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Mao, Ting (毛婷)
During the past four weeks, I have consistently found myself agreeing with the phrase “time flies by when you’re having fun!’ So many great memories were made during the week at Jientan, the two teaching weeks and also lastly the tour week.
The first week of Jientan consisted of many lectures and activities, which taught us how to actually teach elementary aged students. Whilst many were ridden with jetlag and trying hard to stay awake, the teaching activities were so much fun that everyone joined in despite their tired states. The games played and the songs sung brought everyone back to their childhoods. When we were not listening to lectures, there was much time to get to know the other participants of the program. It was so interesting to get to know people from Canada and the US since there a quite a number of cultural differences between North Americans and British people. Of course, my accent was noticed a countless number of times and I was requested many a time to say random words, but it was still funny regardless.
The second and third weeks were the teaching weeks, which I spent at He-ping elementary school in New Taipei. During this time, our group was able to get to know each other more and became very close. We were also able to get to know some of the teaching assistants and other staff in the school especially during the weekends when we went paintballing, tea picking and snorkelling. I also experienced my first typhoon during the second week of teaching, which was not very serious, but we were able to have a day of rest. Even though it was great teaching the kids English, it was so great being able to sleep in and just recharge our batteries ready for the next day of teaching.
The teaching itself was definitely an exhausting but rewarding experience. Trying to lead a class of about twenty young kids was a demanding task, but over the two weeks they became a lot more manageable since they began to warm to us. For the English lessons, we taught the kids many different songs and games, which was a lot of fun for us as well the students. The kids were so adorable and treated us so well. When the students began to give us drawings and bracelets that they had made, I began to realise how much I would miss being their teacher.
The final week was the tour week, which was a lot of fun. It was so great to finally be able to relax and to be a tourist. Some of my favourite moments were when we were given free time in the night markets and we were able to spend some final precious moments with the friends that we had made throughout the duration of the programme. I will always remember all the inside jokes, and all the other precious memories made during these four short weeks. Being part of the AID summer programme has been one of the best things that has happened in my life so far. I have had so much fun, and made such great friends whom I will definitely keep in touch with.
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Wen, Stephanie (溫曼君)
AID Summer Reflection
Walking into the lobby of Chientan Youth Activity Centre on the first day of AID Summer, I felt excitement, anticipation, but also a hint of dread. The one week training course at Chientan was to provide us with the foundations necessary to become a teacher however was one week really enough to master a profession? This thought clawed at the back of my mind. However, as the training week progressed, my background knowledge of teaching in rural parts of Taiwan as well as technical knowledge of teaching English as a second language quickly developed, and consequently my worries eased. With the help of Candy, the English teacher from the school we were to be teaching at- Beipu Junior High School in Hsinchu County, as well as the ideas and constructive criticisms the rest of my team brought to the table, I felt significantly more confident in my ability to teach a class of rowdy teenagers by the end of the week.
And thus we said goodbye to the other 400 or so volunteers that were dispatched to other areas of Taiwan and embarked on a journey to Beipu Junior High School. The dedication and hospitality of the principal and staff were immediately apparent as we were herded into a meeting room upon arrival to be debriefed about the following two weeks. This happened to be a Saturday afternoon, a day that teachers from where I was from would be reluctant to give up to help plan such a programme. The meeting began with a guided tour of the school and the pride with which the staff introduced the school to us; from the row of elegant palm trees to the four tarmacked basketball courts in the courtyard, brought understanding as to why the school had applied to host such a programme for the very first time. They were proud of their school and students and they were constantly seeking ways to improve it.
Preparing for the opening ceremony and the teaching materials for class was a hectic event however we managed to pull it off in the end. Again, the school had a lot to show for itself too, being home to the National winners of Lion Dancing, the opening ceremony was a fascinating exchange of Eastern and Western cultures. Their performance also gave me the motivation to work harder because I could see that with dedicated training, these students had the potential to excel beyond expectations and that was the mentality I wanted to carry forward in my teaching too. When the bell rang and the first lesson began, I believe no training course could have prepared me for what I was to experience. I was suddenly no longer a student, but a teacher; the one who leads the classroom. There were no prompts to aid us, no time-keeper to let us know when to move on with the next activity and no one to break the silence between transitions. It was all down to us.
Throughout the two weeks however, we gradually became accustomed to the pace of the classroom and the students began to warm up to us too. Participation in class shot up and the students’ confidence in speaking English grew. They began to joke with us and ask us about our lives and where we were from. At the same time, the students taught us about Hakka culture and even shared their future aspirations with us. There was not a day where we did not work hard and play hard. There was not a day where I did not feel grateful for this opportunity to make a difference to children’s lives. And there will not be a day where I will forget such an amazing experience.
Thank you AID Summer.
Thank you Beipu Junior High School.
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Hsu, Billy (許主恩)
My time in Taiwan has been extremely beneficial to my learning about the history and culture of Taiwan. I was amazed by how the beauty of the landscape and the modernity of the urban areas. At the same time the advanced development of the entire island either through previous colonial era built infrastructure and post WW2 economic development has amazed me.
My teaching in the school was very exciting and I have developed a strong bond with the students and the group i am part of. It has given me another look into my own culture and the differences our peoples share. Yet at the same time the similarity. I have felt the students have grown exponentially in their english knowledge and that their learning can help their future endeavors.
The programme has proven to be more than i hoped for and i would love to be part of such camp again. No doubt i would love to return to Taiwan again.
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Chao, Po-Chien (趙伯傑)
Being at AID summer was fun. I met a lot of good people and made a lot of new friends. It was my first time meeting Americans and Canadians so this first impression was interesting. There were ups and downs but I feel like we got through it. I’d like to think that we as a team got quite close as friends and meeting so many people has encouraged me to want to visit America as well as other countries even if it is just to visit my team. I know that I will miss everyone.
This was my first teaching experience and it is one to remember. I know me and Selina (my teaching partner) will miss our kids, despite the fact we only knew them for 10 days. It makes me feel good to know that we have benefited young children in terms of education.
At first I was afraid of what my room mates and team would be like before I arrived at Jientan but after I got to know them it was fun. Shilin night market with my friends was especially fun. On the other hand Jientan was also a stressful time what with our teacher getting the deadlines mixed up ad the WIFI never working. Some of the lectures were a bit distracting and seemingly pointless but others were quite useful. It was also a little depressing to find out that almost everyone I’d met was going on the central tour and I was going on the southern tour.
Teaching in Dong Xing elementary school was fun if not tiring. I partnered with Selina to teach 6-9 year olds. Selina spent the first Tuesday and Wednesday going back and forth between the school and the doctor’s because she had gotten ill. This meant that I was very much on my own for a few lessons. I’m not very good at improvisation so those two weeks of teaching were very difficult for me. Preparing each lesson each night was long and tiring. Regardless, it was still a fun experience.
The tour was entertaining. Some of the places were really nice but we didn't get to spend much time seeing the sights. Also we never went to places that were relevant to its name e.g. the Hakka culture village was just a row of shops. I was quite satisfied meeting some of the people on the tour but we met too many new people. Some of the tour was quite disorganized and they expected us to finish our post reflections by the 31st but none of our hotels had WiFi.
If I could do anything differently I would have researched more teaching materials ahead of time and kept a log of what I’d done in lessons because writing the daily journal was difficult. I also would have brought more money because on the tour they kept taking us shopping. During the first few weeks I felt a bit lonely because my team got along very well together and became very close but I did not feel the same. I still felt left out and easily forgotten :(, especially when my team would talk about things about America or even general topics that I had no interest or knowledge in. I often felt out of my league when hearing about other people going to major colleges and it made me wonder how I got on the course when compared to everyone else.
Joining this AID course has been a fun experience for me. I made a lot of new friends and I hope that I do more things like this one in the future.
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