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Chan, Bethany (陳慧絲)
I'm not Taiwanese, I've never been to Taiwan before, and I speak Cantonese rather than Mandarin at home. All I had coming into this program was a year of an intensive Mandarin Chinese course in college and the excited anxiousness of traveling to a different country without my family for the first time. Born and raised in New York City, I had previously volunteered for two years to teach English to Chinese immigrant adults living in Chinatown, so I did have some sort of teaching experience as well.
As a rising sophomore in college, I initially felt older, different from the majority of the AID volunteers. However, as the week at Chientan progressed, as we went through hours of training, exploring, and eating meals together, age didn't matter as much as our diverse experiences, especially since everyone came from all over the US and some from other parts of the world. When I realized that my group's elementary school was in the middle of a mountain in Tainan rather than closer to the city, I prepared myself for huge bugs and nothing to do in the area around the school.
Two weeks later and I'm glad the school was so rural. The fresh air and the unexpected rainstorms felt amazing, the bugs no longer scared me, and the people were inspiring. The faculty warmly welcomed us as the first AID Summer volunteers to be hosted at their school. The homemade meals were consistently different and delicious every day. The weekend trips ranged from visiting historical landmarks to spontaneously swimming in a lake after kayaking. Teaching plans became easier to make with more experience in the classroom and learning more about the students. Communicating became easier as I learned to use more body language in expressions and gestures.
My overall experience has been extraordinary. I travelled through Taiwan, from its night markets to its farmlands, and inspired and became inspired by the connections I made with the students who were eager to learn, the faculty who were grateful for our service, and the volunteers who I know I will keep in touch with in the future. AID has truly been the highlight of my summer and an experience I will never forget.
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Yao, Chi-Yen (姚知言)
At the beginning of the camp at 劍潭, I expected teaching to be hard and to be filled with heavy preparation for classes. I also thought that in two weeks, I will never be able to form relationships with the students. However, after my first day in Maguang middle school, I am extremely thankful that my fears are gone. Although there were a few students who could not understand English, their classmates helped them immensely by translating for them. Some students were also shy, but opened up more day by day. During recess, the students not only tried to talk to us in English, but also wanted to learn more about our lives in America. My bond with each and every student grew in just a few days through playing with them and acting crazy to make them laugh. We would play sports, board games, or field games with students in the afternoon. My favorite activity with the kids is the talk show that the Taiwanese volunteers organized. The talk show incorporated Chinese phrase guessing games and American whisper challenge. During the weekends, I thoroughly enjoyed hanging out with Taiwanese volunteers in 嘉義 and going out to dinner with them. I am thankful for Peter, our teacher, for getting us what we want and bringing us places. I cannot thank the assistants enough for helping us teach English and for laughing at everything I do. On the last day of the program, I felt special and needed by my students as they asked for my contact information, so they could stay connected with me and other AID volunteers. At the closing ceremony, students expressed their thankfulness for us teaching them English. The hardest moment was when the kids and Taiwanese volunteers came to say goodbye to us the morning when we had to leave. Our bonds will never be broken!!
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Chen, Rita (陳奕棠)
I have always wanted to be a teacher. So when I got this opportunity I was very excited. The first week at chientan was a great opportunity for me to meet new friends and see how others were going to teach their kids. I was assigned to 竹田國小 in ping dong and those two weeks were full of ups and downs. I realized that teaching kids was not all fun and games. The kids were cute but very energetic. The hardest part was getting the kids to pay attention because they were all very young and had short attention spans. Although I came to Taiwan to teach kids English, I also learned a lot from my kids. The Simplest things in life could make them happy. For instance, when we taught them to sing you are my sunshine, we gave them these cheap plastic clappers, But they absolutely loved them. Not only did they use them during the song, but they also turned them into glasses afterwards. The kids could find joy from anything. I learned to be a child again and to use my imagination. Being with the kids also made me appreciate everything I have. Many kids didn't have parents, but they still came into class smiling every single day. During those two weeks I fell in love with my kids. At the end I couldn't bear to leave them(Let's just say I bawled like a baby). I promised them I would visit next year when I come to Taiwan, and I'm counting down the days till next summer. AID has also given me the opportunity to meet so many new friends from all over the world. Friends who have supported me throughout everything. Friends who gave me their shoulder to cry on when I was feeling down. I know it sounds cheesy but AID has changed me, and I want to thank those who organized this program for this opportunity. I want to thank them for joining me with my other family.
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Kuan, Alice (管智婕)
Reflection
These two weeks brought a lot of surprises for me. I had no idea what to expect - where our living area was, who would be caring for us, and, most importantly, what the kids would be like. I was extremely pleased and grateful for the turnouts of the first two; the floor of the kindergarten room where we were staying had just been redone, and all the teachers were extremely patient. They even gave us their own medicine and washing machine to use when we suffered from mosquito bites and when it was too hot to do laundry outside. These were pleasant surprises for all of us, but I never expected what surprises the following two weeks would bring.
Even during training week, I dreaded that my students would dislike me. I've worked with young children before, and there's one thing I am certain of: they are mischievous. I expected my students to be that way too, and I was right. My students, all third graders but one fourth grader, were not only impish, but they were also rowdy, hyper, and headache-inducing - and I loved that about them. Their sociability made the class more enjoyable and fun, which helped us as teachers manage the lessons better. They may be mischievous, but they were willing to concentrate on the lesson and were receptive to our words. My best memories with my kids was during break, they would find me to come play outside with them, and was whenever we played a game, such as I Spy, UNO, or a team competition, they always wanted to do it again. They would always say, "Teacher, let's play a game with the words you taught us!" And it made me glow with pride a bit. I also learned about some of the students' family backgrounds. It was sad to hear, but it helped me understand the obstacles the kids have and how they could overcome them. For example, there was a student who was too shy to dare to speak a word of English, so I stayed after school and during break to teach her one-on-one. There was also a student who didn't take to losing in team competitions well, so we had to teach her not only English but also good sportsmanship. By the end of the week, both scored high on the post tests and everyone celebrated the winners of competitive games. I remembered all this as I was standing in front of my kids at the closing ceremony, and I could barely speak through my tears. I wasn't just crying because I was leaving my students. I was crying because I was leaving the most fun, most intelligent group of young achievers that I've ever worked with.
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Yu, Connie (游康儀)
When I was accepted into this volunteer program, I expected to make new friends and experience what teaching my own class felt like. I ended up making irreplaceable bonds with other volunteers and falling in love with my kids.
When we first arrived at Ma Guang we were met with the open arms of the Taiwanese volunteers. We introduced ourselves and our age, and I was surprised that they were almost as young as the kids we were teaching, and didn't expect to converse with them other than to discuss the lesson plan for the next day. Those 10 volunteers became our new best friends. They took care of us: picked up our breakfast on their way to school, cleaned up after our messes, and helped deal with the ant infestation we caused in the girls' room. We went on trips to JiaYi and shrimp fishing together and we were inseparable, creating inside jokes and chatting non stop even when they left for home.
When we first started teaching the kids and Ma Guang, they were very unresponsive. Of course a few of them knew the answer, but they were too scared to take the chance and answer in front of their peers. We had one boy in the class who didn't know what his English name was, nor how to say it out loud. By the end of the first week this boy was one of the outspoken children in our class. Once the children learned that we were here to help improve their English, they opened up to us.
When it began to near the last few days of the program, my teaching partner became teary eyed just thinking of leaving the school. I thought that I would never reach that level of sentiment. Then the closing ceremony came. I bawled my eyes out when our own children approached the stage and publicly thanked us for our work. I cried even harder when she came to me and helped my wipe my tears. I didn't expect to fall so in love with my kids, and I certainly did not expect my kids to fall so in love with me.
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Yao, Joyce (姚恩亞)
I first applied to this program because I enjoyed working with kids and knew that this would be the kind of opportunity that would make for incredible experiences. I was nervous because my Chinese is far (soosososooso far) from fluent and also the whole traveling to Taiwan alone, not knowing anyone in the program, etc. But now that I've gotten to know my incredible group and taught for the 2 weeks, I can see there was nothing to be worried about. Looking back, I realize that all the worrying is a necessary part of the process. And despite all the late nights trying to finish teaching plans without falling asleep, the frustrating days in class when the kids didn't want to do anything but listen to 911/Underlover, and the homesickness, my group helped me through the hard parts and they made for some of the best times. It's actually amazing how our group happened to be put together: our attitudes and humor are all very similar and we ended up working well together. They're some of the best people I've ever met. I know that when I leave this Saturday, I'll be missing them and the incredible memories made this past month. From the blinding yellow polos, to the library floor where we slept at our school, to the beautiful mountain sunsets and the spunky kids-- It's all been so worth it and has made for one hell of a summer. #squatup
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Kuo, Joyce (郭慕臨)
When I go stargazing, I always think about how insignificant I am. Look at me, a tiny dot going about the mundane things in my life. Attending school? Eating rice? Surfing the web? How does that compare with the ever-expanding universe and all the life it contains? Everything out there always seems grander than anything I ever did.
However, on my final night in Taiping, I laid on the basketball court of Taiping Elementary School with my fellow teachers to stargaze. It was a clear night up in the mountains and an expanse of glittering stars welcomed our gaze. I kid you not, we even saw six shooting stars that night. Usually I would've felt like that tiny, insignificant person I've always thought I was, but for the first time in my life, I felt big compared to the universe.
I started off my first day of teaching expecting my students to be reluctant to spend their summer days learning English. I was completely right. They were hard to warm up to, shying away from my questions and silently refusing to do anything. However, they soon started to enthusiastically participate in games, and the more curious ones began to probe into my life as an American. Day by day, I watched my students memorize vocabulary, apply it, and perform all the tasks they were supposed to do. But there was something missing: their thirst for knowledge. They diligently learned English, but I knew that these actions were more of the Asian emphasis on education at work here. One day, I asked my students what they wanted to be when they grew up. To my surprise, I received a lackluster response. One of my students said he wanted to be just an average person. Another said they would probably just help out their parents. I repeated the question, emphasizing the word “want.” I watched as some of my students masked their true desires under apathetic expressions and shrugs. I knew that for some students, thoughts about leaving their family businesses and the tiny town of Taiping that sat atop of clouds seemed unimaginable. They always complained that I would never come back to see them again, but they never talked about coming to find me. My heart broke, because my students were children, who were supposed to have beautiful and wild dreams, untainted by the confinements of adulthood.
From that day on, I started telling my students what they could do with English, showing them pictures of my house and my University. I showed them photos of my travels around the US and the world, places that I knew they could go see for themselves if they earnestly learned English. Although it was gradual, I saw the desire to learn English spark in some of my students as they allowed themselves to dream about the possibilities learning a second language can hold for them. For me, this spark was the happiest moment of my Aidsummer experience.
That night, as I lay there gazing at the stars, I realized that the universe is a perspective I can make my own. Yes, we physically really are tiny dots relative to the rest of the Universe. But within our lives, we can build our own universes. For some, like my students in Taiping, they were born into smaller universes, and building beyond those boundaries seemed out of the question. But you never know what happens when universes collide. Hopefully, I was able to expand theirs a little more to include the rest of the world through English. I know that within these two weeks, they have definitely expanded my universe in by giving me new perspectives, unforgettable memories, teaching experience, and their love.
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Yuan, Ally (袁雯玫)
Before this program began, I was excited to explore Taiwan but I was also completely clueless about what I was even going to do. I'm not even Taiwanese. But besides green counselors forbidding us to get water after bedcheck, everyone who organized this program was really kind and dealt with our problems and teenage angst. To be honest this is one of those experiences that you may not realize in the moment, but it is one you will never forget for the rest of your life. The people you meet and the kids you teach will resonate with you for years to come. Saying your goodbyes will probably cause tears to fall and tight hugs to be exchanged. If you suspect this program to be dumb or pointless, do it for the boba. No but seriously, only a couple people will experience such a unique opportunity. It's a great cultural change as well....like there are ramen machines. Taiwan's technology is next level. You will have many laughs and you will probably cry, but I can promise you you'll cherish this month of AID forever. By the way, mind the cockroaches.
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Lin, Pei-Yi (林佩誼)
I can't believe that it's only been less than a month, because it feels more like an eternity.
AID was all about the people. I remember the first person I saw while my aunt and uncle were driving in to Chientan was a volunteer walking in from the train station. Later, that person turned out to be my teaching partner, Jesse Huang. Next, Linda Ho greeted me as I waited in line to receive my name tag, volunteer shirts, and duffel bag. Edward Wang played music through his speaker, which we have come to respect so much. After squeezing past everyone and finally finding our room key, Isabel Chan walked in with her luggage and set it down. During dinner, I found out that David Wang and I were from the same state, and that we were going to the same college. After talking with Eric Yan, we found our similar interest in electrical engineering. Grace Shan walked into the room later in the evening after her flight's arrival. Hilary, our beloved green-shirt, made sure that we woke up on time and went to our meals. We also met our school teacher, Fang-Ling, with her passion and guidance. Too many moments passed by during that first week for me to describe them all: Singing A Whole New World from Aladdin. Trying to make up a dance for Eye of the Tiger and Let It Go. Exercising our hips for the K-pop dance to Bad Girl. Decorating our posters with cute graphics. Designing lesson plans. Playing cards. Sharing all the food we bought at the Shilin Night Market. Team bonding...
When I arrived at Kaohsiung Municipal Shanlin Junior High School, the first thought I had was: Wow, this school is beautiful. Sporting four floors of faded brick, a fighter jet on display, two golden gourds at the entrance, and surrounded by beautiful mountains, the campus welcomed us into its friendly arms.
Teaching. It was only ten days of teaching. The first day, after our successful opening ceremony, I walked in and greeted the students with a, "Good morning, class!" "Good morning," they replied quietly. "Who would like to introduce themselves?" I asked. Silence. The wind lifted the curtains and the open notebooks on the desks. For a while, it was a two-teacher show. Calling sticks were made and used until they were dog-eared. Vocabulary words were silently copied down with blank stares. Jesse and I slowly lost our voices from talking so much. But by the last day, the tables were arranged in an intimate U shape around the central podium in the front of the classroom. I looked at the arrangement, knowing that in a few minutes, the students were going to come back inside from the closing ceremony and sort the tables into the usual uniform grid pattern. The podium would be pushed back to its original position, the trash emptied, the classroom floor swept, as if nothing had happened in that space of two weeks. And although the classroom might have just looked like an ordinary classroom after those two weeks, the truth is that magic had happened. Students had learned the difference between fif-TEEN and fif-TY. They learned the rules of Ultimate Frisbee and enjoyed three hours of it under the bright sun. They made cookies and fruit salad while watching movies and playing games. They drew owls with colored chalk all over the board. They were shocked by how long it took us to fly from America to Taiwan. ("How long do you think my flight was?" I asked a student. "I'm not sure, an hour or so, I guess," he answered. "It took me fifteen hours. Imagine sitting in a class for fifteen hours!")
The morning before we left Shanlin Junior High School, at least half the students volunteered to come and escort us. Let me tell you, I didn't cry when Dobby died in Harry Potter. I didn't cry when Jack sank into the ocean at the end of the Titanic. But an hour before the bus was scheduled to come and pick us up, my face was already blotchy with tears. Some sort of magic, huh? It was so difficult to leave them. We had sung together, eaten lunch together, and played dodgeball together. We had spent most of the last two weeks with them, teaching them and learning from them. We had given them a part of our lives, and they had given us a part of theirs. Once the bus arrived, they carried our luggage onto the bus for us. As the bus was driving away, we waved at the windows until we couldn't see them. The few students who rode bikes chased us until they couldn't keep up. We couldn't talk when they were out of sight. We could only sniffle. Linda and I pulled out our boxes of Kleenex tissue to share.
An eternity has passed by in this month. If only time could go on like this endlessly. In these almost-four weeks, I made so many friends, seen so many sights, and felt so much love. My souvenirs reach beyond the cards the students made for me, the sun cookies from Taizhong, and photos posted all over Facebook. Intangible souvenirs are entangled within my mind, my heart. I've made so many memories. If I could write all of them down on paper, the stack would reach beyond the Taipei 101. To conclude this lengthy reflection, I will make three promises: (1) to never forget, (2) to never regret, and (3) to never say goodbye, because it is always a 後會有期!
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Liu, Justin (劉全)
The only memories I have from when I was last in Taiwan are the smell of gasoline and uncomfortable heat. But that was more than 7 years ago. Now, along with those impressions are amazing experiences, memories, and friendships that will never be forgotten or lost. Starting out with a week of training to be teachers with 425 other volunteers was overwhelming; there were just so many of us, and not many had a clear picture of what we needed to prepare for and even fewer had prior teaching experience. But we tried our hardest during the workshops and classes, and we pulled ourselves together in the end. Next, we were off to teach at our respective schools spread out all across Taiwan. I had never spent more than a day outside a large city in Taiwan, so I could not prepare myself for what I was about to see when I stepped off the bus and onto the mountains of Sandimen in Pingtung. Timur Elementary was nothing like schools in the United States. For example, the building structure was similar to that of a motel, and the restrooms were outside, but it was easy to get accustomed to. The scenery of the mountains was absolutely beautiful, and we experienced a real taste of what aboriginal life in the mountains was like. Inside the classroom, we educated our students, but outside the classroom, our students became our best friends. Most of the kids grew up without an English speaking environment, so our teaching was a very significant opportunity for them. However, during breaks and after school we would be on the playground and basketball court with them, playing games and having fun. The school staff were extremely friendly and supportive, always asking if we needed anything for teaching or for ourselves, and if we were feeling comfortable and well. They essentially assumed the roles of a mother and father in our lives. Following this, our group of eight volunteers quickly felt like a family, with the staff as our parents. The staff held meetings to discuss how classes were going and the behavior of the students, but they also ate with us, spent time with us during free time to play countless games, and conversed all night until we had to sleep. Through this, we forged close relationships with each other and created everlasting memories. The two weeks quickly flew by all too soon, and in the blink of an eye it was time to leave. It was hard to not be sad, but even harder to hold back the tears when the kids crowded around us, their eyes red from crying. They did not want us to leave, and we did not want to either. We exchanged innumerable hugs and cried rivers of tears. We felt gloomy knowing we would not be coming back for a long time, but our time here is an experience that we will never forget and always cherish. We may be leaving this moment behind, but we will never leave behind the memories we made.
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Chang, Wan-Ni (Hannah) (張琬妮)
Never have I ever had to plan daily teaching lessons for two weeks before AID. Although the planning process was tedious, the actual teaching experience was completely unforgettable. My partner and I taught the rising third grade class that had never taken an English course yet, which made teaching in only English not possible-and helped me realize the limitations of my Chinese. While planning, we thought 6 periods of class was too much, but by the end of the two weeks, we realized that time went by really fast and we did not cover all the material we planned. However, a teacher told us our goal was to help the children like learning English so I do not regret any of our activities. Classes consisted of learning the alphabet, playing icebreakers, reviewing, learning songs, and practicing for closing ceremony. When learning the closing ceremony performance, my students were able to memorize all the words and even though some of them may not have understood what they were singing, I could tell they were having a lot of fun. My class, the youngest one, was the only class at the elementary school to perform three songs in a row so my partner and I are very proud of them!
Never have I ever explored so much. My group of AID volunteers was very lucky to have two cool guys from the military watch over us and accompany us to various cool places. I had never been to Pingtung before, but after going up the mountains, viewing beautiful night scenery, and walking around the neighborhood, I love it so much. In America, I would never get the chance to see as many stars as I saw in the mountains of Pingtung. In the US, if I had free time I would usually be resting inside, but in Taiwan I explored a lot more by playing with the kids. During breaks in between classes, I went to the playground and in the evenings I went to the track area to play with kids from camp and around the neighborhood. I was able to experience aboriginal Taiwanese community through this camp. I am so glad I was selected to be a volunteer for this program because I was able to happily teach disadvantaged kids American culture while also learning about their culture! Thankfully I was given some souvenirs front the school, but I will still always miss being in Timur!
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Chen, Ting (陳婷)
After volunteering at Taiping Elementary I feel both blessed and bittersweet. I'm so glad I got to experience the simple life of the mountainous country and what can be considered the hospitality of the village people. Similarly the children's curiosity to learn and interact with me and the rest of the volunteers were an extreme source of encouragement and motivation. Though our time together was short, our impact was immense. Its unfortunate that time flies so quickly for I will definitely miss the clean mountain air, beautiful scenery, and the children's wide smiles as I walk into the classroom every morning.
I'm very glad i decided to be apart of this program. Though training week is tough and teaching can be tiring. Without this program never would I have been able to taste tea made from the highest mountains in Taiwan, hike up mountains 10,000 ft above sea level, and make lifelong friends. Forever will the events of this program be burned into my memory. I hoped to serve for a greater purpose, but I received much more than I hoped to give.
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