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Liu, Esther (劉亞瑄)
This AID program has helped me learn a lot about what it is like to spend my summer helping others. At first I was unsure about how I would approach this opportunity or whether or not I would be a good teacher. As I started the program, I understood that every AID Volunteer was very capable of the task assigned to them, which was to teach and inspire, and every volunteer was willing to work hard for that goal.
The first week of training was a lot of hard work, and I could not have passed the hours of lectures and collaboration without a few things: my roommates, my group members, and my group coach. My roommates were not all in my group, but they all the same encouraged me to put forth my best effort and continue to prepare my lesson plan. We all stuck together and shared about our own schools and lessons which helped me see all the hard work come into fruition. My group members were insightful and intelligent, which made the planning process much easier. By working together to achieve our goals, we were able to complete much more work in a shorter period of time, allowing us to enrich our lesson plans even more. Each night when we worked together on our plans, most helpful was our group coach, Ping. She guided us towards the right direction while still letting us come up with specific ideas of how we wanted to teach. Instead of just telling us what was a good idea and what was not, she led us to think about the consequences of each idea, and we were able to make a more efficient and effective lesson plan.
Once we finished training and started teaching at our schools, I realized that teaching was much different than our lesson plans. Sometimes some activities would take only a few minutes instead of a whole class period, and sometimes introducing the vocabulary would take twice as long. Our lesson plan became a valuable resource to guide our teaching, but at the same time we would never follow it exactly. The students were eager to come to class and learn, but there was a high achievement gap that would complicated our lessons. Some students already knew most of the information, while others struggled to comprehend the material. This meant that some activities would be for enriching the advanced, while the teachers spent more time with the students that were struggling. As the weeks had passed by and I became more familiar with my students, I was able to quickly notice when some students were not grasping the content and quickly catch them up to speed.
This AID program has shown me different ways for me to be a leader, both to my peers and to my students. I was able to see my friends and fellow volunteers be leaders in their own groups and I was able to see myself become a leader within my own group and class. I hope that this opportunity will rise again and that I will be able to make such an impact on others!
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Kaneko, Lily (金子玲香)
Before I arrived in Taiwan, I didn’t know what to expect. I didn’t know anyone who was participating in the program or how to teach English. But after meeting those I would be teaching with, I felt a lot better.
After we went to dong rong Elementary School, where I taught a class of nine first to second graders. My teaching partner and I taught words associated with different topics ranging from animals to food. At first the kids were very energetic and restless but also unwilling to participate in our activities. But once we encouraged one person everyone else wanted to do it. While the two weeks were difficult, eventually things got easier as we got more used to everything. But everyday we still found new challenges whether it was from the kids or from the material we decided to prepare.
From being called teacher pizza to daily ramen runs, this experience was one worth having. I learned more about myself and learned a lot from other people.
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Gotway, Erika (夏雨)
AID Summer has been a unique, rewarding experience and I have certainly learned a lot during these 4 weeks not only about teaching, but also about Taiwanese culture and working with others to be part of a team. In the beginning, I wasn't really sure what to expect of this program. I was nervous to be teaching elementary school students because I knew that they didn't speak much English and I speak virtually zero Chinese. So if you're in the same situation, don't worry! The students and teachers will love you even if they don't understand a single word that comes out of your mouth. Just make sure to approach everything with a smile an a positive attitude! Overall, I would say that even though my experience at AID did come with its fair share of difficulty, I'd recommend this program to anyone who has an open mind and a passion for helping others. I've definitely become more confident and mature as a result of participating in AID and these newly developed skills will surely be useful in future endeavors.
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Lin, Charles (林宣丞)
AID Summer 2014 has been a very eye-opening experience for me. At first I applied to find out more about Taiwan and to meet people who shared a similar heritage as me. When schools were first announced, I was excited to find out that I had been assigned to Matsu, an island off the shores of mainland Taiwan. Many of my relatives who have lived in Taiwan their entire lives haven’t been here so I was very curious about what is was like.
My time here has been great. Matsu is a beautiful island and contains two things I enjoy a lot: beaches and seafood. I taught at Ren Ai Elementary and both the principal and the teacher who hosted us were very friendly and helpful. I taught the lowest grade class, 3rd grade and under. The kids were very energetic and at times hard to manage but in the end I feel like we classes were generally productive.
Visiting Matsu revealed a part of Taiwan that wasn’t previously available to me and I am immensely grateful for that. Instead of staying in Taipei every time I come back, I want to make it a point to visit other areas.
AID has also given me the opportunity to meet new friends at JienTan and especially within the group of 8 I taught with here at Matsu. The friends I made here will definitely last beyond the program. Thank you AID Summer 2014.
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Hwang, Victoria (黃聖雅)
Coming to the AID Program, I did not know what to expect and I was nervous about the responsibilities that come with teaching children. However, the week of teaching training AID provides you with equips you with the knowledge you need to teach in an efficient way. Although the lectures were sometimes long and tedious, they were often engaging and provided productive methods of training us. As a result, when we actually began to teach, each day of teaching went smoothly and was very enjoyable.
At the beginning, the kids were extremely shy and unwilling to participate. We were worried that they would stay this way for the remainder of the two weeks. By the second day however, they began to open up as we were no longer strangers to them. They asked a lot of questions about our lives in America and seemed eager to learn more. Most of them were in this English summer school because they wanted to improve their English, not because their parents were forcing them to attend. A rewards and points system seemed to be the most effective method of motivating them. We also noticed that they loved playing the hammer game especially, and began incorporating that into many of our daily lessons. Also, at the end of each day, we would practice the ending ceremony dance for an hour. The children seemed to enjoy that as well.
Each teacher was assigned a group of 6-7 students. We got to know these students a lot better in this way, and this was a more effective way to get them acquainted to conversing in English. In the mornings and during lunch time was the best time to get to know each student personally. In this way, we got to see each students’ personality traits more clearly which helped us teach them more effectively. When planning classes, we took into consideration what worked well the day before and what did not. By doing this, we incorporated the effective techniques into the next day’s lesson. This helped the students from becoming bored during class. Also, we learned that we had to speak slowly or translate some of our instructions into Chinese before the students could fully understand us.
In addition, the school was very welcoming and the people were very accommodating. The meals and housing were good as well. We ate lunch with the students in the classroom and went out for dinner just about every day. In the end, the ending ceremony and the dance performance were good. Also, each student received a paper plate award made by us and they seemed to like those. However, the ending seemed too abrupt and the farewells were short.
Overall, I greatly appreciated this opportunity to teach others. I liked the school and area I was assigned to, and enjoyed teaching the children in my class. Also, I have gained valuable experiences and bonded with the children, to where it was very difficult and sad to leave on the final day.
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