on Taiwan, the culture, and the people.
Every day of teaching at Nanhe, the teachers took turns presenting a simple English phrase for the students to learn. My phrase was, “learning never ends.” Even though I took on the role of teacher for two weeks, I’ve learned so much and grown more than I ever thought possible. Much thanks to our teacher Betty for being a great mentor, Chenny for going above and beyond her role as our group counselor to help us with whatever we needed, our Bus 4 counsellors Teresa, Carol, Echo, and Mavis, and my group C 2-3 for making this summer one of the best experiences of my life.
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Tang, Belinda (唐宙欣)
Being part of AID was truly an honor. I came into this program not knowing how to teach little kids. For me, elementary school days seemed like such a distant memory, and I knew connecting with the children and finding topics to talk about would be a struggle from the beginning. However, through the one week training on how to develop lesson plans, teach children, manage the classroom, and lead children in games and sports I really grew a lot and developed many skills I never would have gained if I had not joined this program. In addition, the guidance I received from my training teacher, Augusta, helped greatly when it came to getting the class involved in activities and games. I definitely learned from Augusta the key pieces needed to develop interactive lesson plans, such as acting out Aesop fables and making worksheets for the students. Because od the wonderful guidance I received, I was able to let the children really enjoy the stories and learned valuable life lessons from simple tales.
At first, teaching the kids was not an easy task. The second day in, I almost lost my voice from trying to speak over the students. Having 2 teachers for 29 students was definitely harder than I thought. Discipline and classroom management was something I struggled with, especially when it came to yelling at the children. There were a few issues when it came to cheating and playing by the rules. However, my partner and I were able to overcome this by being consistent with our punishment every time. The children eventually learned not to cheat, which is something they can hold onto for a life time.
Despite the difficulties, teaching the kids really made me happy. I enjoyed every moment I had with them. Whether it was me and my partner teaching the class a new story or lunch time when I was able to interact with them one-on-one. In addition, the kids eventually warmed up to me and we found similar interests such as me teaching the kids how to braid hair. From these interactions, I realized that Taiwanese students have a drive to them that others do not have. They are always so respectful towards their teachers and are always willing to learn. Although they come from an area that lacks resources, all of them utilize all of their opportunities to the maximum. To me, this type of attitude is what will get people the furthest, and I definitely see each and every one of the kids going far in the future.
This experience was amazing. I could not have asked for a better summer. This incredible journey could not have been possible without Aid. Also, special thanks to the staff at Wen Chang Guo Xiao and the home stay families for taking in 8 messy teenagers. Thanks to Augusta for being a great instructor. Lastly, thanks to everyone who I have met on this trip. I will never forget this experience of a life time.
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Yang, Kevin (楊敏琪)
The moment I found out that I had been accepted into AID I was simply put - ecstatic. I hadn't been to Taiwan in ten years and much less for something I loved which was teaching. What was even better was that it matched perfectly with my schedule as it came literally the day after I finished my orchestra. So as summer arrived and I left for Spain - all I could think about was being able to finally go to Taiwan...and a girl. After Spain I had a couple of hours in America for July 4th and I spent it with her and basically to be honest once I got on the flight to Taiwan, I wish I hadn't gotten in as I would have to spend a month away from her. Fast forward to Chientan where I met my teaching group - the first thing I thought about them was, "Wow they're friendly." I hadn't been participating in the group chat so I wasn't exactly sure what they were like. Immediately I was able to strike up conversations about music and orchestra with a couple of them which was great and showed how well each of the groups were put together. We had two college students who both collaborated with us and acted sort of like mentors.
About the training - I thought the long pants rule was a little unreasonable since I had never experienced the heat and humidity before. Besides this, I thought the teachings were informational however the way they taught could have been better. Besides this the facilities and food were all acceptable.
We left for Youmu elementary during the typhoon and on the way we met the guards of the school. The guys were situated in the school library and we had so much free time that our group bonded with each other very well: while other groups would splinter apart we've always stuck together.
Fast forward to Monday - At the start of teaching, I was pretty set on being that one "nice teacher" that the kids all love and I hoped to be able to teach with that mindset. This lasted for about two days. The first thing about these kids is that they have an unlimited amount of energy - I would go out to play with them or carry them on my backs and they would always come back for more. As for teaching itself, the first few days worked pretty well - the kids seemed to be learning what we were teaching them and they all knew the basic ABCs. What I didn't expect was that they knew more of speaking and listening than reading or writing. Also they didn't seem to retain the information (this was the hardest part). I've forgotten that kids really just want to have fun so I blended some of the vocab with their games (hangman, big wind blows, flyswatter, bingo, etc). This seemed to work better as students could give me words however they still had issues with sounding out words and essentially reading. The kids first started acting out a few days in as they wouldn't listen to the lesson or they wouldn't pay attention. This is when I changed from the "nice teacher" to being more strict - instead of letting them goof off I would focus on those students who weren't paying attention and make them answer the question. I would have them try to sound out the words seeing as they knew phonics. However for the most part the students still had a hard time putting together the sounds. It was nice to see that a few students actually learned how to put the sounds together and read - as long as they proved that they knew the material they could work on their own thing. For the others I was more strict and made sure they paid attention.
The last few days were the hardest as I would ask what words they had learned from the other days and only a few students were able to respond with all of them. (Which is pretty impressive considering I gave them almost thirty new words). I'm still glad to know that everyone still learned at least something during their time at Youmu.
Saying goodbye to the kids and faculty was one of the harder parts of the trip - we had gotten along so well and spent so much time together that honestly felt a little empty that they left. What was worse was that one of our teaching group also left us that day.
As for tour, I thought that the bus leaders were all very friendly and the tour was overall a great learning experience. As I sit on the bed writing this, I wonder how I'll be able to leave this all behind. I think the greatest lesson that I've learned from this camp is humility: I'm surrounded 24/7 by amazing people both from America/Canada and from Taiwan. It gives me new goals to achieve and also reminds me of how fortunate I am. For this I thank you.
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Hsu, Claire (徐滋蔓)
Coming to AID Summer, I expected to be in a place where I would be giving more than getting. Yet, completing these two weeks, I can only hope that the skills I have given the students match the experience Wu Feng has given me.
Wu Feng has given me the opportunity to experience the struggles and joys of teaching a class of students. Never having taught such a large and young group of students before, I realized the amount of energy and preparation is required to keep the youthful scholars engaged and focused. Despite feeling drained each day, I realized that one person’s hard work can affect the impressions of many others on learning a new language.
This adventure has also shown me the immense hospitality that people are willing to show. The people in Chang Hua look up to us as people with big hearts that are willing to travel far to share our knowledge of the English language. However, I feel that the villagers there have the biggest and purest hearts. It has touched me to see that they are willing to provide us with gifts that they are unable to purchase for themselves.
Traveling has always been a passion of mine and I believe that by immersing yourself in different cultures is a step closer to trusting yourself to make right and just decisions. AID Summer has helped me open my eyes a little wider and helped me get closer to achieving this goal. I want to thank my teammates, my counselors, my host family, and my students for helping make this summer break valuable and unforgettable.
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Chuang , Jason (莊孟儒)
The best summer ever.
This program, Jason learned that he was something special. A hybrid individual capable of creating compatibility between his fluent, if somewhat broken, Chinese skills and his fluent, if artificial, English skills. Jason wore a bright smile for the entire trip, even in his sleep. He found that with minimal effort, he could connect with his students, his counselors, and his peers. Having made many friends, Jason believes that there is nothing more he could want from this trip, and that the most important part of being an AID volunteer is helping the children, and learning life lessons from those who at face value might seem less-well-off, but in reality are rich with the wisdom found only through friendship.
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Yu, Jason (游捷昇)
I am very thankful for the opportunity to participate in the AID overseas Taiwan volunteer program. Throughout these 4 weeks, I have met many new friends and learned many new things. When I first arrived to ChienTan, I was really nervous. I knew that I would be leaving my family for a whole month and be living independently. I had daydreamed and thought about what this journey would be like, but it has been many surprises ever since. Reflecting back on what I experienced these 4 weeks, I realized that the new friends I met (not only the ones in the program but also the ones I met in Taiwan teaching), have changed the way I am now. I realized that in just these 4 short weeks, I have really grew as a person and matured a lot. Living and working in this environment with many other people near my age was a great experience. I met many new friends from this program, especially my group members which became my close friends. This program gave me lots of opportunities to meet new people. Like the bus groups on the tour and the group activities at ChienTan. I really cherish all of what I had experienced. Also, I will always remember my YunLin teacher, Sally. She is a great lady who showed us how much she cared for us. She supported us throughout the 2 weeks of teaching even through the times where we struggled with controlling our students. She would always support us and in the end we figured it out. She trusted us and we were able to succeed.
I also will remember my teacher partner, Alison. At first she was really shy and I did not know what to think about her. But throughout the weeks, we really bonded as teaching partners and I think we work really well together. She will always be a good friend of mine and I will always remember working with her.
I want to thank the counselors from ChienTan who took care of us and prepared us for the 2 weeks of teaching. The counselors were really supportive and helpful. Like when our group got to go to Shilin Night market early because we participated well and earned the most points on the first day, our counselor was really helpful in showing us where to go. I also want to thank the teacher and principle of Dongxing Elementary school who sacrificed their time to take care of us and help us throughout these 2 weeks.
Lastly, I want to thank my students who not only brought me large amounts of joy, but also taught me so much about Taiwan. I remember at first I was nervous to meet my kids, but when it was time to say goodbye, I had to will myself to hold back my tears. Seeing all my kids crying and begging me to stay during the closing ceremony really broke my heart. I wish I could have told them that I can stay another week. I really miss my kids and I hope they will remember what I taught them forever. I hope I am able to motivate them to keep on learning English. I will forever remember this trip and I want to thank AID and my parents for giving me this opportunity to learn so many new things.
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Chen, Sophie (陳琬元)
For me, the first day was a rough start. Even though I was there when the students were taking the pre-test, I felt sick so I left halfway. Therefore, the next day I had to reintroduce myself and learn the names of the students. It was a different experience compared to my previous ones but it did not change much to the later experience.
At first, the students of my class were really quiet and it was difficult to motivate them to answer questions and participate during class. I think the reason behind this was the fact that we were still strangers to the students and they weren't as comfortable learning from new teachers especially about the topic they are most uncomfortable about: English. However, after a couple days of them getting to know us and vice versa, the students started to open up. It was not long before we had the problem of the students being too loud.
Many times we had to quiet down the students by having them finish a rhythm that we sang to. If they still did not quiet down, then we told them that if they did not quiet down, we would take points away. Even though it was difficult to get the students to quiet down, sometimes it was helpful; for example, when we were singing songs: "Count on Me" and "Raining Sunshine." When the students sang loud, I could tell that they had done the homework of listening and practicing the song at home for fluency. In addition, the neighboring class happened to be a really quiet class and it was difficult for their teachers to get the class to participate and sing. Therefore, when they practiced with our class, I felt that some of the neighboring class' students participated more.
Another problem that my teaching partner and I ran into was that during the lesson, the students would participate and not ask questions, making it seem as if they understood everything. However, when it came to game time and the students had to know what the vocabulary was before they could participate, we noticed that some of the students do not know what the vocabulary meant even though we had taught it in the same day. In my opinion, I think that this problem is harder to solve than the other problems that we ran into during class because we, as teachers, do not have the time to go around to every student and ensure that they understand everything. However, after trying some methods, I figured that they remembered the material better after we continued to review it and they continued to see it and say it.
Even though I have done overseas volunteering programs such as this one for the past two years, this experience was unlike others. In the past two years, I taught around middle school level, but this year was my first year teaching elementary school, fifth graders. I am really glad I got to attend this program and gain new experiences because with younger students, new problems that normally would not be seen with middle schoolers arise. However, some aspects of the experience stay the same no matter how many times I do this kind of program and that is the surprise of how much we influence the students. This year, at the closing ceremony, when it was time to say goodbye, surprisingly, all of my students cried and would not stop. It was a really emotional moment seeing all these kids cry and it was this time that it hit me how much we have actually influenced these kids. Even though I could already see this influence in the improvement of their post-test results, I was still surprised at how much we affected them. At my school, this year was only the second year they have hosted this program and according to the teacher, last year, the students did not cry at all, so she was really surprised this year, when the kids would not stop crying.
I am really thankful for this experience and this program because not only did I gain new friends and another family, I also learned so much from teaching a language that I am still learning myself in a foreign country.
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Wu, Iris (吳小荃)
I hadn't thought too much of the AID Summer program after I got accepted; I just thought of it as another event coming up. It wasn't until I got on the plane that I realized I would actually be teaching in Taiwan. When I got to Chientan, I was reluctant to check in. After arriving late the night before and seeing relatives I haven't seen in a while, I didn't want to leave my family. The first week at Chientan was rough. Being jet-lagged and homesick made the long lectures and group activities feel exhausting and endless. I thought I made a huge mistake signing up for the program.
However, things quickly changed when we finally got to our school. As soon as we got to 土牛國小 (Tu-Niu Primary School), the teachers and staff there welcomed us with open arms. They provided us with everything we needed and insisted that we let them know if we need anything else. Within the next two days, I became closer to my teaching group as well.
The first day of teaching made me a bit worried about whether or not I could control my class. They seemed rather rowdy when we were doing our teacher introductions. I was assigned to the oldest class and feared that they might be rebellious. However, when they took their pre-test, I realized that it wouldn't be a problem; they all followed directions and tried their best even if they didn't know the answer. Over the next few weeks I grew to love 土牛. I grew to love the students, not just my own, but the younger students as well, who were eager to play with me every time we had a break. I grew to love the teachers and staff who took such good care of us, joked with us, and helped us with any problems that arose. Most of all, I grew to love the girls I worked with, who are now some of my closest friends.
The two weeks of teaching flew by. We went over vocabulary every day and played many games. The students especially loved Four Corners, which allowed them to run around the classroom while reviewing their vocabulary words. The most challenging part of teaching was probably the gap in the English proficiency of the students. Luckily, the students were patient with one another and very helpful towards each other, so they did not feel irritated when we took extra time to help certain students. On the last day, the students did a great job at the closing ceremony, where they performed a dance that they have been practicing for a good portion of the two-week program. It was great to see them take it seriously.
At the end of the two teaching weeks, I did not join my friends on the tour. I instead went with my parents and brother to visit family and friends in Taiwan. Thus, I am currently writing this reflection in my grandma's living room while my friends are probably on a bus somewhere. When I left the group on Saturday morning, it was extremely bittersweet. Though I missed my family a lot, I was sad to leave behind all the wonderful people I met at 土牛國小.
I believe that the most important thing that I learned from teaching was that children are incredibly intelligent. They are witty and smart, and they have an endless amount of creativity. However, unless you treat them as independent individuals, they will not have the opportunity to display their intelligence. Listen to what the students have to say; they will surprise you.
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Chiu, Jenny (邱雅萱)
Jenny Chiu
1524
AID Reflection
It was suffocatingly hot when we stepped out of the auditorium on July 24th, the kind of hot that vaporized tears instantly. Almost two weeks had passed since the six of us first arrived at Tu-Niou Elementary, but time had barely registered in between teaching and preparing for class. I was, for once, grateful for the heat, because it drowned out the sadness of leaving my students. The only emotion I could handle was pride, and I was so proud I could cry. My partner and I taught the higher-level children, a mix of incoming fifth and sixth graders. They hadn’t been serious about their performance during practice, finding the English words that sounded like Chinese phrases hilarious. On stage, however, each student sang loudly. They didn’t over-exaggerate the motions; they didn’t push each other over. They smiled. When the song stopped abruptly, they didn’t giggle about the technical difficulty. The true improvement was not in their language skills—which could easily be lost and forgotten—but in their attitudes.
My first impression of Tu-Niou came from pictures of lavender buildings with colorful benches scattered among the greenery. There was a track, a playground, and a pond with water hyacinths. It didn’t seem much like what I expected a rural school to look like. In fact, it was prettier than the elementary school I’d attended in California, even coupled with the hazy glow of nostalgia. The facilities at Tu-Niou were better than expected as well. The kindergarten was on campus, which made commute—if you could call it that—easier, and there were fans, air conditioning, Wi-Fi, and an indoor shower. The only drawback was perhaps the squat toilet, but it didn’t matter much. The teachers and administrators were nice and attentive to all our needs, bringing us our meals or taking us out to dinner. Since I don’t eat meat, I was worried about the food, but the vegetarian options were plentiful and delicious. I ate better those two weeks there than I did the six days we spent in Chientan.
The teaching portion of the program, however, was what upended the most expectations. I taught children of my students’ age group before, helping with homework after school. I’d also taught what was considered the difficult group before, trying to help them focus on school. Neither of these experiences truly prepared me for teaching English as a second language. Originally, I’d planned to use primarily English, followed by translations if necessary. That backfired, because the students really didn’t understand and were vocal about their protests. After all, they were taking English class a couple times a week, and they didn’t come in contact with English speakers often. The lesson plans created in Chientan also had to be rewritten. The students enjoyed playing certain games, such as Four Corners and Mr. Fox, Mr. Fox, over and over again. There was no need to plan an entire litany of activities, because they were easily entertained. There was also no need to create a large list of vocabulary, because drilling a few words was more effective than trying to teach a large list.
On Saturday, when we were about to leave for the tour, one of my students messaged me. He wanted to come see us off, and then he’d catch the 8:50 bus. He started crying, which made me start crying as well, and when he was supposed to leave, he came back again and missed his bus. He and another of my students stood at the corner and waved, then ran to the side of the street so they could keep the bus in sight longer. Their persistence was truly touching, and the tears I’d managed to withhold at the closing ceremony suddenly multiplied.
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Yang, Natalie (楊壹婷)
I applied to AID because I wanted to know what being a teacher was like. The thought of meeting new people and working with kids made me want to apply even more. My friends that have done AID before kept telling me how AID was the most fun they had in their life and how it would always have a special place in their hearts. Knowing that only 400 or so people would get accepted, I was very nervous that I wouldn’t get into the program. When I heard that I was admitted, I was very ecstatic. I wasn’t that nervous about coming to Taiwan by myself because I had come by myself before and I knew some others that were admitted into the program.
I thought the school would look very ratchet but it was actually very colorful and pretty. Although the school is very poor, they still provided us with everything we needed. There were many cockroaches, lizards, bees, ants, mosquitos, etc. to deal with but we got through it. I was kind of bummed that we weren't allowed to go out of the school but there was really nothing around the school anyway. The few first days of teaching felt horrible because all I could think about was the heat. However, after a few days the kids made each day pass more quickly and made me forget about the heat.
To my adorable students:
Angus, Dylan, Grace, Hannah, Ivy, Jack, Jen, Joe, Justin, Kaylee, Lilian and Luke
Thank you guys for being such an energetic and fun class. Even though some of you guys were shy on the first day of class, you guys were all so welcoming. I’m glad that we all got close during the two weeks. I hope we keep in touch and that you guys go far in life.
To Anne 老師:
I’ve learned that teaching isn’t an easy job from the two weeks of teaching. Even though teaching can be tiring, the kids make everything worth it. Thank you for believing in my dream of becoming a teacher. Also, thank you for putting up with us during the first week at Chientan and the two weeks of teaching. Even though you got mad and frustrated sometimes, you still helped us with everything.
To George 哥哥and Evan 哥哥:
At first I was scared of you guys because you guys were wearing the uniforms but after getting to know you guys I’ve realized how derpy you both are. Thank you to George 哥哥 for playing cards with us, gossiping with us, waking us up every morning and protecting us. You guys treated us so nicely and always helped us with everything we needed. I'm sorry we were so hard to wake up.
To my teaching partner and the rest of A2-1:
Thanks Daniel for being a great teaching partner. All the kids loved you and you made the class super fun for the kids. The past month was very enjoyable spending it with you guys. I’m glad we all got closer during the two weeks we were teaching. I will always remember us staying up late to talk, play cards, dance and work on teaching plans, etc. Although we may live far away from each other, I hope we can all meet again!
I’m very happy that I got the chance to come to Taiwan to teach English to the less fortunate. I got to fulfill my wish of being a teacher through AID. I’m thankful for having met so many new people and being able to teach the cute kids at Miaoli Xihu Elementary School. Thank you to the principal, director, Anne 老師, everyone else in the office, George 哥哥and Evan 哥哥 for being so welcoming and taking care of us for two weeks. Thank you to Charlene, Daniel, John, Patrick, Regina and Sharon for being such a great group. Potato chip potato chip munch munch munch A2-1 is a mighty fine bunch! These past few weeks had some ups and downs but thank you to everyone that was part of AID Summer 2015 for making this summer an unforgettable experience.
There is so much I want to say but typing it out would take forever so I'll just end my reflection here.
--Natalie(nat, nataburrito, natattack, burrito)
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Doong, Linda (董宜安)
Having had friends and family members who had already gone through the AID program, I went into the program with set expectations of how my teaching experience would play out. The AID website repeatedly reminded us that we would be teaching students with very poor English at a rural school and to therefore keep the teaching plan basic. However, because this year was Da Guan Elementary School's first year, it seems that nobody knew what to expect.
Da Guan Elementary was hardly rural--we could walk to the city in about ten minutes--and the majority of the students were much better at English than we had originally anticipated. The English camp at Da Guan was designed so that students (or their parents) voluntarily signed up for it. Because of this, most of the students who signed up were at the top of their classes; we had many class representatives and teachers' children in our program. In spite of this, we still had a handful of students who were actually disadvantaged. The pre-test was much too easy for the majority of the students so we did not have an accurate measure of their abilities; we could only filter out the disadvantaged students who could not pass what everyone else passed. After the first day, we held a long meeting, discussing what we would do about our situation. We knew that the program was designed to specifically help disadvantaged students, but how could we help them while also teaching new, more advanced material to the others? We eventually decided to completely re-group the classes. The 7 or so disadvantaged students were put into one class with 7 helpful, good-at-English students who would help teach them. Four teachers were assigned to lead that class so that there would be more one-on-one interaction with the disadvantaged students. The rest of the students were split into two classes, each led by two teachers. We all had to redesign our lesson plans so that we could teach the students something new.
Although preparing lesson plans was stressful and tiring, seeing the students' faces each morning energized me. They were always willing to learn and always so eager to chat. Overall, I loved the premise of the program, and I loved teaching and getting to know the students!
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Cheng, Dexter (鄭銘)
I am proud to say that this experience will be my second and final time participating in the AID Summer Program. There has been much hearsay about not being able to do this program multiple times. However, there is a section of the application form that lets you indicate whether or not you are a returning volunteer. Be it by a mistake or not, I consider my participation in AID Summer 2015 to be a second opportunity at experiencing more of Taiwan, improving my language skills, and, most importantly, making an impact on at least one child’s life.
The school I taught at last year was in the Miaoli Country. The children were rowdy and the days spent planning for classes were grueling. But in the end, the hours spent teaching in sweltering heat and suffocating humidity were worth it. The kids made all the difference. Even though I knew what to expect this time around in terms of the training and the tour, nothing would have prepared me for what I experienced during the two teaching weeks this time around.
When I first heard about the kids from some of the school administrators at 自由國小 I did not think too much of the problems that would come up in class. After all, I knew how to handle a classroom for the most part. But what really threw me for a loop was how different the kids were from my initial expectations. Of the fifty or so kids that applied to attend the summer camp, not even thirty of them showed up. Most of them were in my class. Many of the students had to go to work or stay at home to watch their younger siblings. This is because their parents were either working, away, divorced, sick, or dead. There were even cases in which families that had too many children could send a child off to live with a different family. These unfortunate circumstances put a large dent in the children’s mental and psychological development. They emulated drunkards at home and came to school cussing at each other. Rude does not describe them because they cannot have lack of reverence if they do not have a concept of it.
I wanted to sow a few valuable life lessons in these children. While my teacher partner, Philby, led the class in fun activities, I controlled the classroom behavior and enforced rules when necessary. I wanted to give my our students a sense of order and structure. But I learned from my previous experiences that you cannot force your way into a child’s heart with brute force. You have to tacitly coax it open with compassion and encouragement. As a team, we did this after school . Playing with the kids formed a sort of trust between us and the kids. After a few days, they were all over us. For me, I was particularly fond of the bullied students. In the past, I was bullied as well so I understood what they were going through. I believe that I made a strong impact on the lives of a couple individuals at that school. I wish to keep in contact with them this time and see what kind of people they become.
This is the beauty of education. The pay is the immediate reward. The results of your patience and compassion are the true compensation for your time. I think that I would want to do some kind of educational vocation in the future. I just do not know what kind. At the very least, I got a chance to meet new people, explore Taiwan, and see my family again. I will be passing the AID torch to the next group after this year. I would like someone else to experience what I have experienced. To learn what I have learned. And hopefully, they would apply those lessons to their lives as much as I am trying to.
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Liou, Charlie (劉柏巖)
When I first got accepted into AID, my first thought was “How the hell am I going to teach kids in a different country English?” I wasn’t expecting to be accepted in this program, much less know what to expect. I honestly thought that this program would be filled with people who were quiet, works 24/7, and staying focused. Instead, I made some of my best friends here. Overall, this experience was amazing as I met people who were fun, hard-working, and crazy at the same time.
I didn’t know how to teach a class at all. Period. When I stepped into the classroom with 18 students, I had no idea to teach students that were in elementary school. I tried to follow the weekly plan to the best of my ability, but I went through content faster than I thought I would. I had to improvise a bit without compromising the education of these students. This was a great learning experience for me because my ability to improvise was stretched to its limit. Working together in groups of two was a great idea because only two people were necessary to create an immersive experience for these kids.
The hardest part in teaching these kids was the fact that three of them were highly disruptive and caused a great deal of trouble in the classroom. But in the end, it was these kids who taught me the most because they required me to adapt to their noisiness. Also, training week helped me out a lot by teaching me techniques to deal with them.
Tour week was the most interesting part of the entire program, even though one of our teaching members had to leave. Not only did I get to see numerous parts of Taiwan, I also made great friends and strengthened the bonds I had with my other friends.
All in all, AID summer was unlike any other camp I had before. If I had a chance to do this again, I would take it in a heartbeat
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Huang, Alison (黃潔恬)
Being part of the AID summer program was a very memorable and exciting experience for me. When I first discovered that I was accepted, I had mixed feelings of happiness and nervousness. I had never experienced living far away from my family for so long, and I had no idea what to expect. I was especially worried about teaching the students. What if they don't like me? What if I am not capable of being a teacher? What if they don't understand anything I am trying to teach them? These "what if" questions kept piling into my head one after another. However, when it was finally time for me to teach my students, my worries quickly dissipated. Looking back, I am very happy that I had made the decision to apply and am very grateful for having been one of the lucky people to be accepted to come to this program.
The first week of this program was quite stressful and honestly, boring. Every day, someone came in to teach us new skills we could use when teaching the kids. This includes what games we could use, how to discipline students, and how to keep students interested and active during class. We also had to create teaching plans stating what we are planning to teach our students every day. Honestly, it was a very slow week. By the end of the day, I was always so tired from listening to the lectures.
But in comparison, the teaching weeks went by in a flash. These two weeks were definitely the best part of my experience in the program. During the first day of school, my partner and I started off with introductions and icebreakers with our students. At first, most of them were very nervous and shy. However, as days passed, the students began opening up to us and every one of them began actively participating in class. They were becoming a little too comfortable and rowdy with us though, so we had to become more strict with them compared to the first day. I found that most of the skills I learned during the first week of school were quite useful. However, I also found that we did not follow our teaching plans at all. We spent most of our times playing educational games rather than actually teaching in front of the chalk board. The last day of teaching week, the day of the closing ceremony, was a very emotional one for me. Watching my students dance and sing gave me joy, and we exchanged hugs and tears as it was finally time to say goodbye. I loved each and every one of my students, and was surprised to find that I wished the duration of the teaching weeks were longer than two weeks.
My group of eight people were extremely lucky to have lived in the school principal's house. The rooms were comfy and rather huge, the principal along with her husband and son were very welcoming and nice, and this was the place where I was able to bond with my other group members the most.
Tour week was enjoyable. We went to many different places, such as night markets, factories, and museums. I was able to buy souvenirs for my family, as well as delicious food to bring back to California, such as moon cakes. However, there were two major problems I had with the tour: we didn't have a lot of time to tour around each place and the bus rides were extremely long. Typically, we only had one or two hours to explore each place, and some bus rides took two hours. All in all, however, the tour was great.
Ultimately, the time at AID summer program was a very positive experience. Not only did I make new friends and had the pleasure of teaching wonderful students, I also learned more about Taiwan and its culture. My experience and memories of this program would definitely stay with me for a lifetime.
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Chen, Samantha (陳孟慈)
Teaching in nanhua guo zhong has really changed my outlook on education. In the past I've only talked about teaching in the future but I never really experienced it first hand. With this opportunity I got the chance to become involved and understand what it takes to be a teacher. And what I've learned is that being a teacher is very difficult because every student has different needs and different personalities. There were times when I had a lot of trouble getting the students to listen to me and do what I told them. Although, I encountered a lot of challenges throughout the whole process, during the last two days of school I couldn't imagine leaving nanhua. I grew attached to the school, students, friends and dorms that I stayed in.
Not only did I teach english but I also learned a lot about myself. Such as how I deal with challenging situations. While I was teaching I was able to find my true self. As a response to the struggles I had, I was able to shape my teaching plans to match the students needs. I made new games and I watched as the students started to participate more, laugh more, and understand more of the vocabulary words. All my students were very active and I really appreciate their enthusiasm to learn English. Each of the students has a spot in my heart because all of them gave me moments that touched my heart. The students would ask me about my life and whether or not I'll participate in their activities and it made me feel more special as a teacher.
Teaching was strenuous at times but I have to thank the students that raised their hands and tried their best. In games and activities wise, I really enjoyed teaching the students american games and merging the four classes we had into one so that everyone could have fun. Just watching the students run around and laugh with their friends made me happy. With the prizes we had, I'm glad I chose the lollipop and smarties because we were able to use them as awards and also part of our games such as using smarties as placements cards for bingo. Playing bingo with candy was probably the most fun and interesting game for the students.
I was also very fascinated by the questions the students asked, They asked about our homes, the food, the lifestyle, the people, basically everything!
Teaching in a rural area has taught me that students there don't have much opportunity to strengthen their English in school. They don't have the privilege so I'm happy I was able to give them a chance to improve their English skills.
Plus, living in a rural area, was very difficult for me at first, but it eventually grew on me. I was started enjoying the absence of air condition and wifi. With the exception of this, I was able to bond more with my teammates and work together to create betterteaching plans for the students.
I really want to thank AID for giving me the chance to explore one of my future career plans, and to confirm what I want to pursue when I graduate college.
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Chien, Lillian (簡郁恩)
How do people even survive without air conditioning? Embarrassingly, this was my first thought when I discovered I would teach at Nanhua Junior High School for AID Summer 2015. Terrified, I shuddered at living in a rural area full of mosquitoes, half an hour away from the nearest convenience store. Sadly, I hardly thought of my future students.
At Chientan, I met my coach and fellow volunteers. I learned that Nanhua was famous for its mangoes. During the summer, the students worked the fields. Less than half the class would attend the program. The coach had bribed or coerced the others. Shocked, I received a class list of eight. I had expected at least twenty eager faces. Now I had eight reluctant ones?
Frightened by this new information, I scanned the classroom the first day of class. Eight faces in eight matching uniforms stared back at me.
“Good morning class,” I started. Silence. I gulped. My teaching partner and I quickly introduced ourselves before I pulled the first student out for the pre-testing. I quickly realized that we had both overestimated and underestimated our students. We repeated instructions in Chinese because they could not understand the English. At the same time, their vocabulary far exceeded anything we had planned for.
That night, my teaching partner and I frantically modified our lesson plans, increasing the difficulty of vocabulary and creating activities focused on listening instead of reading. Armed with a schedule, we tackled the class. We taught in English, speaking in Chinese only when necessary. I discovered that restating keywords greatly helped improve comprehension. Furthermore, extensive miming entertained and informed the class.
As we settled into a routine, the students began to open up and I noticed their unique characters. With so few students, I knew them all individually. Enthusiastic Tom, affectionately known as Ding-Ding, constantly tried to read words aloud as I wrote on the board. Gentle Jane volunteered immediately whenever I needed a helping hand. Mike appeared shy, but hid a playful personality. Together, they had a strong class dynamic. They constantly taught each other so no one ever fell behind.
Before I knew it, two weeks passed. To my surprise, I could conduct post-tests in all English. The students greatly improved. Near-full immersion had sharpened their listening skills. Many tearful goodbyes later, I rode away on a bus. To my shock, I realized I had been so immersed in teaching, I had hardly noticed the living conditions. In fact, the first night away, I could not fall asleep without the rustle of leaves and chirping of cicadas. How do people live without AC? They survive when they care about something more than mere comfort. During those weeks, I came to care deeply about both my students and the community they lived in.
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TSAI, SARA (蔡家榕)
When I first arrived at the Chien Tan training center, I remember feeling anxious and excited for the four weeks to come. I came with the expectation that these four weeks would change my life, and I would meet the most amazing people and have the most amazing experience ever and make memories that would last a lifetime. I am happy to say that I did get to accomplish all of those things, and beyond, although in a different aspect than what I had first envisioned.
The first week at Chien Tan seemed like the longest, because of the training sessions and lessons we had to go through and the work that we had to do. The wifi didn't work most of the time, and I could tell that that was a huge deal to all the other volunteers who didn't have a data plan, and everywhere I went I heard complaints about not having access to the internet. I knew, though, that not having wifi was a huge bonus because it helped everyone focus on their teaching plan and concentrate on preparing for their two weeks of teaching. Crafting together a lesson plan suited for the kids we were assigned to, building up a vocabulary bank of related adjectives and sentence structures that we could teach along with key terms, and working on teaching in a way that the kids could understand but also making sure that they had a lot of fun at the same time was pretty difficult and tiring. However, that training week at Chien Tan wasn't only about the preparation portion. That week allowed the volunteers teaching at the same school to bond and get to understand each other. We got to pair up with our teaching partners and work on everything together, and at nights we also got to go to the night market with our team. I should have known, though, that first impressions are not always the most accurate.
After that training week, we took a long bus ride down to Yunlin, the area where we were assigned. I remember waking up on the bus and looking out the window, and after seeing the broken down buildings, fields of crops, and narrow country roads, I felt my heart sink with anxiety. I was someone who liked to have convenience stores and malls within walking distance, and who loved the city, so I was kind of worried about how I would survive the two weeks to come. After we arrived, the principal and her husband came to pick us up, as we were going to live in their house. They took us to a rather large wooden house, and showed us around and helped us settle in. The girls had two to a room with a large bed and closet while the four guys shared one bedroom with mats as their beds. We ate our first meal at a local noodle shop, which was apparently quite famous for their delicious food. The shop was modern, it had AC, it was a brightly lit store, which comforted me. Even though we were living in a rural area, it really wasn't that different from the city in terms of living, just with a quieter environment and less chaos and advertising.
Once the classes started, I realized that even though that training week at Chien Tan was helpful in terms of solidifying my teaching plan and strategy, it didn't prepare me mentally for the fact that these kids were listening to my every word, and that every single minute of class, every single minute of learning and instruction or games or worksheets, depended on me. We may have prepared a lesson plan at Chien Tan, but we had to reinvent a new one quickly, since we were going through almost all the vocab words and sentence structures in a couple of days. I was assigned to the third level fifth grade class, meaning the class that had the lowest English ability and comprehension, the kids that may have family problems at home and weren't the best students. They were very unresponsive in the beginning, and it seemed like no matter how hard I tried, no matter how fun I made the class or how many games we played or how great the incentives were, they would just give me the same blank face every single time, with only one or two even attempting to raise their hands. I felt dejected and sad, as I watched other volunteers complaining about their class being too rowdy but having their kids surround them during break time and talk to them and be super happy and excited. But I continued trying, trying to encourage every single one of them and making sure not to discourage any of the students whenever they made a mistake or mishap.
My effort turned out not to be in vain. By the end of the two weeks, almost every student raised their hand in every class we had, and the English teacher and the school principal even commended me on the progress that I made. After the closing ceremony, almost the whole class was sobbing because it was over, and they followed me to the principal's office and waited there patiently while I jotted down my contact information and took pictures with them. Afterwards, several of them messaged me on Facebook and asked me how I am, whether or not I'm going back to Yunlin next year, and one of them even told me that her mom would treat me to a meal next time I go back. The day we left, the principal, her husband, and her son Daniel who was a huge support and help during the two weeks of teaching were sad that we were leaving, making sure to remind us to keep in touch and telling us that we would be welcome back any time we were in the area.
During those weeks of teaching, I expected to group together with all the other volunteers and that we would all become one big happy family. At some schools, that did happen, but at ours it was a little different. It felt lonely and pretty sad at times because of certain things that were said and done; whether they were intentional or not, the result was still the same. It wasn't that case for all of the volunteers of course; only two of us had that negative experience. We ended up bonding together and becoming great friends with the principal's son and two other volunteers who were not part of the AID program, but helped out a great deal during those two weeks. Sherry and Cindy were daughters of family friends of the principal, who also wanted to teach at the school and help out and practice their English. They were older, more mature, and were so incredibly kind and polite and nice. So, it may have not turned out the way I expected, but I still met some of the most amazing people in my life and made lifelong connections with a great network of friends; I just needed to learn to look in the right place.
As I am reflecting on my experience these past weeks, I have to say that I have matured and become an independent individual. I know that my experience with this program has helped me in infinite ways and is a huge part of my growing process, preparing me for college life and beyond. I am so glad to have been a part of this program, and I give my most profound and sincere thanks to all the people who believed in me, and made this experience possible.
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Hsieh, Wilson (謝魏敬謙)
When I first applied for this program, I expected it to be boring and uninteresting. I felt like I was gong to get sucked into a boring program that would suck away a whole month away from my summer, and after the first day, i thought that was going to happen. But after that, my thoughts about the program began to change. I got used to the new people that I didn't know in my group and the people around me in different groups. The teaching was fun too, thought it was frustrating at certain times. The tour was also really fun, though I wish we hadmore time to visit and view attractions and not be on a tight schedule.
I've had so much fun these past four weeks of AID. The first week at Chientan was fun because we were still getting to know everyone in the group and other people in other groups. The next two weeks were train rides; students were good at times, bad at others; obedient at times, disobedient at others, etc. everyone at the school I was at was friendly. The office assistants, classroom assistants, etc. The first few days in Yunlin we got to know the principal and her family, who turned out to be awesome people. We got really close with her, her husband and her son. They took us out almost every night for dinner which was a wonderful treat from them.
The school was wonderful. The students there were mostly sweet and niceto us. Teaching them was a different story. The students that I had were level 3, which means that they were the least intelligent in the whole school. Teaching them was very frustratingat various times, but it was still a pleasure to walk into the classroom everyone of those ten days to see their faces concentrate on learning what me and my partner were teaching. The hard work and effort that the students put into their learning made me know that they were actually learning and trying to learn everything we were teaching.
The tour was really fun too. The places we visited were very beautiful, such as the Sun Moon Lake. The places we visited were really fun too, such as the Amusement Park. The only thing that I thought were bad about it was that the schedule was way too tight. It took three hour drives for a one hour visit.
Despite hard and frustrating times, the whole program has been a wonderful experience for me. I've met so many new people all around the world from my group and the whole program in general that I've come to love and care for. I found that I was enjoying myself a lot more than I would have everthoguht back before I came to this program. These eight other people From meeting new people to teaching students, the past four weeks have been very fun and will be an experience that I will never forget. I really hope that the next years AID volunteers and students will have as wonderful of a time in this program that I have had this year.
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Chen, Ying-Tai (陳縈台)
The first day I got to the program, I already started to make friends. I flew on the same flight as like ten other people, and we all hung out together for a bit before we could get our room keys. My roommates came later. I met Tatum first, and we waited for an hour for the room key. We got it when Amelia and Silvia came, and I just remember Tatum climbing seven flights of stairs with her luggage on her back. After the first day with inappropro activities at the opening ceremony, the rest of the week was lecture and work with our school groups. I can't say it wasn't fun... we got team points for being the most enthusiastic group and we won an extra trip to the night market. Our group had so many inside jokes, especially because our teacher was young, funny, and 100% a closet perv.
After the training week was the teaching part, and that was tiring but very fun. The kids were all shy the first day, then started talking to us and following us everywhere. My teaching partner Jason had a group of boys always following him around, and Nathan talked with some of the girls. As for teaching, my class was more advanced, so most kids knew what we were teaching already. The class was just full of games and arts and crafts activities.
The closing ceremony was the hardest part. All our kids were crying, and I started to cry when our teacher played us a video. We added all our kids on facebook and they kept asking for our signatures. That night, they flooded us with messages asking when we'd be leaving, when we'd be back. I was sad to leave, but excited to meet up with my other friends during the tour.
The tour was fun, but tiring. We went to a lot of interesting and very hot places. Overall, I would've wanted to go again.
This whole program was one of my greatest experiences. I will never forget the people I met here nor will I forget the places I've been to. Thank you so much, Taiwan.
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Tsai, Jonathan (蔡博宇)
AID Summer has been life changing for me. I’ve always had the dream of being a teacher in Taiwan because my grandmother and grandfather were both educators in Taichung. I wanted to relive what they went through personally. After experiencing the past few weeks, I can safely say that I achieved that and more.
I am baffled by the amount of quality of people I have met in such a short amount of time. I am blessed to have met people from all over the world, and become such great friends with them. By being a part of AID, I was introduced to a new family that only grew closer with each day. I even grew closer with the volunteer leaders and green shirt volunteers, who helped me during the course of my teacher training and teaching period in Nan He Middle School. They have all stood by my side in the toughest of adversities, as well as the best of times. When I got sick, my green shirt leader Carol stayed up all night to bring me to the local hospital. Betty was there to cheer me up when teaching the disobedient children became too much. Chenny became one of my idols, as she was the most optimistic individual I have ever met in my life. All of these people helped me grow so much in such little time.
Teaching at Nan He Middle school was a mix between pure bliss and adversity. The kids were very intelligent, but keeping them interested in English was a challenge. Our solution was to teach vocabulary through review and games, but at one point I began to doubt the efficacy of our endeavor. By the end of the first week of teaching, I became very dubious of our purpose at the school. I began to reason that two weeks was too little time to achieve anything realistic, and I became a bit depressed at our progress. The kids were having fun, but I didn’t know if we were making any difference in their life. When I opened up to Luka one of the soldiers stationed at the school, about this predicament, he responded that our presence did more than I was able to understand. He articulated how the games we played brought even the shyest and most reluctant kids of the school to participate in English related activities, and that itself is an amazing feat. Hearing that reinvigorated me, and let me have even more fun and determination in my service to Nan He.
All in all, AID has done so much more than I had expected it to do for me. It has given me a new family, an abundance of teaching experience, and a variety of cultural exposure. It has played a huge role in helping me proceed in my life, by advancing my leadership skill, my ability to present, and my communicational proficiency. I’ve made a lot of unforgettable memories, and I am so blessed to have participated in such a selective program.
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Ding, Ashley (丁詩羽)
Everyone’s heard the saying before in one variation or the other: an experience is what you make of it. I feel compelled to offer both a romantic and accurate depiction of my experience in my four weeks with AID, but naturally, the two don’t often coincide. It’s hard to get a good picture of what an experience is going to be like when there are over 400 people experiencing it all in such different ways. I can’t recount the amount of times I’ve read some post-reflections fiercely raving about one's life-changing experiences and seriously doubting the authenticity of the author. But it is true that every experience is different, contingent on factors both in and outside of your control; it’s an encouraging fact for some and an intimidating reality for others. But one thing is for certain: this program is excellent in providing people with unending opportunities to experience extraordinary things. On one hand your extraordinary experiences may include dealing with counselors obligated to shepherd your every move, mosquitos eager to attack your every limb, humid weather guaranteed to inflict on your every day— but on the other hand, you get the outstanding privilege to experience the kindness of your school mentors, the vitality of your young students, the dynamics of your beloved teammates. These are opportunities you won’t be able to find together anywhere else, and AID is unique in the way it gives everyone the same seeds to sow, but allows individuals the autonomy to reap whatever fruits they want.
My four weeks at AID was split up into three sections: the training, the teaching, and then the tour. The first week at training may seem a little tedious because of all the hours of lectures and presentations you must sit through, but it is also an opportune time to meet people from different groups and then get to know your group members better. But with that said, the latter two parts of the trip are by far the more memorable. After being herded on a bus in the midst of a raging typhoon, my group and I were hauled up a mountain and dropped off at YouMu elementary, a quaint school with only 80 students. In all honesty, the two weeks went by so fast because of how enjoyable every day was. The children were no doubt rowdy, and for some teachers even overwhelming, but the dynamics of the volunteers, plus the support of the faculty and staff, proved to prevail over the stress of teaching. Also, with the card games and deception games played every night, it felt like a two-week long sleepover with a group of the most unexpected friends. The tour week passed in a blur, where countless of attraction sites were visited and numerous new friendships were born.
In retrospect, my acceptance into AID came at a time when I needed it the most. I still remember that one day in early February when I decided I would apply to the AID summer program, feeling surges of excitement and passion coursing through my system. I also remember my astonishment moments later, in the midst of that excitement, when I was struck at the realization of how long it had been since I last felt such genuine enthusiasm rouse in my veins. This opportunity came around during a time when I felt most unsure about my goals and myself. But something that I learned this month is that being around so many different people and learning a little bit about every one ends up teaching you a lot about yourself. Being around seven amazing teammates and encountering so many experiences for four weeks on end will teach you that extraordinary experiences are born from seemingly the most ordinary things.
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Yu, Caileen (游凱齡)
Black midges. Mosquitoes. And really, really cute kids. Pretty much sums up my teaching experience. For a relatively shy person, this was a very, well, different experience. Walking into my room the first day, I knew none of my teammates.
But at Jien-tan, we survived together. The strangely strict point system, the sometimes odd food (sprinkles on meat anyone?), the communal meals and shoe checks and did I mention four hour lectures? Needless to say, by the end of training, we all knew each other and our awesome teacher/supervisor Kelly 老師.
So anyways, come end of training week we were shipped off, all eight of us, to Da Keng Elementary School. There, we began our real challenge. Luckily for us, we had great support: Director Liu and 陳老師, Grace 老師, school residents Jim 哥哥 and Gary 哥哥. We owe them all.
Teaching the lowest level class my teaching partner Chloe and I were faced with pre-test scores that ranged anywhere from low thirties to fifty five percent. Some kids didn’t even know their ABC’s very clearly, not to mention that not one of them could pronounce the word “phone” correctly or spell “English.”
At first it was just pure chaos, finding out what worked with our class (no charades for us, but four corners could occupy them for fifteen minutes straight.) The boys were naughty and the girls were shy. They didn’t seem so interested in learning as they were in playing hide and seek.
But after a few days, we discovered how truly adorable some of the kid’s personalities were, how great their potential for making a difference in the world was. We saw their kind and caring sides, their naiveté and their belief in the world. One girl, seeing us wear the same yellow polos every day, offered to lend us more clothing because she thought we didn’t have any other clothes. Another boy drew a flag for an activity and told us that the reason it was covered in so many different countries’ flags was because in that country, people from all over the world could get together and live together.
For me, just being a small part of these kids’ lives was an honor. They started out as those kids that we were going to teach, and they ended as our kids; we had borrowed two weeks out of their lives. They were naughty, they were strange, they were shy; yet, they were kind, they were sweet and adorable, they were utterly, undeniably awesome. And best of all, they were ours for two whole weeks.
But back to the mosquitoes. A word of advice to future AIDers: If you are allergic to mosquito bites (aka, you swell up like an apple where they bit you), apply DEET like crazy at Jien-tan. Because if not… Yeah, not fun. I had mosquitoes biting me at night, during lectures, etc, etc.
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Wei, Chloe (魏宇萱)
The past two weeks of teaching have been an unforgettable and novel experience. Even though I was the teacher, it was a time of learning as well. I remember being anxious the Sunday night before the first day of teaching. Even though I was prepared, I found the task of teaching an entire class daunting. I simply did not know what to expect. The next morning I found myself standing in front of a class of 16 cute and lively students. Within the first five minutes of the first class, I realized that I would have to utilize my Mandarin skills more, thus making teaching slightly more difficult. The kids were also very energetic, making maintaining an orderly classroom atmosphere challenging. I had to draw from my past elementary school experiences to come up with methods to help increase their degree of focus and interest in the material. I felt like an actual elementary school teacher as I prepared lessons, taught daily new vocabulary words, and implemented behavior and reward systems. I really had to utilize creativity that I never knew I had previously to design games and activities for the students to reinforce their learning. I hope that my students developed a deeper love and fascination for learning English. My goal as a teacher was to cultivate a lifelong interest in learning and to make the process fun and enjoyable.
My favorite aspect of the teaching experience was interacting with the children, becoming not only their English teacher but also their friend. My students loved asking me questions about myself and America and I found their curiousity irresistible. One of my favorite memories was when the students pointed out in an accusing tone that I was wearing perfume (which was actually mosquito repellent that was unfortunately ineffective). Over time, language and culture no longer became barriers and we were all able to create special bonds and relationships. Needless to say, I could not bear to say goodbye to my students when the last day of classes rolled by. I will always be thinking about them.
I've had countless fond memories not only of teaching but also of exploring Taiwan with my group. Having not visited Taiwan in 14 years, I was fascinated by the different lifestyle and the wonderful destinations. It was a novel experience going to night markets and even going to a 7 Eleven was an adventure. I will never forget the memories and I'm glad that during this time I was able to teach and learn about my culture. Every day was meaningful and has culminated in a truly surreal and life-changing trip.
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Liao, Sherry (廖萱宇)
My goal for AID was to learn, try new things and spark interest in students that struggle with English.
I was a mixture of anxiety and anticipation when I entered this AID experience. I watched my parents walk away and I felt alone, but AID made me feel welcome. C2-3 became people I could count on. We bonded together during the first week at Chientan by trying to answer as many questions in class and making our presentations the best. I raised my hand and spoke more than I usually do in classes. The first week of AID also gave me a lot of useful information that we would use during teaching. We got rewarded with toy hammers for being the best group one day and our hard work was worth it! Then, when groups were being chosen to represent group C in the teaching demo, C2-3 presented in front of the 426 volunteers this year. I played the part of a student and helped answer questions from the three teachers in our group.
Then, we were on the way to our school. With my training in hand, I was ready, but I was scared. The weekend before teaching started, we prepared teaching materials, finalized our teaching plans and made a video introducing all of us for the opening ceremony. We got to know each other more during the next two weeks as we depended on each other for educational game ideas and lessons. Then, it was Monday, the first day of teaching and the opening ceremony. We walked into our class and it was silent. We introduced ourselves and we started to interact with the students by asking their name and what they liked. I was very impressed when one student said she liked Korea. However, most of the students didn't seem interested, so we started playing duck, duck, goose and the person that didn't catch the "goose" or the "goose" that didn't sit down, had to introduce themselves. From this, we realized that games were the key to learning. Then, we had writing/reading tests. Once we started passing out the papers, the room became dead silent and pencil cases were out. I was shocked, because I didn't realize how test driven Taiwanese students were. There were many things that I had to adjust to at the school as part of Taiwanese culture during my two weeks of teaching. Then, we had speaking/listening tests, I was surprised that some students did not understand the phrase, "count to 10" and had to be prompted by saying "1, 2, 3 and go on”. Then, we did the Opening Ceremony and as quickly as it started, the first day was over.
The next two weeks were a whirlwind of teaching in the day and preparing during the night. We revised our teaching methods to interest the students by using more exaggerated motions for vocabulary that the students could repeat, video clips, competitive games that involved running, making a fruit salad, etc. During these days together, we battled giant spiders and cockroaches together while dealing with the intense heat and humidity. There were set backs when a game didn’t work or students became distracted, but we continually tried new things. Also, all of us got sick, so we had to take turns teaching. We witnessed many new things. The food was different. Everyone was supposed to sing the Taiwanese national anthem and salute to Sun Yat-Sen for the opening and closing ceremony. We learned dances for the closing ceremony without having prior experience. Also, every single day, an AID volunteer would have to stand up and salute to a student who spoke before anyone could start eating lunch. Also, the AID volunteer would have to give a short speech to all of the classes after school with an inspiring English phrase for the students to repeat. My phrase was, “Try and you will succeed”. I really believe in this phrase, because the students were very quiet in the beginning of the two weeks. However, the students began to try and speak and write more. This is the first step to learning English. AID changed my perspective of my usual American school setting and allowed me to experience what it was like to be a teacher. Now, I will appreciate my teachers even more. Overall, it was an unforgettable experience and I was able to try many new things that I could never dream of. Furthermore, the students now have a link to someone with fluent English which has sparked their interest for a future in English.
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Chan, Jennifer (陳嘉惠)
I would unquestionably recommend the AID Summer 2015 program to anyone interested in improving their Mandarin, meeting stellar humans, experiencing Taiwan, or fulfilling their desire to volunteer. Coming to Taiwan I experienced a bit of culture shock that spanned everything from the perpetual breakfast porridge to language difficulties. Yet as the weeks ticked by, I grew more and more thankful that I got to experience this program. Our school teacher, Augusta, was an enthusiastic and truly inspiring guide throughout our teaching journey. I feel that I have learned more as a teacher than during many years as a student. I learned how to play with children despite language barriers, craft silly dances, communicate with pictures rather than words, and be patient.
When I applied to AID Summer 2015 I had many fears--that I wouldn't bond with the children, or that my inadequate Mandarin would inhibit daily life, or that I wouldn't make any new memories. Yet I remain incredibly glad that I got to come to WenChang. The kids were intelligent, bright, loving, and dedicated to becoming better at English. From singing along to American pop songs to running through the schoolyard during break time, I had a great experience. Yet the program was rarely easy. After classes, I frequently flopped onto the floor, too exhausted to move after playing with and sheperding fourth graders all day. Indeed, I had underestimated how difficult it would be to capture and hold the attention of elementary schoolers. Yet it was unquestionably worth the hard work to see their English and confidence slowly improve as the kids opened up to us.
Prior to this program, I hadn't been to Taiwan, and the AID program gave me a glimpse of a new and exciting culture. I got to eat hot pot in the mountains, make my own soy sauce, visit a puppetry museum, traipse through the night markets, and try KTV. The tour week, too, was very fun and engaging. Whether we were eating chocolate honey toast, gazing up at Taipei 101, or listening to a killer performance at Ten Drum Village, I feel that I have preceived an excellent primer on Taiwanese culture and politics. Although it was never easy to spend late nights and long days at school, I feel incredibly fortunate to have been able to participate in this program.
Jennifer Chan (ID 1187)
San Francisco Bay Area
Summer AID 2015
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Tso , Dustin (左桓宇)
I heard about AID through a friend who had done the program last year. He sold it as a very rewarding experience, so I thought I’d give it a try. I wasn’t disappointed.
The caliber of every individual I had the chance to meet in this program has been nothing short of extraordinary. Not only is everyone extremely smart, but they’re all inherently good people as well. I feel thankful for having had the chance to work with five amazing people in my teaching group. They have all positively contributed to my experience at AID in their own unique ways. Most of all, I am thankful for Tiffany, my teaching partner who struggled through every single day with me.
I’m really glad I was assigned to teach in Penghu; we had amazing facilities, food (especially seafood), and kids. We also had a support staff that accommodated us with the utmost kindness. By the time two weeks had passed, we had become a family.
Prior to AID, I had coached basketball and taught debate, so I thought teaching a couple of kids some Basic English would be easy. It wasn’t terribly difficult, but the amount of time and work I had to put into every lesson plan was much greater than I thought it would be. There were lots of long nights and caffeine involved (in the form of tea). The actual teaching was a completely different story; teaching a foreign language to disadvantaged children was a very interesting experience. I started out as a very strict teacher with high expectations, but gradually eased up as the days passed by. I feel like I managed to gain the respect from the majority of my students.
I knew to expect low levels of English among my students based on the information my teacher-adviser, Anly, provided me. What I didn’t expect was that my students’ learning curves progressed at nearly an exponential rate. The majority of my students consistently participated and did their homework. I’ll admit I may have stressed my students a tiny bit; over the two weeks, I gave a total of six quizzes and three tests. I was very intrigued by how much they cared about every single assignment and test I gave – I think this is where the biggest difference between Asian and American students are. When I taught debate to a multiracial group of students in a disadvantaged neighborhood, I was lucky if two or three students turned in homework assignments. At Penghu, having two or three students not turn in homework is rare. I think it has a lot to do with Asian culture and how education is perceived from an Asian versus American perspective.
Overall the entire experience showed me how much work is put into being a good teacher. Teaching in Penghu gave me newfound respect for all my past teachers in America who have helped me along the way.
The best part about teaching in Penghu was becoming great friends with my teammates and students. There was never a boring moment among my teammates; we always found different ways to have fun and laugh. During school, many of my students went out of their way to talk to me during breaks, which gave me insights into how their lives were. Some had pretty gut-wrenching stories -- a common theme among all their stories was the overarching understanding that their families were poor, which is a very strange mentality for a ten-year-old child to have. The hard work they put into my class despite their disadvantaged backgrounds awed me. I am proud to have been their teacher as a part of this AID program.
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Lau, Chap-Kay (劉卓琦)
I just want to say thanks for the amazing past two weeks at Hoping Junior High School. Over the course of the AID program, even though I'm supposed to be a teacher, I ended up learning a lot from the other students and teachers. From the students I learned to appreciate dancing and singing. The students are not afraid to show their dancing off and often love to dance during breaks. It was also refreshing to wake up everyday and come to school to see and greet them. Though the students could not understand everything we were saying when teaching, they always made an effort to learn and to help each other out. Teaching English was a bit difficult for me at first because I couldn't get the attention of the kids. But after watching my group mates teach, I gradually gained confidence and learned different methods for teaching. I made a lot of new friends and a lot of new memories. One of the activities that we did that I especially liked was making water rockets. We first taught the students some vocabulary pertaining to water rocket parts. After, we taught them how to make a rocket from scratch using two soda bottles. The students were encouraged to decorate the rockets to their liking and then we took them out to launch. The rocket that flew the farthest earned more points for their respective teams. What made it memorable was watching the rockets fly as unpredictable as they are. From the teachers and other staff, I learned about and experienced Tai Zhong's bountiful food and culture. The teachers especially took us under their wings. They took us to 4 seasons hot springs, they fed us hot pot, treated us to drinks, took us biking and much much more. I'm so thankful for this opportunity and to have met all the people I have met. If I had decided to do the program last year or the program next year, I would never have met the people I have met. All in all, I am so glad to have done this program.
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Meng, Regina (孟婕琦)
These past four weeks have surprised me a lot more than I was expecting when I first applied. But first, let's start from the beginning. When the application process opened earlier this year, I was really excited just thinking about what the experience would be like if I was accepted. When I did open my account to check if I was accepted, I have probably never been happier as I was at that time. The teaching experience was definitely one that I have never and will never have again, especially the parts about living in classrooms and living far away from the closest convenience store, aka 7-11. When the first day started, I was skeptical about being able to get close to the students and getting them to actively participate during class. But my partner and I were proved wrong starting from the second day on; my students were literally standing up and jumping up and down in their seats trying to be picked first and were quite disappointed if they were not. Every day, we all started with an American culture section that every participating student of the program attended and this section was always complete with a Just Dance session. I feel that through just simply dancing, we were able to be silly and gave us a chance to have a bonding time with the students which we wouldn't be able to have during class or break. When the last day came around, I could see how close the volunteers had become with the students and that we could barely separate when the end-of-the-day bell rang; not to mention, how much the students wanted to exchange Line and Facebook accounts even before half of the first week was over. When we first arrived at the school, it was not what I had expected and turned out to be both better and worse than what I had imagined. Our rooming situation, at first, was a bit of a shock with the classroom bedrooms and co-ed bathrooms and the walk through the dark to the showers, but by the end of the two weeks, I actually realized how much I will actually miss them. We all became so used to them that we found it just a normal step in our every day routines.
To my Watermelon Class:
Thank you so much for making me feel comfortable getting in front of the classroom every day to teach a new lesson and for simply being excited and participating at every chance you could get. When you guys always crowded around us at break and lunch, I felt really warm knowing that you guys liked us and didn't want us to go when the last day came around. Each one of you guys are special in your own way and unlike what you guys said, I will never forget you and we better see each other again.
To A2-1:
Thank you for making this journey considerably smooth and thank you to especially the girls. If we hadn't gotten along as well as we did, the past two weeks would've been so much harder and tougher to live through. I'm so thankful that you guys were the people that became my family and out late card games and hangouts were really fun and I'm so glad I was able to meet you guys.
To Anne:
Thank you for guiding us starting from the very first week and I'm glad that our assigned school was this one. Although we weren't able to talk all that much while we were teaching, I'm glad we were all able to catch up after school ended and our meet-up soon will be great!
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Day, Catherine (戴佑庭)
It's been a month, four weeks, twenty eight days since I first met my group at Jiantan Activity Center. I can still hear us calling ourselves by the term "fammery" in reference to the family that we have become during these few weeks together. Through late night talks, hilarious pranks and psycho bs, the six of us bonded to be very close friends. I'm eternally grateful to have been assigned a group that meshed so well. Even our teacher mentioned that she thought we had already contacted each other before the first day even though we didn't, which goes to show how well we were able to fit into the group and interact with others. Furthermore, our dorming situation allowed us to create more memories, for which I am also indebted. I have heard of horror stories of groups that simply didn't work well together and didn't have the time to become closer because their dorming situation didn't allow it. That could have easily been us, so I feel very lucky to be able to list out multiple lovely memories made with my group spanning from 7/11 runs to stopping at every sign to take a photo just to annoy the guys to making time to just hang out to learning about each other on a much deeper level than I had expected. I am happy to say that I met friends here that have become life-long friends.
Aside from having the ability to create lifelong relationships during this program, I have also learned to appreciate my teachers as well as take the well being of young students into account while teaching. As I mentioned in the interview given at Penghu, I had always been taught that teachers are to be respected and Confucian values like that. I had agreed that teachers do a lot for their students, but I never really realized how much effort is put into planning every single day that the teachers are teaching. Not only do lesson plans need to be made, the worksheets, tests and materials need to be created, and backup games thought of, the wellbeing of each student has to be watched over every single second of the day. In a sense, these students have become our own children and need to be taken care of with the same attention and care that we would give our own children. This realization only came to me after having to watch over my own students during the day and having to worry over their progress and their welfare. The act of being a teacher allowed me to understand my own teachers much more. As I reflect on the past few years of school, I can appreciate much better how much effort each teacher put in every day, every hour, every minute into keeping us interested and learning while making sure we weren't hurt or bullied.
Though these past two paragraphs may seem completely irrelevant to each other, they aren't. I wanted to show that AID has brought to me opportunities that I would have otherwise not have been able to experience, both in a social and a educational sense. I definitely do not regret attending this program and would do it again if I could.
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Tien, Cynthia (田緒荊)
I had a memorable experience teaching the students at Da Guan Elementary. For two weeks, we acted as not only the teachers of these students, but also mentors, and ultimately friends. Each of us, as volunteer teachers, slowly learned our own strengths and weaknesses in being able to create material, to present material, and to reflect on that material. We learned to utilize each of our strengths to be able to create the best possible learning experience, cooperating as partners and groups to contribute our own individual methods and ideas. Together, as a team, we were able to make the classes entertaining and educational, making it a successful English lesson.
However, I thought that the most important lessons that we taught at the school were not about English language or culture. Rather, our main goal was to be able to give the students a different perspective on learning. Every day, we tried to provide a fun and encouraging experience for each student to be able to learn. Slowly, throughout the course of these two weeks, we saw students develop from shy and unwilling to participate, to entering class with bright smiles on their faces, always asking what we would be learning that day. Many students who had had negative experiences with learning English slowly became motivated to learn more, actively raising their hands and helping lead group activities. I believe that this is ultimately the most valuable lesson that we can provide the students.
It is impossible to be able to completely transform the English of a couple of students in just ten days. What is more important is that we give them a desire to want to keep learning, that will help motivate them in the future. From our two weeks teaching, we encouraged them to continually keep exploring English, and learn more about United States culture. I am extremely happy to have been able to be a part of this experience, and grateful for the opportunity to give each student a memorable and inspiring two weeks.
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Lee, Tiffany (李宜臻)
At first, when I applied for this AID Summer program I didn’t know what to expect. The idea that you find a family in the program didn’t quite sink in. After my three weeks of sweat, tears, and hard work I now understand what they meant about family. AID Summer program really exceeded my expectations. For the first time ever I met people from different parts of the country, became great friends and learned from inspiring people in Taiwan. Unlike my first time visiting Taiwan I did not interact with people to the point that I would learn about their daily lives and struggles. This program was my second time visiting Taiwan and already I explored so many different landscapes and learned so much about Taiwanese culture. My first time teaching a class of students ranging from 1st grade to 3rd grade was a struggle at first, but as the students grew accustomed to us I realized just how much these children were eager to learn English. It was amazing that while I connected with these children I experienced their strong curiosity. With the guidance of AID Summer, including the teachers, counselors and teacher assistants I learned teaching strategies and gained important life lessons. AID Summer 2015 has been one of the best experiences of my life for it has changed me from developing my confidence to preparing me for future challenges. After seeing so many bright students willing to learn I realize just how important my teaching is to them. AID Summer 2015 will forever be an unforgettable experience that I will cherish and I hope that what I taught for these two weeks will help the children in Taiwan build a brighter future. Although I’ve been away from home the longest ever I found a family here in Taiwan that includes my teachers, group members, new friends, my students, my relatives and many more. I will never forget the wonderful memories I’ve collected this summer and the friendships I’ve gained. Thank you Da Hu Elementary School for letting me teach here.
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So, Preston (蘇士桐)
This whole month in Taiwan has been quite an adventure. It has been around three years since I last came to Taiwan and so much has seem to change. The biggest change was that instead of coming for the fun I instead, came on the AID mission to help disadvantaged kids. I always wondered how my life would be if I went to school in Taiwan and this was an opportunity to try that, in a different perspective.
The first week of training was where all of my anticipation was. Day after day there was a set schedule for us which left me pretty tired. Honestly, only a few of the lessons during the training week were actually useful. I really hated how there was no freedom during training week. The most useful part of training week was probably making school supplies for the children such as posters so I believe most of the training week time should be used for that.
When we actually arrived at our school, I was pretty nervous. I wasn't sure how my home-stay would be or how the countryside lifestyle would be. I have a grandmother in Hualien but I know her area was a bit more privileged. When I got into their home, the parents were great. They were very welcoming and their kids were adorable. They took us out around town instantly. They were so nice that I started to feel discouraged at teaching because I didn't want to be a bad teacher for such good parents.
The actual teaching process was a struggle. The first part of the first day was nervous for me but I quickly got a hang of it. The problem with teaching for my partner and I were that our kids, alone, were good kids, but together, they were extremely disobedient. Even with encouragement through prizes or punishments to stop them from doing bad behaviors, they didn't really help. Generally, most of our kids were good except for a few two or three.
After the whole teaching process, even though it was very difficult to get our lessons through, the kids definitely improved their English. The increase in performance from pre-test to post-test was tremendous. That was probably my greatest joy in teaching besides playing with the kids and introducing them to American culture. This adventure definitely had its pain and struggle, but just like the common saying, no pain no gain, and I have definitely gained worthwhile experiences through the AID summer volunteer program.
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Sang, Elaine (桑郁薇)
It was an amazing summer in Taiwan! I really enjoyed working with my group to make an impact on the kids in disadvantaged areas of Taiwan. I really got to know each of the kids personally and would remember them all in the depths of my heart. This is a meaningful program and I would recommend it to anyone.
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Yen, Felicia (顏怡帆)
Going into the program, although I was looking forward to teach children in the countryside, I wasn't sure what to expect. Back at home, I helped teach first and second graders Chinese, but even then, I hadn't actually taught a class, let alone teaching English. This was also the first time I had traveled without my parents, and I wasn't used to being fully independent.
When I first arrived to Chien-Tan for training, I felt a mix of nervousness and anticipation. I didn't know what I was getting myself into, but I was looking forward to teaching. However, on the first day, the counselors told my roommates and me that our room was not ready. We were supposed to eat dinner at 5, and by 4:59, our room was still "not ready." After, they told us to first change into our uniforms and head straight to dinner. But, even after dinner, they told us that one of our roommates had taken the key, although all six of us were standing right in front. In the end, after all the hectic issues, we finally settled in. As days passed by, I felt somewhat excited but dull from training. I was grateful for the training prior to teaching and meeting our teacher, but I was more looking forward to start teaching.
On Saturday morning, we left for Tu-Niou Elementary. Again, I felt simultaneously eager and anxious. I didn't know how the children were, how the school environment was, how the living environment, how well my teaching would be, and how I would get along with my roommates. Once we arrived at the school, I was fascinated by how spacious the school was and how pretty it looked. The school administrators informed us that we were going to stay in a classroom instead of a hotel. Hearing this, I was worried, not knowing what kind of classroom we would stay in, where the showers would be, how we would do laundry, where we would sleep, and what kind of creatures would pop up. However, once they showed us around the classroom, I felt much more at ease; showers were indoors and clean, laundry could be done everyday, wifi and air conditioning was available, food, cups, and necessities had already been prepared, and sleeping bags and mats were all laid out. The kindergarten classroom was huge, with wooden flooring, numerous tables and chairs, and a large bathroom.
I remember the morning of my first day of teaching, I felt more fearful than happy. For one, teaching was a bit of a jump out of my comfort zone, because I've never been a very vocal person. As we began introductions and the pre-test, I felt aloof from my students, who were silent the entire time. Some refused to talk or even look me in the eye. Most refused to cooperate with taking the pre-test. I felt stressed and tense, not knowing what to do next. However, after a few days, my anxiety faded away. The students started opening up to us, chatting and playing with us, and finally participating in class. My partner and I bonded with our kids and had a strong affection for them. Parting with them felt like leaving our families.
My roommates and I grew much closer at Tu-Niou. We were together everyday, and shared our stories and experiences. We never ran out of topics to talk about and every night, we would tell each other about our days, played cards, or watched movies together. We got to know each other very well and became like sisters.
As for our living situation, all the staff at Tu-Niou treated us like a tight-knit family. For the opening ceremony, they made posters of our faces and warmly welcomed all of us. Every day, they would bring us excessive amounts of food and catered to our every need. The staff would always offer to bring us places, bring us out to eat and explore the culture. One of the teachers invited us to her house for dinner twice, and her cooking was on par with my mother's. They always checked up on us and immediately fixed any issue we had. For the closing ceremony, they presented each of us with laminated certificates, personalized mugs with pictures of us and the school, and the posters of our faces.
Their generosity and kindness were heartwarming, and I'm grateful for their hospitality. Thank you Tu-Niou and each and every staff and student, as well as A2-7 for being my second family.
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