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Chong, Tate (張大一)
My name is Tate Chong and I am 19 years old. Summer 2012 was the time of my life.
After hearing the exceptional reviews for this program, I had high expectations going in. I was most excited for the tour week, seeing as this was my first time in Taiwan. I expected the teaching portion to be fun but tedious, much like my previous experiences in teaching.
My prediction for the first week of training was more or less correct. Though it was a necessary process to ensure that we knew what we were doing, it was nevertheless repetitive and long. However, I was glad I went through that schooling. More than once did I find myself put on the spot, unwittingly relying on games and songs introduced during those first few days. Luckily, the children understood what we tried to do and for the most part, were enthusiastic to our ideas. We quickly realized that it was important to keep the children constantly occupied, varying the teaching plan as to best suit the energy level of the students. Also, giving out candy as a reward does wonders.
I used to go around with a box of gummy worms as a reward system. Whenever a student answered a question correctly, I would go up to him or her and ask, “Do you want one?”. The idea was that they would respond with “Yes, I want one. Thank you.”. The students picked up on this idea much faster than I thought. Three days into this, they would foresee the question and ask it with me. It quickly became a running joke during the rest of my time there. They even wrote the Chinese translation into the notebook I got everyone to sign at the end: “Do you 萬灣?”.
Never before have I imagined that I would be able to care so much about people I have known for not even a month. From the bottom of my heart, I want to thank all the people who have changed me for the better.
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Thach, Jessica (石億華)
There is always a difference for me when it comes to write my own experience down and what I really want to say. And I'm pretty sure that being part of an experience is totally different from hearing one's experience...but it would definitely give you an idea of what AID is about!
After submitting my candidature, I waited for months to finally see a change on my status. Thus, when I saw on the website that I was admitted to this program, I was really, really happy!
I started to do a brainstorming for my teaching plan; to find some kids’ songs on youtube; to borrow some books from my friends; to buy some Canadian gifts; etc. All to say that I wanted to be well-prepared and as you can tell, I was already excited for my summer 2012.
July first, it was the registration day. All the people there were strangers to me. I did not know anyone and I did not know how my teammates look like (I only knew their names). Luckily, my roommates are also the girls from my team, therefore I got to know them before the two weeks of teaching.
As the days go on, we got closer to each other. We were always together, all six of us. But I would say that we got much more closer during the two weeks of teaching.
During the two weeks, we were not only six of us. We met some friends at the school we got assigned to. There were two guys assigned in our school for their year of compulsory military service; they were our "nannies". They had to take care of us 24/7, which I think it is a lot since there were six of us. We also had three teacher assistants, who also became really close with us. Without doubt, the students also got close to us. I remember on our first day of teaching, I was expecting them to be timid. However, they were not shy at all; they were all really curious about the country we came from and our English conversations.
Indeed, it did not take a long time for us to get close to each other. These friendly and outgoing people made my stay really comfortable and unforgettable. I did not only teach English during the two weeks, I also learned a lot from the children. I met some great friends, and my partners are not just my friends anymore; they have become my sisters.
Finally, there was the tour. At first, everyone was looking forward for the last week tour. Yet, after the last day of teaching, none of us wanted to do it. We rather stay at our school with our students and our friends. For me, I felt strange to not have my "nannies" or the teacher assistants by my side during meal time or during the activities. Hopefully, I got to know the staffs on my bus since I have car-sick so I was able to sit beside and talk with them.
In short, AID was absolutely an amazing experience. I met so many friendly, smiling and interesting people, and of course, I met my five wonderful sisters! I also had a really good summer; I laughed a lot during these four weeks. Therefore, my tears were like a faucet when it was time for the goodbyes. Nevertheless, I still keep in touch with them and hopefully I will see them in the near future.
It is a see you later, never a goodbye. Thank you AID Summer Program 2012.
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Huang, Anne (黃佩珊)
My experience at AID 2012 has been an unforgettable experience for me. I made new friends, learned how to teach English to students and learned more about my Taiwanese heritage and background. It has been a wonderful stay for me, as I gained teaching experience in English while practising my Mandarin and visiting my home country and my relatives whom I haven't seen for more than 11 years.
I learned the importance of tailoring my lessons to my students' interests and level of English, so they are motivated to pay attention and participate in class. Sharing Western culture with my students was also very fun and rewarding - my students got to see what kind of life we lived in North America, so they felt closer to us volunteer teachers.
My students were, at first, very rowdy and uncooperative, but as we slowly incorporated interesting topics and fun activities into our lessons, our students opened up to us and really started enjoying the lessons we planned for them. I was so moved by my class's ending ceremony performance that I cried onstage during my speech - I felt that they all really improved and grew within those two short weeks.
I also really appreciated the help I got from my host school's staff - they were very supportive of all of us volunteer teachers and they were always making sure that our stay at their school was as comfortable as possible.
I would just like to suggest that for next year, communication between the host schools and the table teachers during training week be more clear and efficient, because there were lots of misunderstandings and misinformation between my table teacher and our host school's demands. In addition, actually knowing the level of our students before we get to our schools would help a lot with lesson planning, so we don't have to revise so much of our lessons plans when we actually get to the school, instead of waiting for our students' pre-test results once we arrived at the school.
Other than these few suggestions/problems, the AID Summer Program was a great experience and I hope I have to chance to participate in something like this again in the future, as well as visit my host school again to say hi to my students. Thank you, AID! ^^
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