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Thach, Jennifer (石億絢)
To be honest, when I learned that I was admitted to AID summer program, I did not feel all the excitement that I should feel. In fact, I was more worried and scared than excited. I was worried that I would not be able to be a good English teacher since I have no experience with little kids. I was really scared. I did not know if I made the right decision. However, now that everything is over, I am glad to say that AID was a great experience. I learned so much about Taiwan and I gained so much experience too. This program did not only benefit the rural area children, it also benefited myself a lot.
I never knew it was so hard to teach to little kids. Even though it was only a short two-week of teaching, I can tell you that I was tired every day! We were not only their English teachers, we were also their friends, their big sisters/brothers, their confidants! During that two-week, I am sure they learned more than just English. We taught them more than just English. They were fascinated by where we came from; our lives in Canada/USA, our non-Asian friends, our schools, our seasons, etc. During that two-week, I feel like it was more a cultural exchange more than us teaching English to them. We, the English teacher, learned a lot about Taiwan, its culture and language. On the other hand, they also learned a lot about us.
Even though the teaching weeks were challenging but it was worth it. I learned how to be even more patience with kids, learned how to solve problems more efficiently, learned how to teach, etc. Moreover, I also learned how to do laundry, how to clean a washroom, etc. AID is seriously a program where you get to learn a lot; about yourself, about Taiwan and about life in general. I can tell you that I did not regret participating in this program. Sometimes, things weren't as you planned or expected, but that is just life. Fortunately, everything turned out to be great :)
The tour week was also amazing. You get to meet more people and also have fun with them while learning more about Taiwan. We visited a lot of touristic places and I wished the tour week could be a little bit longer.
I'll also remember the memories that we have created and all the good times we spent together... I really miss you all and I am looking forward to seeing you guys again!
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Liu, Yu-Hsien (Tony) (劉昱賢)
This program has been an amazing experience. Having the opportunity to teach younger students English is truly enriching and I am so glad to have been able to do this. Throughout the past 4 weeks, I have met excellent friends from all over, caring teachers who helped us step by step and eager students who were excited to learn from English from us. I sincerely appreciate all the people I met, all the good times we had together, all the delicious food I ate and the unforgettable memories I will take with me. Thank you AIDsummer 2013 so much for everything!!
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Huang, Jessica (黄心加)
AID 2013 provided me with the opportunity to explore, learn, and challenge myself. Going into this program, I wasn't sure what to expect. My sister and other family members of mine attended Love Boat and they all had an amazing time. I was hoping to share the same experience they had, in hopes of leaving Taiwan with many new memories and experiences. To start off, we had training for a week and it was quite long and boring, but I did learn one or two things. Once the teaching started, time flew by. I stayed in a house with five other members of the program, two girls and three boys. None of us knew what to expect in regards to accommodations, and what the students would be like. I think it's safe to say that we were very fortunate and lucky to be living in a house two minutes from the school, each with our own beds, three separate rooms, a kitchen, two bathrooms, a washer/dryer and great hosts/hostesses. Everyone at the school was welcoming, respectful and very sweet. They provided us with just about anything we needed. At first they mentioned the area may not be the safest, but they were constantly watching over us and created a safe environment for us to live in. Teaching the kids was absolutely my favourite part. Although it took a lot of preparation and hard work, it was worth it. To see the kids eager to learn and willing to participate made it that much better. We planned a twenty minute opening ceremony to introduce ourselves, as well as a closing ceremony that the kids participated in. All the kids were respectful, happy, energetic and helpful. During this time, my teaching group also created a strong bond with each other. There were times when some members would argue about small things, such as cleaning, but they were able to resolve the issue right away. Leaving the school and kids behind was tough, you spend so much time with them and get used to seeing their smiles everyday that you are a bit reluctant to say goodbye. However, once we said goodbye to the school we were on our way to another adventure with the rest of the AID program. I was on the central tour, and many people discussed how much better the south tour would be, so I was a little skeptical and worried about our tour week. Looking back now, I had nothing to worry about, I met some really sweet and nice people on tour and I was able to spend more time with them on tour. We visited many places and were given some free time to explore on our own. Overall, this trip made me laugh, and cry from happiness. I wish we got the chance to visit the South and do more activities, but I don't regret this trip one bit.
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Zhou, Alan (周亮)
When I first got to ChienTan on June 30, I did not know what to expect. As the first week went by, I met my teaching group and together we sat through a series of lectures, some helpful, some not too much. By the end of the first week, we were all pretty excited to start teaching, although to be honest, I was still kind of nervous about what to expect.
Once we got to Bali primary, I noticed immediately that everyone was just so friendly! The teachers at our school and Taiwanese people in general were so kind-hearted, and despite an incoming typhoon that threatened to cancel our activities, the teachers tried their best to make our stay as comfortable as possible.
Teaching the kids was a once in a lifetime experience. Walking into class on the first day, I noticed that things were very, very different from North American classrooms. The students were all really attentive, and most of them took notes of everything we said - without being asked to! During recess, the students would sweep the floor and wash the washrooms, and at lunchtime, they would act as cafeteria staff, serving food to other students. I quickly grew to love the students at our school. As the days went by, I realized that we actually couldn't teach too many things in only two weeks, so when our time at Bali was up, I found myself hoping that we had at least made an impact on the kids, and inspired them to keep learning English.
On the last day at Bali, as we were getting reading to pull out of the driveway of the house we had lived in for the past 2 weeks, a few of our students who lived close by came over on their bikes to bid us farewell. After a teary goodbye, we drove away and I watched as they became smaller and smaller, and then as they finally disappeared around a corner, I found myself wondering if I'd ever see them again.
After another teary farewell to one of our colleagues who didn't come with us on the tour, we left arrived in Taichung and started our tour week. Because there were so many of us, we couldn't spend too much time at the landmarks and attractions, so the week quickly flew by with my wondering what I had seen at all. Despite that, I enjoyed a week of fun with my teaching group that I had gotten close to.
As Summer 2013 draws to a close, I would like to thank my students, the teachers at Bali, our neighbours 桌爸 and 桌媽, my teaching group, all the counsellors at AID, and the organizers of AID for making the past month an eye-opening and unforgettable experience for me. I will always remember how, when I asked one student on the last day if she would promise me to never stop learning English, she looked up at me and said, "Yes, I promise", and I am beyond excited to see what my students will grow up to become!
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Kung, Ching (龔婧)
This summer is definitely one of the best summers I ever had. Truthfully, I was a bit skeptical about this program during the first day because there were close to 400 new faces and I was a bit overwhelmed. In the end, it turned out more than okay, it actually turned out great. I don't even think it's too much to say that this has been a life changing experience.
I met great people and made friendships that I did not expect to make. Being thrown into a room with 5 random girls, I did not expect us to become such great friends at the end. But honestly, it's pretty hard not to get close to people who you spend 24 hours together with zero privacy. Even though there were fights and tears, the laughters and good memories are what counts.
The training week at Chientan seemed a bit tedious to everyone but without the lectures, it would have been really difficult for us to create the lesson plans that we did. During this week was also the week I met my teaching group and volunteers from other groups.
One of the most memorable part of this program was the 2 weeks at our designated schools. It might sound tiring to teach a class for 6 hours straight and then spend another few hours after school to create lesson plans, but none of our group members realized how much work we did since we enjoyed every second of it. This was also the 2 weeks that allowed our group to become as close as family. And not to mention, the people who helped us throughout these 2 weeks and our students were what made it the hardest to leave.
The tour week was the week we could all relax and enjoy our time in Taiwan. Not only did we get to experience Taiwanese culture but we also got to meet more people. Even though the camp was made up of 350 people and I probably only met less than a quarter of them, I'm glad I met those that I did. Even though most of the friends I made live in different part of the world, we try our best to keep in contact with one another despite our hectic schedules.
I have zero regrets joining this camp and will continue to cherish every second that happened in the July of 2013. I would like to thank everyone that made this summer possible!
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Ip, Florence (葉慧詩)
With limited expertise in standing in front of a class of kids and teaching, it was nerve-racking thinking about how a couple of teenagers were going to pull off teaching a full class of children. There was a training week and as helpful as it was in terms of coming up with activities, training week consisted of long days sitting and listening where we were being taught how to teach.
But once I stepped into the classroom and got to know my kids it automatically became my most memorable and favourite part of the month I spent in Taiwan. They may not all have the same enthusiasm towards learning a new and foreign language but you become familiar with them and you feel motivated to help them learn and to continue interacting with them. I taught the older kids in elementary school, so most of them were around 10-12 years old and despite the age difference I got along so well with them and I miss them terribly.
The most rewarding part of AID was being able to meet people around the world, and being able to inspire enough enthusiasm in the kids to continue learning.
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Poon, Alice (潘雅盈)
Firsts are always memorable. My first time visiting Taiwan, my first time travelling without friends or family, my first time teaching English, my first time living with a homestay family... All of these were some of the great experiences that AID Summer provided me with.
I'm very grateful to have had the pleasure of getting to know, working with and spending time with all the people I did--our never-endingly patient counselors, the hard-working teachers and students, very welcoming homestay families, our fantastic teaching group, and the list goes on.
Learning what sorts of activities our students were interested in, watching our students--some of which were reluctant at first--gain interest and improve over the 2 weeks, getting to know everybody in Ligang, learning about and experiencing the culture, having the opportunity the practice listening to and speaking Chinese; all of these, amongst others, made teaching a very rewarding experience. In fact, I enjoyed it so much, that by the time tour week came around, part of me wanted to just stay in Ligang for my last week in Taiwan.
Tour week, for me, was also an experience I don't think I could've gotten anywhere else. It could be that some (or many) of the destinations were familiar ones for those who had been to Taiwan before, but having never been to Taiwan, with no relatives to take me around, I probably wouldn't have the opportunity to venture to so many different places outside of Taipei on my own.
Although I may have been a little unsure walking into Chientan for the first time, when I walked out four weeks later, I was sure that that month of my last summer break had been well spent in Taiwan.
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Li, Lucia (李麗霞)
AID was a really great experience. I got to meet many people from all over USA and Canada and also super fun counsellors. I loved my children and they were the best. They weren't super well behaved because they were in grade 1 and 2 so they had a lot of energy but I love that too. Tour week was so fun. This is my first time to Taiwan and I will miss the nightmarkets here a lot. Training week was sort of boring and dry at times. The counsellors were very helpful and friendly! All the participants got close with the counsellors so leaving them was really hard. Looking back, I realized that the government payed for everything except my plane ticket and I am in awe because that must have been a lot of money. I am really grateful for this. It was a good learning experience for myself because I realized I could do things I didn't know I could do.
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Tang, Monica (鄧寶雯)
It's already been one month since I've come back from Taiwan and I can still remember everything about my trip. I miss Taiwan and AID so much, it was my first time going to Taiwan and even Asia and I already feel like Taiwan is another home for me. Taiwan is such a beautiful country and someplace I definitely want to come back to very soon. AID was run and organized very well and I had the greatest time meeting new people from all over North America and in Taiwan. The counsellors chosen were incredible and I am so happy to have met them, they were great because they were our age and even though they had to be strict on rules, they had fun with us! Training week was a little dry because everyone was getting to know each other. But in just a matter of a couple weeks my teaching group got so close and I am glad to have met friends like them. The teachers at our school were very welcoming and accommodating to our needs and I am keeping in contact with them as well. Overall as happy as I am to be home, I miss Taiwan a lot and can't wait to go back!! Definitely a program I would recommend to people, this was a once in a lifetime experience and I am glad I was able to participate.
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