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Chang, Brian Wen (張于修)
Coming back to Taiwan alone after high school graduation was something I looked forward to doing over the past year. I decided to participate in AID since I wanted to do something better than sitting with my relatives every day. I had to give up going to a few of my friends’ graduation parties as a result, but found it worthy. I left Michigan feeling a little nervous since I planned to be gone for eight weeks – the longest I will have ever spent away from home.
The best part of AID was spending the two weeks with the kids. Training week was not too exciting and I felt relieved once it was over. My teammates and I were excited to teach the kids. We were told that it would be best to avoid using Chinese and we tried it at first. However, we noticed during the pretest that some of the students even had a hard time with reading the directions and that it would not work out. We felt that using some Chinese when teaching vocabulary was important in helping the kids understand what they were learning. We had so much fun that two weeks went by very quickly. I personally felt that I learned a lot myself in that I was also able to expand my Chinese vocabulary while teaching the English words. We do not expect them to retain the vocabulary we taught, but rather hope they have found English useful and became more motivated to learn it in the future.
AID has left me with many unforgettable memories. I will forever remember the teammates I spent four weeks with, although we went through awkward moments at times, as well as the many other friends I met during training week and the tour. I literally felt like I would be perfectly fine not leaving AID if that were an option. Despite the lack of sleep, crappy Internet, and sometimes, poor living conditions on the tour, I found AID to be an amazing experience and will definitely look forward to doing it again in the future.
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Wang, Cynthia (王安瑜)
I’ve got to say, I was very hesitant and apprehensive to apply for this program. I wasn’t sure if I would be a good teacher, and this program would have taken up most of my summer. I wanted to spend my summer by hanging out with friends, reading new novels, going to the movies, getting a job, preparing for marching band camp, and many other fun activities. I’ve been told by friends who have been in the program that it was a really great experience, and they also told me they wished they could experience it again! I was surprised, considering that this program basically took up half of your summer, and most of your time is spent on teaching kids and preparing lessons for kids. It seemed like so much work especially over the summer! After much contemplation I decided to give it a try, I mean, what’s the worst thing that can happen, right? Either I get in, which would look good on my college applications, or I don’t get in, which meant I could do all the fun things I planned for the summer.
When I sent in all my papers, I turned my focus away from AID and worried about tests and exams. I completely forgot about AID. After a few weeks, I got my acceptance email and clicked the accept button, but I was still unsure if I wanted to go or not. I was not excited for this program. I couldn’t wait for AID to end.
The first week was training week at ChienTan. That was where I met my teaching group. My group consisted of eight people, six of them were rising seniors in high school and two were rising sophomores in college. We became good friends, and we were interested in what each person had to say about his or her life. I was gradually starting to like this program. I met tons of different people with awesome personalities, and teachers gave us wonderful advice on teaching kids and getting their attention. We learned and practiced different teaching techniques, and we were able to see video clips of elementary kids who had the chance of being taught by AID volunteers. I was so excited and couldn’t wait to teach my kids! Before I knew it, the training week ended, and it was time to go to our schools.
I was sent to a city called Pingtung, located in the southern part of Taiwan, and my school was called ChungWen Elementary School. I taught fourth and fifth graders, but some kids were good enough to be in the fifth grade level, so I had second and third graders in my class too. The lesson plan I worked on during my training week was too easy for the kids, so my teaching partner and I had to redo the whole thing. Our whole group had the same problem with the lesson plans (it was either too hard or too easy for the kids). We had to help each other with the plans and so this was when our teaching group got closer, since we shared about how our day went and about how our kids were after every school day. We helped each other get through the week, and we shared interesting and fun teaching ideas with one another. My partner and I played many games with our kids and showed them some English videos and songs. I got really close to the kids and loved them so much! I had such an amazing time teaching the kids.
During the weeks of teaching, my partner and I lived with a host family. They had 3 kids in the house (all of them were in elementary school), and we had an exciting time getting to know them. They also had a fun time getting to know us and learning about the American culture. They took us out to eat, and we went to night markets and visited the big university of PingTung. During my time with my host family, I learned how to speak a little bit of Taiwanese, how to wash my own clothes, and my Chinese improved greatly. It was so fascinating!
Two weeks of teaching flew by, and I was sad to find out that it was time to part with my kids. They gave us little gifts and made us cute goodbye cards. I almost cried when they all went to the front of the room and hugged me and my partner. They told us to come back anytime, and some of the kids even offered their own homes as a place to stay the next time we came back. It was such a touching moment that will be kept forever in my heart.
Then came the tour. I met and became friends with many new people on my bus. We shared about our teaching experiences at our cities. It was so cool to listen to everyone’s experience at their schools! We soon stopped talking about our schools and focused on our tour. I was on the central tour, and my teaching group stuck together and went everywhere as a team. We went to a lot of places, and we had so much fun! We went to the Aboriginal Culture Village, the Sitou Nature Education Area, the Jiji train station, Lukang temple & old street, the Marks of the Jiangs, Daichi old street, the Eslite Bookstore, Taipei 101, the President Hall of R.O.C., the National Palace Museum, and we also went to the biggest night market in Taiwan called Feng Chia Night Market. On the last night of this program, my teaching group and I stayed up very late and played games and talked to one another. We shared our thoughts, and we traded emails and phone numbers. The next morning, we said our goodbyes and promised to stay in touch with each other. I miss them so much, and I hope someday we’ll meet again as a whole group.
I can’t begin to tell you how exciting and awe-inspiring this experience was, but being a part of this program has been like a really good dream to me, and it’s been the best adventure I’ve taken! I got to meet many people with awesome personalities, and I also got to learn a lot of things from these people. I’ve become more mature and responsible, and I feel like I won’t have any trouble when handling with kids. I came back to the U.S. feeling so blessed because I come from a neighborhood with basically no poverty and live around a place with a great education system. The people in rural Taiwan don’t have money to spend for their kids on education, they don’t have abundant resources for a good learning environment, many parents don’t spend time or care for their kids, and many of the kids aren’t interested in learning. The problems can go on and on. I really want to go back and take part of this program again, but I know I won’t because this experience is one that I will treasure for life. It was a YOLO moment. A “You Only Live Once” moment. The kids I taught will always be my kids, and the teaching group I was in will always be a part of me. These memories will never leave me. So, who cares about going to the movies, reading new novels, preparing for marching band camp, and getting a job? Not when I could be a part of something so fun and so extraordinary! I’ve got to say, this is the best summer I’ve ever had.
AID summer 2012 <3
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Chen, Lawrence Tyng-Hann (陳亭翰)
I am so thankful that I was given the opportunity to be part of this incredible program. It is so generous that Taiwanese government provides for, and understands the value of this unique cultural exchange between second-generation Taiwanese-Americans and native Taiwanese students that might not have many opportunities to gain a small global perspective. It is this that makes the program so valuable -- the chance for both parties to gain from a single experience. I know that I myself have gained a better understanding and appreciation for Taiwan, its people, culture, and my own ancestry. Most of all, my Mandarin Chinese and skills with people, especially children, has increased hundred-fold. I can trust -- no, know that our students have gained as much or more from this exchange. This opportunity is so unique in that it brings together the most talented and wonderful individuals from around the world. Volunteers and camp counselors alike are fantastic people of the highest quality and caliber that through the week of training, two weeks of teaching, and especially the final week of the tour, we all became the best of friends. These vibrant connections and relationships will be ones that last a lifetime and bring to us great joy and color. My only hope is that the AID Summer Program will continue on, bigger and better as the years progress, finding the balance between inviting more volunteers to teach more children and keeping the group elite and superb in quality. I have loved my experience with this opportunity so much that all things willing, I will apply to be a part of next year's program. Thank you!
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Li, Irene (李藹鈴)
It's been a while since I came away from AID; in another shiny silver bird I crossed the Pacific, skimming the clouds and the mountains and the lightrays of a blue blue sky back to America.
Contrasting the plane rides to and from Taiwan, I found that in both I had senses of expectation for different things - coming, I was anxious and quite nervous about teaching and about my ability to give the kids a good experience, since they'd devoted two weeks of their busy young lives to learning English. My anticipation coming back, though, was more subtle - how could I use the things I'd learned and skills I'd developed so I wouldn't lose them eventually?
As a student myself, I can feasibly say that I have a lot more to learn about being a teacher. I'll admit I started out much too harshly on the kids often, and I made the essential mistake that many young teachers do: being so close in age to my students, I often expected them to be able to think the same way I did. Now that I look back on it, it was obviously a silly expectation... but after developing lesson plans in a vacuum during training, I was often frustrated by why my attempts didn't result in the kids learning more efficiently.
All in all, however, I learned to become more flexible in my class curriculum. My partner and I were able to work out a system where we switched off teaching and communicated to each other nearly every minute of our eight-hour day, which fortunately allowed us to trust each other in delegating responsibilities. Our efforts culminated in our final performance with all the tears - our respective waterworks were definitely genuine.
And yet the kids weren't the only thing that made AID special - living in the town of Taiping, I was able to experience a kind of natural freedom that American suburbia lacked. With the natural beauty of the mountains and the way seasons almost effortlessly cycled into one another, I usually didn't feel like I needed rapid high-speed internet or flashing city lights to keep me interested and out of boredom. Since I was so conscious about how short two weeks really was, I did a lot of discovering in the mountains, going running with fellow teachers, tasting tea in local teahouses during the daily rainstorm... nothing could have prepared me for Taiping's quiet beauty and the geniality of its people.
My time during AID, standing on the cusp of my adult life, was simultaneous a whole deal of fun and a whole deal of realizing, even if just a little , the things that I could do as a single person. I found out that making friends is not that hard, that I could learn and teach simultaneously, and that six weeks with the same six people could definitely be one of the most cherished things in my young life.
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Wang, Michelle (王馨敏)
With a name such as AID Summer Teaching Program, the automatic assumption is that the purpose is for the volunteers to teach English to underprivileged students. While this is not wrong, it does not complete the description of what I experienced these past four weeks. The first time I had heard about this program was from my sister. Being two years older than me, she had also participated in the AID Summer Program during the summer of her Senior Year in high school. Of the stories and memories that she shared with me, there was one thing that bothered me. Being the more responsible and studious child, my sister's Chinese was much better than mine. She told me that she spoke to her students in all Chinese. This idea frightened me the most. I did not have that much confidence in my Chinese ability. This thought worried me even as I went through the training at Chientan and up until my first day of teaching. I wondered "how am I going to teach students a language when I can't even communicate with them in their first language?". As the days passed, I realized that it wasn't so much about the teaching of a language but more the sharing of culture. The idea was not to simply bolster the children's linguistic abilities. No, it was to open their eyes to a new world. However, this lesson did not only apply to the children I taught. I, myself, also experienced living with a new perspective. Seeing the daily lives of children from across the world, I learned of a culture and lifestyle very different than that of my own. However, the opportunity to be a part of such a cultural occasion was something I never had expected when I first applied.
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Huang, Darwin (黄大维 )
I feel like this extraordinary program has given me an opportunity to both teach young aspiring minds the language of English, and to learn about the unique culture and customs of Taiwan. In my two weeks of teaching, I felt like I taught the young aspiring minds a great deal of English; in return, they taught me a bit about both Taiwanese culture and Taiwanese schools. My students greeted me with smiles, and tried to "teach" me a bit of Chinese in the process (I feigned ignorance of the Chinese language, and the students believed it... for the first week). Although I may not have taught as much English as I may have wished to (there were only two weeks), I feel like I have created a groundwork, a foundation, on which my students may build upon in the future in their future studies of the unique language of English. In the future, I hope my students will raise up above some of their unfortunate circumstances, and use English, the de facto language of international business and politics, to build their careers and join the global economy.
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Wang, Austin Brian (王柏安)
Before I came to this camp, I was kind of hesitant. I was leaving my friends who I had plans with to come overseas and spend my wonderful summer teaching kids English! That sounded like too much of work to me. However, when I arrived here, I slowly started taking that opinion back. Now, after 4 weeks, my opinion has completely changed. AID was a surprising wonderful experience. I made friends with so many people and created wonderful bonds! I'm happy to be apart of such a good community. Thank You for the Experience :)
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Jiang, Thomas (江若飛)
This camp was only 4 weeks, but as mathematicians have noted, any stretch of time can be infinite.
The games we played to entertain ourselves may have lasted only minutes, but the fun they were lasted hours.
The time spent sightseeing may have been only hours but the souvenirs we take away will last years.
The camp may have been only 4 weeks long, but the friends made and memories created will last a lifetime.
I only hope that the English I taught inspired students and will motivate them for generations.
As one of our group members noted, the more footsteps we take, the more we leave behind. May our footsteps be infinite.
Introduction Registration Week: The process was uncoordinated and messy in the beginning. There were difficulties in processing that number of people at that rate including sound issues where speakers were unheard amist the commotion.
The classes and seminars were elementary and basic, and only provided a few nuggets in the huge amount of time we sat through it. There was not enough time in groups and partners to prepare for schooling. I recommend removing time from the presenters and give it to group time to prepare. The food and lodging was acceptable.
Teaching at Schools: The school teaching time was extraordinarily good. Although the teaching was tiring there was much to be learned and much to teach. Yet I felt unprepared, either because the guest speakers during the first week lacked substance or there wasn't enough time to prepare.
Touring week: It seemed there was a balance between bus time and sightseeing time. The balance was almost perfect, yet in the places where I really wanted to explore it was too rigidly controlled with too little free time and the times where the sights were not as interesting the time dragged on a little too long. One option would be to cut the number of activities that are redundant out and keep the interesting unique ones. Similarly the organization during this week was close to perfect but has room for improvement.
Overall: I had a lot of fun, learned a lot, and hope I taught a lot. Taiwan was exciting, beautiful, and entertaining. The people were amazing and the trip was a perfect blend of everything. I'm extremely grateful to AID summer 2012 for allowing me the opportunity to visit Taiwan and I hope I have met their standards for my participation. Thank you.
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Lin, Li-Shiuan (林立璇)
These 4 weeks have been an unexpected joy and a time of many happy moments with my great friends. It's been full of laughter and at the end sadness but the things that we did together and the memories that we made together will stick with me for a lifetime and many times over. I'm so glad to meet the many friends on this trip and I hope that they will be my friends for life. Thanks to OCAC for organizing this wonderful opportunity to meet many new cute faces and giving me a beautiful time in Taiwan.
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Tzou, Daniel (鄒緯儒)
Heading into the AID program, I honestly did not expect to do as many things as I did and have as much fun as I had. The AID program in Taiwan was a fantastic experience and I definitely recommend it to anyone who is looking to make an impact on a community, invest in others’ lives to make a difference, and get to meet a lot of amazing people.
The first week at Chientan was a very neat experience. My five roommates were really cool people and I was so blessed to get to know them better over the first week. I found this teaching seminar week to be really intense, as I had to complete several tasks in a very short period of time. This included the teaching plan, working journal, and preparing all of our teaching aids for the following two weeks. Despite the hectic schedule with the daily seminars and limited break times, the first week was put together very well and I really enjoyed being able to get to know other people and work hard with my teaching group.
The following two weeks were definitely the highlight of my AID experience. The teaching aspect was just part of the reason. Getting to know the kids on a personal level was fantastic. I was blessed to have only eleven students, which allowed me to get to know every kid. I’m really close friends with all of them and we still keep in touch. The school teachers and adult helpers there were a huge blessing as well. All of them were so nice and so encouraging to us. They would tell us how the younger students looked up to us as role models. This was particularly encouraging because it helped me realize how big of an impact I could make on these individuals.
Tour week was pretty fun as well. I was reunited with all of my other friends I met at Chientan and it was fun getting to share our teaching experiences.
Overall, it was a fantastic experience. Telling my teacher peers and students about my own life, getting to know lots of new faces who are just like me, and most of all sharing with others about my convictions and my faith in Christ was a huge blessing. I thank God for this program, for it taught me so many lessons and allowed me to get to meet so many wonderful individuals.
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Hwang, Grace Jean (黄子安)
I'm an English writing major, so I love to load all of my words with adjectives. This post reflection is one of those rare cases, however, in which I do not wish to saturate my words with such descriptive pleasantries because I do not believe that it would ever be adequate to capture the experience. Any adjectives would appear garish beside such full moments. This program exceeded my expectations, so much that I was shocked but relieved that I was weeping at the end when I said farewell to one of my fellow teachers. I was shocked because I did not expect to grow so attached to this program and its people. However, I was relieved, because I realized that my experience had been so rich that my heart was twisted from having to leave. Why? It's because I came out of the heat with these people, both in a literal and metaphorical sense. Yeah, it's definitely hot in Taiwan temperature-wise, and that takes a tax on people's moods. However, through it all we still managed to accept, work, and enjoy one another's company. We also came out of the challenges of teaching English with smiles of victory on our faces. I'm not going to sugarcoat the experience and pretend that everything was slap-happy. There were definitely moments when I seriously considered quitting because I was so physically and mentally exhausted. However, it was after hitting that wall and pushing through that I realized that I had grasped another piece of life that I will never be able to attain elsewhere.
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Liu, Michelle (劉鳳璇)
I had no idea what to expect coming into this camp, but I left with unforgettable memories, moments, friendships, lessons, and life lasting experiences. I was intimidated by the challenge of teaching in a language that was not my first, and it would be my first time out of the country for such a long period of time. I learned so much from teaching children, they may have taught me as much if not more than I taught them. Despite my many trips to Taiwan I have never had the chance to learn and explore all of the culture this country has to offer. In 4 short weeks my teaching group became my family, and within 2 weeks my school at HotSpring Elementary became my home. This camp will definitely remain as one of the most life changing experiences I have ever had. I am so thankful that I got an opportunity to attend. Every person from my teaching group, table teacher, school administration, and camp counselors were excellent and contributed were a major part of why my experience was so amazing.
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Shih, Christopher (石嘉智)
A.I.D. Summer has been a great experience for me. The first week was worth it but it was more boring than the rest of the tour. When I got to the school I was quickly overwhelmed with teaching the children. My teaching plan wasn't up to par with what the students wanted to learn or didn't know. Some was boring and some was too easy or too hard. It was hard to find the perfect medium and perfect material to teach the kids. By the end of the first week I was exhausted and had barely survived the first week. Admittedly, I wasn't happy with teaching the kids. However, when the second week started then when I started teaching again, teaching got easier and easier. The kids began to understand English more and more and then they began to enjoy the class more and then I also began to enjoy teaching more. By the end of the closing ceremony, it was bitter-sweet since the difficult part of AID was over, teaching. The two weeks of teaching was possible the most exhausting two weeks that I had ever experienced but at the end, when the students were performing their closing performance, I knew I would really miss my students. Every single student, whether they were the class clown or the class' smartest kid, would be missed. They added to the experience and they had their own place in class. I was only teaching a small class of 17 with a partner so it won't be easy to forget them.
The tour was a very fun part of this camp as well. Before this camp, I had only gone to Tainan, Taipei, and Jinmen. The only real sight-seeing location I had been to was Taipei 101. Going to all of the other locations and travelling from the southern tip of Taiwan all the way to the top of the island was a great experience. The bus rides were tiring but it was worth every second.
When I had first signed up for this camp I was unsure of whether I wanted to spend the majority of my summer here but now, I find that it was a good decision. Not only did I experience teaching children English, I met lots of friends. Even though the last day of the camp was very cliche, the many good byes and knowing that you would probably never see each other again in person was quite unbearable. I admit that I actually shed a tear during the closing ceremony which is a lot less than some who outright cries but for me, it was surprising.
AID SUPER!Bus 3 2012!
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Kao, Clara (高瑀翎)
This past summer was undoubtedly one of the best I've experienced. I arrived in Taiwan with little expectations but left having made amazing friends and gaining experience teaching kids which I never would've had.
Although training week started out a bit slow, after arriving at Daxi Elementary the following week, I realized everything we had learned was very useful in the classroom. The kid were adorable and actually knew more English than my partner and I had expected. But even though I was the teacher, I actually learned a lot from my students-- I learned some Taiwanese and immersed myself more into Taiwanese culture, but most of all, I realized how hard it is to teach. Yet, despite the obstacles, all the hard work truly pays off. When I graded my students' post-tests and saw how much they had actually learned, I realized the different I could make.
Moreover, the friends I made through AID are ones I look forward to seeing in the future. Because I spent 24 hours a day for two weeks with 7 other high school and college students, I became very close to my Daxi teaching group. I think this is one of the best parts of the program, creating bonds with other overseas Taiwanese from across the globe. Even from just these four weeks, I know that I can count on the friends for anything.
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Yiu, Lydia May (游雅)
Even though I had teaching experience and experience working with young kids at my local Chinese school, the reality of the AID summer experience went beyond my expectations.
When I was told I had to write my own teaching plan, I was shocked. How can I be expected to design all of this myself? But with the reference of last year's plans and thorough outlining, I was able to come up with a simple rough draft of what I wanted to teach my kids. During teaching week, the multiple lessons and tips presented by experienced teachers provided lots of advice and suggestions for our teaching plans. We included games, songs, and activities in our everyday schedule at school to help the students further apply the lesson in context.
In fact, the first few days, a government worker had come to our school, observing our lessons and was extremely unsatisfied with our performance. We were all shocked, as we have been continuously told that we were doing great during all the after school meetings. We regathered ourselves and started planning our lesson more completely. And the second time around, the government worker gave us compliments for incorporating useful games and a more thorough lesson plan.
In the end, the hardest part was of course, leaving the kids. To be honest, I never expected myself to bond with the children on such a personal level at all. But after two weeks, I became their teacher, sister, and mom all combined in one. Through my tears on the last day, I was able to realize the inspiration and encouragement that we have brought them, to continue learning English and the hope of meeting once again.
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Chan, Rosalie Marian (曾奕寧)
After hearing so much about AID from my friend Caroline, I decided to apply for AID this year. From what she said, it seemed like it would be a fun experience, meeting new people, traveling around Taiwan and teaching English to Taiwanese children. I was very excited to begin the AID program, but at the same time, I was nervous. What if I didn't get along with my teaching group? What if I can't handle teaching children? What if AID isn't as great as I thought it would be?
Turns out, AID went above and beyond my expectations. To say that it was a great experience would be an understatement. Honestly, it was probably the best month of my life.
The first week at Chientan wasn’t that fun, but I really enjoyed bonding with my roommates and teaching group. However, teaching was something totally different. Our group taught at Chung-Wen Elementary School. We couldn’t use Chinese at all, so at first, the children did not understand us at all. We had to use hand gestures and talk really slowly, and still they couldn’t understand. Throughout the two weeks, we taught different vocabulary words, without once letting our students know that we could speak Chinese. Although this provided a barrier, this was good because in the end, the students grew more comfortable with listening to English. Speaking only English provided them with an atmosphere where they learn not only vocabulary words, but other commands and conversational words.
Often, the students gave us headaches, and every day, our teaching group would walk into the principal’s office and rant about our students’ bad behavior. During those two weeks, we had to give time-outs to misbehaving students, and we often had to yell at our kids to settle down. But at the same time, they were a great group of kids. They always wanted to play with us during breaks and tried teaching us Chinese. I enjoyed having our students draw pictures and make animal masks, and once, we taught them how to make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. It was a culture shock to them because they thought the sandwiches looked so gross. But in the end, most of the students actually liked the sandwiches. It always made me happy when a student tried to use English words when speaking. Did the students learn much English from us during those two weeks? Probably not. But they became more comfortable with it. And yes, the teaching thoroughly left me exhausted, but it was definitely worth it.
I also loved that we lived with host families. The first two nights were really awkward because we thought we couldn’t use Chinese, but once we found out that the kid in our host family was not our student, we gave up and started speaking Chinese. From then on, we grew really close to our host family, and they became like our own family. They were very kind to us, cooking amazing meals and taking us out to places for snacks. I also loved the kids in our host family; we never knew what to expect from them, but they were really fun to be around. In addition, my Chinese improved from talking with them. After two weeks of living with them, I felt very sad saying good-bye to them, and I knew I would miss them so much.
The tour was a ton of fun. I had a blast going around to different places in Taiwan and hanging out with people in my group. During the month at AID, our teaching group became really close, and I found it easy to open up to them. I just came back to the U.S., but already, I miss AID, my teaching group, students, host family and Taiwan. I’m so glad I got to spend my summer at AID in Taiwan, and I couldn’t have asked for a better experience or teaching group. I will never forget this summer. Shout out to the people in the Chung-Wen teaching group, teacher Christine and the people and counselors on Bus D!
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Wu, Grace (吳慶圓)
This trip was an amazing experience. I learned a lot, not from the week of preparation before teaching, but from my group members and from my school and children.
The one piece of advice I'd give to teachers is to not focus too much on teaching them English. Of course, that's what you're there for, but you're not going to be able to teach them much in 10 days. I would focus the most on getting to know your group members and your children and during the tour week, getting to know your bus members. Meeting new people and forming good relationships with all of them, that's what I remember most about this trip.
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Shen, Tiffany Ting (沈婷)
As clichéd as it sounds, the best thing I took from this experience are the friends I made over the entire four weeks. Whether it be the counselors, fellow volunteers, school officials, or students, I valued each relationship just as much as the next. From the very first day, it was about who I was with that made it so memorable, especially since I had arrived a day earlier, before the program even started. Forced to quickly get along or risk being alone for the entire day, the group of us early arrivers set out to explore the city, right before we would have all of our freedom stripped from us. Counselors and flags? Those hadn’t existed for us yet. Group meals with songs and chants? Definitely not required to begin the meal. And no opposite sex room visitations? Yeah, we would’ve broken that rule by about ten guys if that had been the case. With no restrictions or limitations (yet), we were able to branch out a little more with where we explored. Suffice to say, when the program did begin and we were assigned to all these new groups of strangers, one thought remained consistent:
“How’s your new group?”
“Hm, they’re all right.”
“But the original group was better, right?”
“Yeah! It just feels…different.”
Naturally, our attitudes have changed since then as we grew close to our school groups, but those initial friendships will always have a different sort of bond attached.
I will be the first to admit that while I did want to become good friends with my school group, it wasn’t that simple in the beginning. I either wanted to spend my time becoming better friends with the early arrivers, the ones I was already comfortable with, or my roommates. Because, as it turned out, we were one of the few school groups that was comprised of all girls. Thus, six girls were assigned to one room, while the remaining two of us were in a different room with another school group. Obviously, I got along with my own school group during training and our prep time, but outside of that, it was just easier to go back to my own room than to awkwardly invite myself to the other room. And so, my roommates and I had a fun time, complete with an established movie tradition that we still connected over after the fact. They were all pleasant roommates to have. In fact, it was a nice surprise when we found out that we were all rooming together for one night of the tour. It was as if nothing had changed, except maybe for all the times we hit our heads on the beds above us.
Towards the end of training week, it was pretty impossible not to bond with my school group over the ridiculousness of some of the week’s events. Little things really, like the organizations, or lack thereof, of assignments. Communication was unclear, the schedule of activities was questionable, and there was nothing to do aside from ranting about it to each other. I will say, though, that our table leader did his best to compensate and was really helpful in the grand scheme of things. I really do appreciate the effort he made, particularly in coming to visit us at school as it wasn’t even the one he taught at.
The next two weeks at our school in Miaoli were the best ones of the entire program. Our principal, school directors and chiefs, and two military men were as hospitable as they could be. Anything we needed we would get the next day, on top of the extra things they gave us that we didn’t even think of. They truly cared about our wellbeing, and NanHe Junior High really did become our home away from home. They kids, on the other hand, made the experience for me. Actually teaching them predictably had its good and bad moments, but those ten minutes in between periods made it all worth it. The fact that our students took their down time to crowd around us was one of the most rewarding moments of each day. There were conversations, jokes, and a whole lot of music during these times, and really, it was the simple acts of them coming to stand beside us or to show us something cool that I treasure. Even now, it’s just as exciting when I received a message online from a student that’s as common as, “Teacher, how are you doing?”
In terms of my school group, it was those two weeks that sealed it for us. Others even admitted that none of us really knew each other that well until we were at school. After all, with no way out of the school or even a place to go in all of Miaoli’s rural glory, there’s really no other option but to befriend the few that are around, and I couldn’t have asked for better people to be with. Even after teaching all day and prepping all night, the eight of use still managed to have a blast together, through thick and thin! We laughed together, we cried together, and my teaching partner and I most definitely yelled together. I almost lost my voice to show for it, as many can attest, but the mischievous students of 8B were our mischievous students. We worked well together to handle them, and our compatibility definitely made for great teaching, learning, and playing experiences.
If there’s one thing I wish I had done during those four weeks, it would be getting to know the counselors better in the beginning. After missing out on the chance to do so during training week, I made it a point to talk more with the ones we had during the tour. Not only was it great from a cultural perspective, to see what people our age are like in Taiwan, but also great just because they are genuinely interesting people that are worth getting to know. I took every opportunity I had to talk with them and ask questions, and I definitely learned a lot. For as much flak they got from us about some of the tour, we loved having them there with us not as guides and counselors, but as friends. I’m really disappointed that I didn’t stay in Taiwan longer after the program just to hang out with the counselors some more on our own. Though, I do hope that if I return or if they come to the U.S., that we will meet up once again.
So, as much fun as it was to see so many parts of Taiwan and to have had this experience of teaching English, none of it would have been significant had it not been for the people I met and interacted with.
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