2018 AID Summer
志工感言 (Reflection) >> Miami
# Center
1 Houston
2 SF-Milpitas
3 New York
4 Toronto
5 Orange
6 Chicago
7 Maryland
8 Seattle
9 Vancouver
10 Los Angeles
11 Boston
12 Atlanta
13 Denver
14 Miami
15 London
16 Cape Town
17 Sydney
18 Hawaii
19 Queensland
Shiu, Rocky (邵子浩)
I think that this program was really amazing. Especially the two weeks in which we went to our host schools with only our group. Teaching the kids were not really hard and spending two whole weeks living and spending time together with your personal group was the best. The places my school visited and brought us to eat were good. The teaching presentations from the first week were absolutely useless and a waste of time. The food needs to be better as the food was usually cold and not enough in the first and last week of the program. The website needs to have better instructions. The website also needs to be constantly updated daily so that the volunteers know what to expect each day. My group was especially lost for the last week of the program as we did not know what to bring until it was really late.The tour was rather fun as i continued to hang out with my personal group. There was nothing else for me to say of the tour as i have been to many of the places on the central tour. However, my friends were there and we have amazing counselors so the tour was pretty fun.
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Chang, Joshua (張哲瑋)
Best month of my life. I met some of my best friends there and gained lots of experience through this program. It was the most fun I had since a long time, I was able to explore Taiwan with these wonderful new friends. After a hard year of Junior year, I am so glad that I signed up for this program because I have never had this much fun in a long long time. I wished it was a longer program because it was way too short. I loved it and it will always be in my memories. Now I have connections to people all over the world, from people like South Africa, Australia, and the United Kingdom. Although planning the lessons for the next day for the students made us stay up till 2 or 3, staying up with those people made it worth it and enjoyable. The saddest part of the program was the last day when we all had to go our separate ways. (Prepare for some tears) We live pretty far from each other, and every day I just wish we could get back together. You will miss your group very much and prepare for that. This was the best decision I have ever made yet, you will definitely not regret this amazing experience.
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Lin, Cindy (林茹蕎)
The first day I arrived at the program, I looked around and saw no one I knew. Being a shy person, this made me nervous. What if I come off as awkward or antisocial? However, I quickly bonded with my teammates after we met. Throughout July, we provided support and help to each other when we had obstacles as teachers, as well as with personal issues.

Not only was AID a great social experience, I also learned much from it. It can be tiring being a teacher, and it is not always easy, but the experience greatly improved my presentation skills. I learned to deal with troublesome situations, and explain things in a simple, understandable manner. Teaching young kids was rewarding; when your kids finally understand a challenging concept, it gives you a great sense of accomplishment.

On the last day with our students, it was difficult to say good-bye. I saw how much I impacted the kids, and how much they have impacted me. AID has taught me how seemingly small things can have a tremendous effect on others.

I found the tour of Taiwan fascinating, as we got to visit many well-known places. Since I often visit Taiwan with my family, some places were re-visits, but it was enjoyable experiencing places again with friends.

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Lo, Kathrene (羅美)
Taiwan Summer AID provided me with so many opportunities to be completed within a single summer. It was my first time to set foot in the Eastern hemisphere to see the island my parents were born on and I finally met long lost relatives. I was also able to pass on my knowledge and influence and help future Taiwanese by teaching them English and encouraging them to continue learning. One of the reasons I joined was to experience what my teachers went through since they have always been around to influence, help, and encourage me. I remember reading a quote saying that teaching is the most rewarding job. Teachers get to influence the people of the future and watch what their students become even and are usually greatly appreciated. They can change around the lives of their students, so perhaps I may end up teaching in the future. This also provided me a productive break to get away from post-graduation worries and emotions.
The first week of training was full of great tips, however, it was difficult to put them into the use considering the short amount of time we had for planning lessons. The teaching guests were the highlights of the lessons and kept me in good spirits. There was also no time for physical exercise which took a painful toll on me at the end of the week. The first week was a great time to meet people and bond. I was able to reenter the social life and work on communicating and realized how I still have a far way to improve. I looked forward to the volunteer teaching and touring weeks the most.
During the teaching weeks, things did not as I had planned but I continued to push my efforts in the direction I wanted until my group succumbed to sickness and fever at the end of the final teaching week. However, I had my wonderful teaching groupmates, host family, school staff, and students who took good care of me and gave me warm wishes. Although I wasn’t faced with challenges I expected, I did experience other issues that I tried to work towards. Students were at different levels of learning so there had to be extra help for those who lagged behind and challenging work for those who were way ahead. It was also interesting to watch how people from school interacted with each other whether it was nice or not. I greatly enjoyed my students and tried to make sure everyone were participating and enjoyed all of our activities. Overall, the teaching experience provided me with a better idea of how to work with people and manage the class.
What I loved the most was staying with my host family and I wish we could’ve spent more time together exploring Kaohsiung and just talking and enjoying each other’s company. I definitely missed them afterwards. I always thought I would like living in the country and my wish came true this summer with an incredible family.
Out of all weeks, the touring week was the most troublesome as there were tensions from the stress of planning, creating, and teaching the performance and unending disagreements, but I am glad we were able to come together to give a great performance and that my fellow teaching volunteers were around. I didn’t like touring as a group but I was very glad that we had such wonderful and energetic counselors who were willing to deal with us. Although there were parts of the tour that did not meet my expectations, other ones made up for them and I am happy to have been able to see so much of Taiwan. I definitely bought Boba one more time before heading home on the 14th.
What made the Taiwan 2017 Summer AID program the best were the people with whom I worked the closest with because it certainly wouldn’t have been the same without them. Our contacts will surely continue after the end of the program. My exposure to the culture in Taiwan was eye-opening and most people seemed respectful. I am extremely thankful to have had the opportunity to participate.

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