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Lo, Dylon (羅德倫)
I had a lot of fun teaching here in Matsu. The island is beautiful and the kids are a lot of fun. It was a great experience and i'm very glad I signed up for this program. While I was still listening to lectures in Taiwan, I was very nervous about teaching but I had no reason to. If I were given the chance to redo anything, I would not. I really enjoyed my time here and wish I could do it again
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Kung, Albert (龔成德)
Post Reflection: A Highly Detailed and Thoughtfully Written Essay
The bell echoes across the schoolyard, and I watch as the children scramble to their classrooms. Having finished my breakfast, I too make my way upstairs. As I hear the familiar chattering of the kids, I realize that these two weeks have passed by in what seemed like seconds. It has been a wonderful experience for me, and I know that I will miss the school and the children when I’m gone.
Jian Tan. It all began at the Jian Tan Youth Activity Center. When I first arrived, I recall the feeling in my heart was a mix of apprehension and excitement. Naturally a bit reticent, I worried about meeting new people, particularly my roommates and my teaching buddies. The check-in process was a hassle, but I was soon on my way to my room, lugging a backpack, suitcase, and a mound of anxiety. To my surprise though, and great pleasure, I was reassured as soon as I began talking to my roommates. They spoke amiably, and we were soon on our way to a tour of the activity center, which seemed a lot larger than it actually was, as I would soon find out (but that is a story for another day).
Gary arrived late. On the surface, he was a lazy douchebag, complete with the sunglasses, tank top, and high socks. However, as I got to know him over the three weeks, he revealed himself to be a kind of nice, caring, chill, almost responsible, only a little bit lazy, intellectual, and philosophical individual. The two girls who I taught with were also pretty cool. My group definitely helped make my teaching experience fun and worthwhile.
The first week at Jian Tan was, to put it simply, boring. Although the various lessons we learned were somewhat useful, the six hours a day we spent in that big room were the least interesting six hours a day I’ve ever experienced. Many of the lessons could have been condensed without losing material, and obnoxiously loud groups gave me a headache.
I was apprehensive once again as we left Jian Tan, on the bus to Da Cheng Elementary School, an hour bus-ride away. I felt mildly unprepared, but not enough to do anything about it. The opening ceremony went smoothly and soon enough, we were underway with classes. The kids were shy at first, but soon started to engage in our activities. As the class progressed, I realized that I had overestimated the kids. Whenever I spoke in English, however slowly, I was met with confused faces and scattered mumblings of “huh”. Only one student, Tina, was able to understand and answer all of my questions. She was a hardworking and responsible student, and was at an advanced English level because she took classes outside of school.
As the students grew accustomed to our presence, they opened up, but also became harder to control. They refused to sit still and were always loud. I am very thankful that we had a volunteer teacher (go Ping!) to help us discipline the kids. Over the two weeks, I felt that the students had not learned a whole lot of English, but I hope that we have helped to foster their linguistic growth and their love for learning English. It has truly been an unforgettable experience.
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Lee, Audrey (n/a)
Before coming to volunteer with AID in Taiwan, I was a nervous mess. Change is something that I have always feared, and the adjustments that have to be made in order to accommodate change is hard and tiring. My experience at AID has surpassed any expectation that I had before arriving in Taiwan.
Volunteering to teach English in a remote area in Taiwan was an intimidating and daunting task. In the beginning, I was very stressed because I felt that I had to make my lesson plans perfect in order to teach my students to the best of my ability. But as the days passed, I started to realize that my teaching plans did not have to be perfect. Rather, the way I acted in the classroom was more important. This volunteer experience is about getting the students excited about learning English and eliminating a fear of the language.
The seven other volunteer teachers in my group, my group leader, and my students have truly become my family for these past four weeks. Being with them is like having a home many miles away from my home in America. I have met people with whom I have laughed so hard to the point where I couldn't breathe. I've also met people with whom I can have meaningful conversations with. These are people that will be hard to forget. My students brought a smile to my face for two weeks straight. From their enthusiasm to learn English to their competitiveness in playing a flyswatter vocabulary review game, to the way they dissolved into laughter when I tried to speak Taiwanese, they were an inspiring group of kids whom will hold a special place in my heart. I am also thankful for my group head teacher, who I feel understands me more than some people that I have known for more than half my life.
I cannot express how genuinely grateful I am for such an amazing and heart-warming experience like this one. It is so odd to think that I would not have met these wonderful people had it not been for this program. AID summer has truly been an eye-opening experience and one that I will never forget. It brings tears to my eyes, knowing that I may never see some of the people that I have met ever again. Although I agree when some people say that they wished this program lasted for more than a month, I am still infinitely thankful for this experience.
Adapting to a new environment and new people is truly a hard task to overcome. But I have realized that the effort is truly worth the reward.
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Wang, Leila (王明怡)
When I heard about AID, the thought of having to teach seemed so daunting (especially since I do not speak Chinese) that I almost refused to come. The first week was a overwhelming with so many seminars about how to teach, what to play, what to say--and all I could think about was I don’t even speak Chinese, how is this going to work!? I was sure that I was going to be the worst teacher to ever take part in the AID program.
However, as the program went on, I began to realize that AID is so much more than just teaching; it is about making friends and experiencing a different way of living. It makes you step out of your comfort zones and gain new perspectives. I am somewhat reluctant to admit how much AID has allowed me to grow for all the whining I did before coming here, but to not recognize these things would be lying.
The two weeks of teaching were the best weeks of the program. Surprisingly they were the only two weeks that flew by and that I enjoyed every part of. My group and I were dropped off at a remote bus stop in the mountains of Jingshan in Miaoli. The bus driver refused to drive us to the school because there was no way for him to turn around at the school. Upon disembarking the bus, we were immediately attacked by blood-sucking mosquitos that distorted the beautiful scenery of the high mountains cloaked in rain clouds.
We were picked up by our director and some of the school’s staff. They stuffed us and our luggage into three small cars and drove us down a windy road that exhibited only green, fruit, sparse houses, and more green on either side. Nervousness was beginning to overcome my already low level of excitement. However, when we pulled up to the school, we found it to be very small, yet visually charming. Jingshan Elementary School (景山國小) is famous for its pottery and all over the school were cute animal figurines and glazed flowers made by the teachers and students.
It quickly became apparent that the school had a matching character to its sincere aesthetic. We were welcomed with a genuine kindness and generosity that I will never forget. Everyone was eager to help in some way, whether it was making us feel more at home to driving down the mountain to bring us school supplies and meals everyday. To list a few examples: the tech guy made us delicious homemade snacks each day after teaching, the principal offered us her office to sleep in if it was too hot, the guard brought us a giant bag of Asian pears, and the pottery teacher on several occasions invited us into his home and made tea for us. He also showed us his professional wood-burning kiln and gave us beautiful bowls as farewell gifts.
The children were also great. Although incredibly shy, they were always respectful and just really really good natured and humorous. It was such a privilege to be able to spend time with them. This is getting really long so I’m going to try and wrap it up quickly. Basically, there are all these little details that really made the experience awesome. Like, how when it came to food waste, the edge of the moutain was our trash can, or how fun it was to play capture the flag with the kids, or how fulfilling it was to see the kids’ family trees that we taught them how to make. I still need to talk about how we had to preform for the students all the time—at the opening and closing ceremonies, and sometimes in class to teach them things—which was easier than I expected and even fun. This is saying a lot as I am incredibly reserved. I could also go on for hours about how beautiful the mountains were and how pleasant it was to jog along the road at 6 in the morning.
And, talking about my group members would also take another five hundred words. In short, they were all awesome people that I would never have become friends with if not for this program. In two short weeks, they became people who I learned from, who I knew I could always ask for help, and who I shared lots and lots of laughs with.
In conclusion, although the first week was boring and needlessly strict and exhausting (and not in a good way) and the tour week was equally as exhausting, the two weeks made up for it. At first I was scared that I was going to suck at teaching and I wouldn’t be able to communicate with the students and I was just going to be a huge disappointment. I know I wasn’t even close to being an adequate English teacher, but AID taught me that all along I should not have been thinking about myself and what I was going to do, but rather to look at the bigger picture. Yes, there were challenges, and the heat and the mosquitos sucked, and we were tired a lot, but for two weeks, I was able to laugh with wonderful people, go to sleep early and wake up early, breathe awesome mountain air, hang around awesome kids, and call a random place across the world home. It was pretty darn cool, yo.
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Sheu, Andrew (許彥竹)
The AID Summer experience was unique and unforgettable. Going into this program, I was a bit nervous about what would happen. I only knew a few people who were also doing it and I had no idea what the people in my group would be like. I first heard about this program from my sister. She had participated in it before and encouraged me to try it out. I was a little apprehensive at first, but from the first day at Jiantan, I became fully absorbed in everything. From the lectures to the icebreakers, each element of the training camp helped me learn how to be a better English teacher. I was engrossed in all of this new information I was gaining and extremely excited to put it to use.
When we arrived at Lunbei Junior High School in Yunlin County, I had many thoughts running through my mind. I wondered what the kids would be like and if they would like me. I was worried that they wouldn’t be easy to teach and the whole thing would be a disaster. All of my worries were unnecessary because from the moment I got there, all of the staff were welcoming and extremely helpful. They did everything they could to make sure our living conditions were comfortable and our lessons plans were sufficient. On the first day of classes, most of the kids were shy and had difficulty speaking English. Some were more outgoing than others, but for the most part they were very reserved. By the end of the first period, they were all involved and energetic. It was easy to get them to participate in games and activities because of how enthusiastic they were. Once the kids got to know us and grew comfortable with us, they were eager to tell us everything about them. I felt like I connected with every single one of them in a special way. Along with my teaching partners, I helped the students figure out what they already knew and offered them new knowledge.
By the last day, I was very proud of all that we had accomplished together. The improvement in the English ability of the students was very noticeable. Along with learning new vocabulary words, the kids made many new memories. One specific exciting event was dumping water on a teacher, which we did as a reward for participating in class. The students greatly enjoyed watching me get completely soaked. They all took videos and laughed with us. Following the post test, when we were going into the gym for the closing ceremony, was when it really hit me that it was ending. Two weeks had gone by just like that and all of a sudden it was time to say goodbye. I had no idea how much these kids would mean to me. One of the most touching things was when a girl told me that she would concentrate on studying English so that she could visit us in the US in the future. To me, that made everything we had done, all the hours we spent doing teaching plans, completely worth it. The AID program really made me see how much of an impact I can have on other people and I will carry everything that I have learned from this experience with me.
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Ku, Sabrina (顧樂儀)
When the AID program first started and I heard about having to write a post-reflection, my first response was, “How am I going to write a reflection of 500 words about random strangers I will be teaching with? There’s no way we’re going to get close with only 4 weeks to get to know each other”. I never realized how wrong I could be until now. Choosing a photo made me teary-eyed as this group photo was our last day with our 45 students. Teaching at 東竹國小with my group, B3-6 has been an experience I will not forget in my lifetime. Everyone I have met in this program has made an impact on my life whether it be the small conversation we had or going through the struggle of killing a gigantic spider. The students I taught have also reminded me about the simple joys in learning, life and in having fun. To be honest, right now I feel like I’m rambling on because I have so many things I want to say but I don’t really know what I should say first, so I guess I’ll talk about the elementary school. Sammie, our teacher was one of the nicest people I ever met and I knew her and the other teachers at 東竹 made such a huge effort to make sure we were comfortable there. She always checked to see if we liked the food, if we felt comfortable living in the kindegarten room, if the kids had bullied us or if we felt unwell. She was exactly like another mom, so we joked around and called her our second mom. The students there welcomed us with open arms. We had so many laughs together during teaching, eating, break time, dancing and playing sports. The smiles on their faces energized my group and I to work hard to make sure that they enjoyed the program. I miss our water balloon fights where I got drenched, the times they would make fun of my Cantonese accent, the times the chased me down the halls and so much more. I feel like I’ve known these kids for a lifetime, and I will definitely remember them for the rest of my life. The kindergarten room where we slept is one of the most interesting living situations I’ve been in. Sleeping with ants, rats, spiders and cockcroaches have made me appreciate my mattress at home much more, sharing 1 bathroom with 7 other people has made me appreciate my cozy shower area at home, and the fact that there’s only one air conditioner in use throughout the entire campus and that it’s the one in the room we sleep in has made me love cold air a lot more. But aside from all these “lovely” aspects that the room has, the kindegarten space is much more than a mkaeshift bedroom. It’s the place where we all made posters for the kids, stayed up late at night to chat about life and prepare for the next day’s classes, ate midnight snacks, tackled insects, had pillow fights and much more. I could literally go on forever, but this reflection would never end. So to end, I’m going to say that the photo I uploaded captures all the smiles, laughs, relationships, and memories that I made at 東竹. This has been one of the best summers of my life and as B3-6, we have been inspired as a whole and hope that we have inspired all the people we have met. ^.^
Thank you AID for letting me experience such an amazing summer!
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Sun, Esther (孫念萱)
Ok! So, where to start. I think that this whole entire trip was just amazing. It was truly just a blessing from God. Before even finding out about this program, our family was praying very hard about being able to go back to Taiwan to see my grandparents since my grandmother had gotten injured at the beginning of the year. We prayed that we’d be able to find cheap tickets since we were having some difficulties with money at the time. And sure enough, within the next few days, my father received an email regarding this trip were all we had to pay for was the plane ticket, and it was set. I mean, before coming here I already had high expectations from the preprogram presentations that were held by the administration office in my area. I was already really excited about going back to Taiwan after so long and hearing about it from the past aiders and how awesome just made me even more excited. To them, it was the best experience and summer ever. They had made a lot of new friends and the people that they stayed with became so close that they were like their new family. For me personally, I like this, this “family” feeling and when I came here, I was surprised at how close I got to my group and in such a short amount of time. They literally became my new family in a different country. On this trip I met some of the best people I’ve ever met and we are for sure going to be communicating even way after the trip. In fact, we’d already started planning to meet up again next year if we could. When I first came, the greatest fear I had was that I would be the only person who didn’t know anybody and wasn’t already friends with someone since I had come alone and not on a plane with someone else in the group so that I could befriend someone. When I arrived, I saw that people had already become friends with each other and some of them had already met up with their friends. However, I quickly realized that my fear was nothing because I learned that a good majority of the people here started out like me, not knowing anyone and then connecting with other people who didn’t know anyone. From the first day on after meeting my group, I had a feeling already that we were going to become very close. And we did. We became so close that we would do anything and talk about anything in front of each other. I think that the picture attached really captures how close we all became. In it, the people in my group were helping me make friendship bracelets for my students, all 15 of them, even though they didn't have to and some of them even still had their own work to do. I ended up only having made 2 of them since they had already made the others. This to me really just touched me, on how selfless they were and how willing they were to help each other.
At keelung, teaching English was hard work. It consisted of pretty much sleeping past 12 every day to almost 3 in the morning, being stressed out about all the deadlines that we had to meet, and not even following the planned curriculum for that day. After this trip, I really have a newfound respect for teachers, especially language teachers. I never realized how hard it was with rowdy kids and how much time you really had to put into the preparation and teaching. Nonetheless, despite getting only 4 hours of sleep a day, it was totally worth it because of the kids. We might’ve had to sleep really late, only to realize that the next day doesn't go according to the schedule, but it was worth the trouble. They were worth the trouble. We didn’t just become teachers to them, but we became their friends. In my class, I had two especially rowdy and naughty kids who everyday would just get on my nerves because they weren’t paying attention or they weren’t listening. However, because of that bond between us, I could never stay mad at them and I really miss them now. From this trip, not only did I learn about teaching English to those underprivileged, but I also went through an experience of a lifetime and gained new friends that I have a feeling will last for a long, long time. I am for sure never ever going to forget about this experience and it was truly the best summer experience and experience in general that I've ever had.
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