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Hudson, Michelle (邯智婕)
My experience at AID has been one of the most memorable summer vacations I have ever had. Through this, I have learned many applicable skills, which may be used, towards my future. Skills such as responsibility, planning, and intra-personal skills. The best part of this experience was meeting so many fun and like-minded people. Through this I have made many amazing friends who I will keep in contact for many years to come. Furthermore the kids were amazing fast learners, and so much fun to teach. Looking back on my experience, I realized the importance of having a lesson plan or an idea of how the day looks including possible backup activities. Without the daily lesson plans, and help from my fellow student teachers this may have been a very different experience. The worst part of this experience of this trip had to be leaving the kids and my fellow teaching partners. When we left the kids gave us so many hugs and chased after the bus when we left. Although in perspective a month isn’t very long, however the amount of new experiences and challenges presented made this month very memorable. To anyone who loves teaching or wants a fun new experience, I would definitely recommend AID summer.
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Lam, Sylvia (林思焯)
It was a pleasure being able to teach students English in Taiwan. I was able to meet many amazing people from all over the world and create long lasting memories during the month of July. I was very fortunate to have been assigned to such a kind and accepting group of friends. It was an enjoyable experience teaching junior high students for two weeks. They were shy at first, but once they got to know us it was much easier to interact with them. For two weeks, we came up with lesson plans for our students and as we spent more time with them, we were able to modify our teaching plans to suit different classes. It was encouraging to witness the progress students made and inspiring to see their desire to learn English. I am glad that I could be an inspiration to the students and it was a pleasure being able to share the country and culture I live in to them. The community where I taught was a very tight knit group where everyone helped each other. The students, teachers, volunteers, and parents did their best to make our stay memorable and fun. During the last week in Taiwan, we were able to explore different parts of this beautiful country. Being part of the AID program has been a very enjoyable experience that has taught me to love and appreciate Taiwan’s culture and people.
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Co, Rheanna (蔡慧瑩)
To say that the AID program was fantastic would be an understatement because it was so much more than that. The program was refreshing, interesting and most importantly, special. I am extremely grateful to have had the opportunity to be part of a program that is truly dedicated to making a difference. The program thoroughly prepared us to be teachers in order to provide us a memorable experience in Taiwan with our students. The experience that AID provided me is the reason why I now have the courage and motivation to make a difference in the community I live in by partaking in more community events. In addition, being in the AID program helped me gain a deeper connection with the beautiful country, Taiwan. The program properly immersed us in the country which provided a better us a better sense of their history and their unique culture. In my opinion, the best part about AID was making the unique friendships with people you meet in Taiwan. I can truly say that there is nothing more heartwarming than hearing from your friends from Taiwan, even when they are halfway around the world. To say the least, the AID program is something that I would recommend everyone to do, as it is truly something unique that WILL change your life forever.
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Wang, Josephine (王筱芬)
I had no expectations going into this program. I did not know how teaching, being in a foreign environment, or working in a team would impact me, or whether or not it would be a positive or negative experience. In the first week at Chientan, I was taken aback by all of the activities and all of the classes that we were required to take. It was quite overwhelming being one of the 600 people in the program, there was often confusion and miscommunication as to what was going to happen.
I was assigned to Hengshan Junior High School in Hsinchu, and I can honestly say that I had a lovely time. I loved my students and the school was absolutely beautiful. My group and I even got used to the bug infestation and the heat: it became just a part of every day life. The school staff was so accommodating, I felt as though they really wanted us there. They were the ones who made this experience really worthwhile.
All in all, I would say that my experiences at Chientan and the tour were not the best, but I thoroughly enjoyed my time teaching, It was a rewarding experience at the end, and I really got to bond with the students. I only hope that I was able to make some kind of difference in their lives. I can honestly say that this 2018 AID Summer program was an unforgettable experience.
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Li, Serena (李艾娜)
My experience teaching English in Taiwan helped me grow as a person helped to become more independent. When I first arrived, I was very nervous and I did not enjoy the first week of training, but when we arrived at the school, I quickly grew to love Taiwan and all the people and culture in it. Teaching my students was a huge challenge, but at the end it was super rewarding and we were able to build very strong bonds with our students and the staff at the school. Our students came from mainly broken families and were did not have the privileges that children in large cities have, so we had to work hard to make them excited to learn and engage them in the classroom. During our two weeks teaching, I also got to bond with the other volunteers at our school. Teaching together and spending everyday together made us become very close, very fast, and I made friendships and memories that I know I will treasure until I grow old. Finally, the tour of Taiwan helped me to discover more of the beauty and culture of Taiwan. My favourite part was all the night markets we visited. They had amazing food and drinks, and you could find almost anything you needed. The AID program helped me mature, and gave me memories to last a lifetime.
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Lau, Daniel (劉嘉駿)
This AID program was a very great and unforgettable experience in my life. It was so much better than I have ever anticipated. Not only was the program itself great but the friendships I made with my students. teachers, counselors, and fellow teachers. From learning and teaching as a unit to late night talks with ramen parties to karaoke and memes, every single moment was so amazing. I'm sure that I will never forget this experience and the friends I made on this trip. Even my students which I taught for 2 weeks were very energetic and sometimes rough, they were good kids and it is a pleasure for me to teach them and I hope that this was also an experience that they would never forget. It was fun teaching them English and I am glad to know that I made an impact on their lives and that not only was I a teacher to them but also a close friend and helper. There were many great bonds on the trip and all the late nights working and hot days teaching was all completely worth the experience. One day, I plan to meet up with my friends from AID and see how they all are. This program is one that really had a huge impact on my life and has changed me in so many ways and making me a more patient and kind person and teacher. I realize now that this journey was really a different experience and the bonds I made with people will never be forgotten. People from everywhere were very kind and helpful when we were teaching. When my team and I first got to the school we were all very scared and worried about what would happen on the first day of teaching. Teachers and helpers came to our aid and guided us onto the right path. Going on tour to different places in Taiwan to going for late night ramen runs to constant claw machine gambling to bonding together, this entire trip went by so fast and on the last day when I left the program, suddenly everything hit me hard when I realized that I was leaving all my friends and how our time spent together for a whole month would never have been forgotten. These are all moments that will remain in my life forever and these friendships will never be forgotten. AID was really a life-changing experience. To everyone that I encountered and worked with, thank you so much for the amazing and wild journey and may we meet once again in the future.
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Lu, Azure (呂紀郛)
The AID program is an experience that I would 100% would love to do again if I was given the chance to. From the first week of the training program to the last week of the tour, it all created a little memory in my life. The first week was definitely tiring and long since we had training back to back with little breaks in between. However once the teaching weeks started, the weeks went by very fast. Teaching at Mudan Elementary was a whole other experience itself. Since the school was in the mountains I had to adapt to the living style. Especially with the closet town and night market to where I stayed was 2 hours away. However the kids that I taught were all lively and energetic and I was extremely happy that I got to teach them english. I got to teach grades 4-5 and at first they were pretty quiet but once they got to know me and my partner a little bit more they began to open up and started to try to speak english. By the second week during our student's break my partner and I saw some of our students starting to write their own english sentences on the white board by themselves. The moment we saw that my partner and I were ecstatic for them because it shows how much of the difference we made in their english abilities. By the closing ceremony our kids had to do a performance where they performed the very hungry caterpillar and they read the book perfectly. Our students all wrote little cards for us saying how they were grateful for us coming to Taiwan to teach them english. Some of them even asked us if we could stay in Mudan, which our answer was "how about you come visit us in Toronto?" because honestly the mountain life was not for us, but my group and I still had a lot of fun up in the mountains regardless.
Once it was time for us to leave Mudan there was a school bus that took us to our hotel and all the kids on the last day was chasing after the bus and waving good bye to us. But eventually it was time for us to go leave the mountains and onto the tour. The tour itself was definitely something different. We spent our nights in about 6 different places and we had to perform something for the talent show on Thursday night. I definitely had a lot of fun on the tour, getting to meet new people and seeing some of my old friends that I made during the first week of the AID program. Of course the places we went all had a time limit of how long we could stay which was sometimes bothersome since we couldn't stay long and look around. But overall it was a fun trip that I honestly don't regret at all. I made some amazing friends whom I'll definitely keep in touch and made some amazing memories that I'll definitely remember.
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Lung, Bryan ( 龍力誠)
This program has been an interesting experience for me. I learned a lot of things such as the different ways to teach children while making it engaging and interesting for them. I also learned the different ways to control the classroom which was also an interesting experience for me. Moreover, I met a lot of people and made a lot of new friends during my one month in Taiwan and I learned that they are all from different parts of the world which was really exciting for me. Furthermore, I learned that teaching children is not that simple and it actually takes time and effort to make them understand English concepts since it is really hard for them to understand these new concepts since English is not that easy to learn. Teaching English in remote areas makes it really challenging for the student teachers to teach since resources are really limited and all of the teaching supplies has to be bought before reaching the remote area since there is nothing to buy in that area. Lastly, the feeling that the students actually learned something was very rewarding for the student teachers since it made them feel that the students were actually listening to what they are saying during the two-week summer camp and it also made them feel that they are actually doing something that can benefit the education of children in remote area of Taiwan.
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Tran, Linda ( 陳琳達)
Throughout this experience, I feel like I became more independent as I held many responsibilities being put in charge of the junior high student’s teaching as well as living independently of my parents. I had to be more resourceful with money and plan most of my travels while keeping my safety in mind. My passion for quality education also grew seeing the progress of the Taiwanese students improving in their English abilities but with a mindset that they are stuck in their hometowns. I wanted to motivate them to see more and want to learn more despite strict schooling, competitiveness, and many restrictions leaving the country.
My motivation for teaching is mainly the reward of seeing the impact of my work on my students. Students who mainly studied from textbooks in school would attend these classes and would challenge themselves to practice oral English and I could see their growth and willingness to participate during the time that I was there. It was exciting to see some students engaged enough to initiate conversations with me outside of classes as well so that they could practice their English, which they were very shy and unconfident to do when I first met them.
Throughout this experience, I built on my communications skills as I was very timid coming to a new country and I was anxious to be well liked by my co-volunteers and students. As a result of this, I would spend more time preparing my lessons because I wasn’t provided materials or resources, but by having a group to rely on for help, I could communicate my anxiety and seek help and advice. This helped me throughout the program because I was able to be more confident and build a support network.
The opportunity focused too much on training, in my opinion, with a full week of training and only two weeks of teaching. The food provided during training week and the tour week at the end were not enough and made me unwell and the time for rest during this time was not enough, even when my group came back sick after teaching. However, even though there were many restrictions in attire, leaving the premises, and no WiFi, I am glad that I came to Taiwan and that my first trip here was with the group I was paired with. The program was more disorganized with the increase of participants this year, but I’m glad the kind counselors were always there to support us and that everyone was positive throughout.
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Hu, Quantum (胡徵智)
At first, I wasn't sure what to expect from the kids at my elementary school. The training we had received made everything seem difficult at first but once I arrived and actually started teaching, it wasn't so bad anymore. The impression you get from training is slightly different (in a good way) than the actual experience, so there's no reason to be afraid or concerned! Teaching plans are always rough work so don't be hesitant to change your plans!
AID has shown me so much about the lives of kids in rural Taiwan. The fact that they can be happy with arguably not very much is a testament to human strength and I wish nothing but success and happiness for all the students I taught.
The best part of the AID program definitely has to be the friendships I made, with the teachers, with other volunteers, and with the children at the school. The new friendships I had made helped me through the hardships of teaching, and also helped me to have a good time in Taiwan.
The tour in the end however was lackluster. It was tiring and not very tour-like, but because I was with friends, it was still a great experience. If you're still thinking about joining this program, you should know that teaching is only a small part of the entire experience. At the end, you will have hundreds of new friends and great experiences, and that's what makes it so great.
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Pang, Warwick (彭卓希)
AID was an extremely memorable experience, I had the opportunity to meet many amazing, like-minded individuals who were of the same ethnicity as myself, and teaching English to students with a different cultural background has given me a new perspective upon both teaching, and Taiwanese children. The planning of lessons and the execution of our weeks of planning was insightful. Throughout the program, we were constantly learning about each other, our students and our supervisors. We had a chance to experience many different aspects of Taiwan, ranging from the food, people, culture and even art. This program was a very immersive experience into Taiwan as a whole and it was extremely unique. Although our roles were to be teachers, we also learned a lot from our counselors, about Taiwan, and improved our Mandarin abilities from the children which we taught.
If I had the chance to tell myself something before the program started, it would be to reach out more to people and get to know them. Through this program, I've made many friends which I'm sure I'll be keeping for a lifetime. Even the counselors that helped us along the way were like older siblings to us, and were incredible people to become acquainted with.
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Hu, Maxwell (胡徵元)
This AID volunteer experience was the first time I have ever taught foreign students in another country, and it was a very eye-opening and enjoyable experience for me. My parents are both from Taiwan, so I have been to Taiwan a few times before, but this was the first I have come without my parents and for another purpose other than a leisure vacation. During my time with AID, I met a lot of other people, some of whom I became very good friends with. The teaching experience was also a unique and eye-opening experience, I have had some tutoring experience in the past, but have never taught an actual class of students before. I have a Hakka heritage, so the school I taught at was Hakka as well. This allowed me to see some of the traditional Hakka culture and participate in their activities which were very fun to do. The students I taught were not very strong at English, so it was a good challenge developing lessons that would be appropriate for their skill levels. I had good overall experience with the AID program.
The first photo is my group and teacher posing with our Hakka blue dye clothes. The dyeing experience was a very interesting and fun experience.
The second photo is one with my group member Megan, and our class posing for a photo on our last day.
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Chan, Louisa (陳巧瑜)
This program was a very fun experience that I would definitely do again. Through this program I was able to make many new friends as well as gain a new view of life. Teaching and volunteering in Taiwan helped me learn the culture in the region and also the language. I was able to learn a lot of new things that I would not be able to learn in my own country. It was an enjoyable experience to be able to share my own western culture with the children and them sharing their Taiwanese culture with me. Being unable to understand and speak the mandarin language, I thought that it would be difficult to travel Taiwan without knowing the language or culture. However, the new friends that I made on the trip helped me a lot and translated for me throughout the trip. Thus, despite not knowing mandarin, I was still to fully enjoy my trip in Taiwan. The staff was very helpful and worked their hardest to make the trip safe and enjoyable for every volunteer in the program. I am grateful for how much work they put into this program in order to organize and feed all the volunteers in the program. Because of them, I was able to gain an unforgettable experience by volunteering in Taiwan.
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Cao, Siyan (曹思妍)
When I first came into AID, I was unsure if I would be up to the task of teaching English to kids in Taiwan, despite having made it into the program. However, once we started learning the methods to teach from these experienced teachers, I became excited to teach and to try my hand at this new experience. Taking notes and doing fun activities throughout the learning week really helped my confidence and I wanted to find out which activities would work for which kids. I was extra excited I guess since I knew that AID has not gone to the school I was assigned to in 5 years (Taihe Guo Xiao) and since I was in a smallest group, this was really a good chance to blaze a new trail and get close to these students. These 2 teaching weeks have been possibly the hardest 2 weeks of my life, and between having enough energy to deal with the energetic kids and getting all the reflections in and getting the lessons ready on time, I was grateful for the opportunity to travel overseas and to help these kids learn something new. I will never forget my experience at AID, as it taught me valuable lessons about hard work and compassion.
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Wang, Helen (王泓蕴)
The AID program has made this past July one of the most memorable months of my life!
I will forever be thankful for the opportunities I had to learn how to teach and to teach actual students. Though we only taught for two weeks, I can say that I am proud of what our students have accomplished and I hope they are proud of themselves too. We achieved our goal of convincing them to become more comfortable with speaking English. Most students were shy to begin with, but over our short time with them, they became comfortable with us to the point of being mischievous; we bonded with all of them and I don’t think we will ever forget them. Despite being teachers ourselves, I believe the students taught us as much about patience, planning ahead, and learning, as we taught them about English and Canadian culture.
Though our highlighter t-shirts made us look and sometimes feel like tourists in Taiwan, I’m grateful for the immersive experience that the AID program had provided us, even if our lodging situation was unconventional. During the tour week, we got to see sights that showed us Taiwan in its entire glory, from the Gaomei wetlands and the natural beauty of Sun Moon Lake, to the bustling Fengjia and Shilin night markets. Living for two weeks in the mountains at our school, however, allowed us to experience Taiwanese culture just as much as the tour did.
Overall, I’m glad I had the opportunity to attend this life-changing program that helped expose us to other cultures, meet likeminded friends, and make amazing memories.
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Chu, Tsz Wing (朱芷穎)
Ironically, I learned so much more than I teach this summer. At the beginning of the program, I didn't know what to expect. The first week was the most difficult as I knew no one from Taiwan. Over the first few days, I stepped out of my comfort zone and just kept on introducing myself to others. That first week, I met many new people from all around the world. I also met some of the best people I've known, my five teaching partners, Vicky, Selena, YiTing, Joy, and Samantha. Without them, the teaching weeks would not happen and the tour would not be as fun. As mentioned, training week was very difficult as we were just students in English speaking countries and through that week, we were transformed into teachers. We attended classes from after breakfast to before dinner. Then, we planned for the rest of the night. After 6 insane days, teaching weeks arrived! I was eager to go to my assigned school, Bei Mei elementary school. The most important lesson I learned as a teacher is that you have to plan double the lesson and be flexible as sometimes it may take longer as planned and sometimes it takes very few minutes. One day that was as tough as the other days was the last day of teaching weeks. Saying goodbye to the kids was the hardest thing to do. Many of them cried as we have to leave very soon and may not come back for a long time. All in all, it was a wonderful experience with lots of fruitful lessons on the way. One piece of advice for other volunteers in the years to follow is to treasure this opportunity as you will never get to do it again.
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Yao, Samantha (姚巧露)
Before joining AID in Taiwan, I was extremely worried about how I would teach English to children because I had no idea how to complete my volunteer assignments from the website. Luckily, AID provided us with a training week. All the teachers and counsellors were extremely welcoming and the lectures really helped to guide me when I made my own teaching plans. The interactive games and lessons turned out to be the most useful during teaching. As I travelled to my school in Chiayi County, I worried that the students would dislike me because I had never worked with children before. The next 2 teaching weeks turned out to be the best weeks of my life. I was a teacher, yet I learned so much from my students as we bonded over the English language. Not only did we teach them English in class, we also exposed them to actual conversations in English with my peers. We taught them Canadian culture, making pancakes with them and showing them how we lived back in Canada. As a photographer, I brought my camera to school and was delighted to find that the students took an interest in it. I taught them how to take a photo and more vocabulary such as “camera” and “photo”. The kids also taught us Taiwanese culture, as their school system is extremely different from Canada’s. As I taught, I often ran into unexpected problems as well. This made me a more confident person, improving my problem-solving skills, communication skills, and leadership. I feel that I matured a lot over the past month with AID. I felt extremely happy that I was able to make a difference in a less-privileged community. By the end of the teaching weeks, the students genuinely loved learning English with us. AID teaching was the most memorable 2 weeks of my life and I would highly recommend this program to anyone else.
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Sylte, Alexandra (蘇立詩)
Overall, I had a wonderful experience throughout the AID Summer program. I was fortunate to have a fantastic group to train, teach, and tour with. Our hosting school was very considerate and welcoming, and we grew to have a real bond with the students. The training week was overwhelming with the amount of student volunteers involved, but helpful in providing the time to develop ideas and prepare for the weeks of teaching. The training classes gave me and my teaching partner many ideas for our own lesson plans. The teaching portion was two weeks (not including weekends) - which was not enough time to teach the students as much as we wanted, but was enough time to try and inspire the students to continue learning and practicing their English. I have had experience in teaching English in English teaching camps, but have never been given the chance to completely design the whole of the lesson plans. My group shared their ideas with each other, as well as their successes and failures in the classroom for reference. Looking back, it was a successful two weeks that would not have been possible without the support of the hosting school and teachers, or my fellow teammates. The students we taught in the hosting school were eager to learn, and I miss them dearly. The tour week at the end of the program was a lot of fun as well, since we were taken to many famous places in Taiwan. To travel across Taiwan was a great experience, and I have many pictures and memories to look back on and cherish.
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Banh, Riva (彭柏欣)
The past month of volunteering with AID Summer 2018 has been nothing but a memorable one. Although there were moments where I wish the organization of the program was a little better, I believe the best effort was put forth in order to accommodate 600 volunteers. The most rewarding moments experienced was first, being able to go to Shilin Night Market with my team, after a week of hard work, preparing for the two weeks of teaching to come. The second, would be the end of the two weeks of teaching and having all the kids that I taught, but also some that I didn't teach, come up and thank you for just simply being there and teaching them English. Because of the short duration of the program, we tried to make the lessons and the experience itself, as fun and memorable as possible for all the students participating. Not only that, but we tried to incorporate global aspects to all our lessons to broaden their horizons. It was amazing to see how engaged and fascinated the students become, when they're presented with content from around the world. I believe that the students of Taiwan should have the opportunity to learn more about the world, but also become engaged with it. For that, we should be empowering them and encouraging them to feel more comfortable speaking English, to allow them to prosper in the language.
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Lussier, Jocelyne (盧嫣甯)
My first time in Taiwan has definitely been a positive experience. I had the chance to experience authentic Taiwanese culture, especially in the mountains where my school is situated. I was blessed with wonderful friends I made on the first night, four girls whom I will definitely continue to keep in touch with. They were great team members/friends, procrastinating and eating ramen together at 1:00am will never be the same.
I will definitely miss my students, the school, the entire village we lived in. It was such a healthy change/getaway from the busy city life I am used to. Although the lesson planning and teaching made me exhausted everyday, I still felt well rested and energized. Maybe it's the mountain air, or the delicious food we ate, or the never ending laughter with my friends, but waking up at 6:00am every morning no longer seemed so dreadful. The kids definitely made the highlight of my trip, their bright smiles and boldness with insane insects will never be forgotten. Just remembering how much they anticipated to play Hangman and dreaded trying to speak alone makes me miss them so much. I told myself I wouldn't cry on the last day, but my face became messy with tears after being surprised with goodbye letters and a song and dance to You Are My Sunshine from our kids.
AID has given me an unforgettable experience. From living in the mountains, teaching toothy brave kids, exploring Taiwan, and being immersed in authentic Taiwanese culture, it has become my goal to return. In fact, my friends and I made a promise (documented on video), that we would return to Taiwan together in six years, hoping to see our kids and school again, and explore Taiwan all over again. Thank you to my kids for being so wonderful and funny. Thank you so my coach for being so welcoming and caring. And a big thank you to my friends for being my translators the entire duration of the trip. It means a lot. See you in six years!
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Ellis, Julia (李加樂)
During the first week at Chien Tan I felt uneasy and I wasn’t sure if I could do this because this was my first teaching experience.
From the two weeks of teaching at the Jiuqu Elementary School in Kaohsiung, I learned a lot about teaching like creating lesson plans, which was difficult to do because I didn’t have many ideas for activities. I also found managing the classroom difficult because the grade 1’s and 2’s didn’t understand what I said in English. They did not always follow my instructions even if they understood what I said. Sometimes, even with the lesson plans it was hard to teach because the students did not always follow the plan. When I taught the lesson to the first class, I was experimenting, if it didn’t go so well I would tweek it for the next class. The lesson went better with the next class. By the second week of teaching I felt more relaxed because I knew with all the practice I would do a lot better. The rewarding part of this was that the students learned more English and I started to enjoyed spending time with them over time.
This experience gave me new found appreciation of my teachers, I made new friends who we are still in contact, I gained confidence from traveling by myself and I will be brave enough to speak in front of people.
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Lee, Vivien (李晨薇)
Overall, I found the volunteer experience fulfilling and inspiring. I still remember the first day of class and the moment that we met the students. They were all very shy and reluctant to respond to our greetings or even answer our questions. As time goes on, they slowly opened up and became enthusiastic to participate in class and the activities. Fast forward to the closing ceremony and all of the students were telling us they are going to miss us and how this English camp has not only helped them but also inspired them to continue to study the language. Looking back, I think we achieved the goal we set out for ourselves in the beginning, which is to encourage and inspire students to not be shy and try, even when they do not know the perfect grammar or exact word, to express their thoughts in a different language. Teachers can encourage them by providing students with more opportunities to practice their listening and speaking skills through games or different activities. Language-learning should not only consist of lectures and requiring students to regurgitate information on tests, they should be USING the language in dynamic ways. Lastly, I wish there were other ways for the volunteers to gauge the language level of the students. There seems to be a discrepancy between reading and writing skills versus listening and speaking skills. The availability of these information is not only crucial for volunteers when they are setting up their teaching plans, it is also important for the students so they can see and measure their growth by the end of the English camp.
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Chik, Joey (植俊彥)
This past summer was life-changing. I had the opportunity to spend four weeks with some of the most amazing people I've ever met in my life. AID is a program that offers young people around the world the chance to teach English in Taiwan. However, it is also so much more than that. I got to experience Taiwanese culture, make new friends and do something meaningful during my summer vacation, which is more than what a lot of people I know can say. I signed up for AID for the same reason a lot of other high school students did: the absolutely amazing university application padding it would make. But when I stepped off the plane and finally got home after my four weeks in Taiwan, I realized that the real reward from my time in Taiwan were the amazing friends I made and the irreplaceable experiences I had.
When I first stepped off the plane, I felt nervous. It was my first time flying alone and I hadn't spoken any Mandarin. I felt a little bit of relief when I saw all the other volunteers at the airport and realized that everybody else felt the same way too. The first week flew by. I bonded with other volunteers during the long, boring lessons and over the little shenanigans we pulled (like buying phallic pineapple cakes at the night market). Soon, the week was over and we all piled into our buses and headed towards our teaching placements. After four hours of intense tailgating and rocketing up and down the Taiwanese mountains, we finally arrived at our school. Once we were there, the days just slipped by. One day, we were just getting to know our students, and then we were taking them out for field trips the next day, and then it was already the end of our two weeks there. Then it was time for the tour. To be completely honest, the attractions were mostly lackluster. I didn't really mind though, because I was having the time of my life. I was so busy enjoying the company of my new friends that even the bus rides seemed fun.
My four weeks were up. Stepping on the plane back home, I wished that my four weeks had lasted longer. I missed sneaking out to the night market and having impromptu recorder/guitar jam sessions. Coming into Taiwan, my four weeks seemed like a chore that I signed up for and couldn't back out of. When I left, I was wishing that I could do it all over again. As cheesy as it sounds, I loved being a part of AID. Despite all the little organizational flaws and restrictive rules this program had, I genuinely loved being a part of it. Although I was supposed to be the one teaching, I think I learnt something during this trip too. I learnt that sometimes, I should look on the brighter side of things too.
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Chan, Liu Yin (陳了因)
Over these past four weeks I learned a lot from this AID Summer Volunteer Program, as well as making new friends along the way. When I first signed up for this program, I did not have any expectations as it would be my first time teaching so I was nervous, but as they taught us different teaching skills and fun teaching activities my confidence grew. I was worried about being too boring to the students but as the initial training week progressed we learned different strategies to engage the students as well as improving their learning experience. In the evenings they gave us a sufficient amount of time to plan our first few lessons so that we were prepared. When we were teaching I was afraid that the students would not listen to us but I was delighted when all the students were very well behave. As the week went on, the class was using more English and were more engaged in what we were teaching. While I was teaching the students, I did not realize that time went by so quickly and before I knew it the two weeks were over and we had to say goodbye to the many students whom we now shared a bond. Saying goodbye was very hard as we had become both their teachers but also their friends. I hope that those students and even more students in the future have the opportunity to attend AID Summer Camp to study and learn English.
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Tang, Ethel (鄧綽妍)
My experience teaching in a school has really opened up my mind towards the teaching field. I've learned the tough way that teaching is not all fun and games but requires a large amount of preparation and patience. It may seem like an easy task when thinking about the ideal; obedient and smart children, great teamwork between the other volunteer teachers and constant flow of teaching ideas and materials but that was definitely not the case.
While teaching, I had to be reminded that students are not robots or pets that will obey your rules and constantly follow your instructions. Each student is their own individual and they each have their own unique personality and learning pace. When a student was falling behind, I learned that patience and guidance will truly help the student flourish. I can see that some of these students are passionate about learning and simply just need some extra attention when learning new content. In addition, there were students that needed some extra discipline. It was hard to conceptualize that some students could be so full of energy! It took some time to figure out how to deal with the energy of some students but most of the time, such behaviour was handled by the main teachers at the school. Each individual student had their unique way of learning and learned at a different pace so it was almost impossible to have them all pay attention to you due to their unique personalities. This truly made me think that being a teacher is extremely difficult.
I truly think that this was a wonderful experience as I have learned a lot about the teaching field, how to teach children and teaching children a second language. Things I will take away from this experience is remembering that learning a new language is extremely difficult and I should be patient with those who take longer to grasp new information.
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Hsu, Sung Yuan (徐嵩元)
AID gave me the opportunity to step out of my comfort zone and take on a new experience. It was a very impactful experience not only on me but hopefully on the students as well. I developed a greater appreciation for teachers and the diligence they have to put in with their teachings. It was nice to be in a position where I can foster and manage a classroom learning environment that promotes and instill students' learning confidence and engagement. AID also gave me the chance to broaden my horizon in terms of immersing myself into various other cultures and traditions. It also helped me further develop my international awareness. Outside of the classroom, my colleagues and I spent a lot of our time experiencing new things. It was definitely an unforgettable experience being able to go to the night markets and travel through different places in Taiwan. As someone who has never been back in 10 years, it was a slight shock for me and paradoxical that Taiwan has changed so much with regards to certain aspects while remaining the same in others. It was a nice experience being able to spend time with my students outside the classroom as well, such as going to Hong Mao Gang.
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Chang, Yiching (張奕晴 )
The whole experience of AID Summer 2018 was extremely eye opening. I was able to meet so many people who had similar backgrounds and interests as me. The first week of training prepares you for the two weeks of teaching with workshops on how to make lessons more engaging and interesting and provided information on what to expect at the school. The school I taught at was extremely welcoming and had a tight knit community. The school had just twenty-five students and I taught a class of nine. The kids were very energetic and enjoyed learning English. Weekend tours were fun and allowed us volunteers to bond even more. Everyday was an adventure while we stayed at the school, running away from giant spiders and cockroaches were part of the routine. The week long tour after two weeks of teaching was relaxing and fun. I went on the Southern tour and we visited many tourist attractions though the bus rides can be long. The counselors were very friendly and helped us out with any problems that we encountered throughout the week of training and the tour. Overall, AID Summer 2018 is an experience I will never forget and I would strongly encourage anyone who qualifies to apply!
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Yang, Joanna (楊凡萱)
AID summer for me has been one of the best experiences of my life. From teaching and bonding with kids to laughing like maniacs with my friends, I have learned so much, not just about teaching, also about myself. There were definitely challenges. The first day we couldn't really get the kids to participate and once they got to know us better it was hard to control them. But there were good times too. The kids were really sweet and kept making us the rainbow loom bracelets, singing and dancing together, running around outside trying to catch them, laughing along with them, and so much more. The friends I made in less than a month are friendships that I will treasure forever. From our crazy laughter to uncontrollable sobbing during the last day, to exploring places and working on working journals and being lazy, these are moments that are special to us. Our support system was great too. Ellen, Sandra, Sammi, Mr.Yang, and our host families were always there for us in whatever we needed. They created such a special summer for me. So many memories were made and so many new skills learned. Thank you all for this summer, I will never forget it, I'll come visit in the future!
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Li, Vivian (李維恩)
AID 2018 has been one of my most meaningful summers. From gaining 7 new friends to improving my teaching skills, I truly learned a lot in just one month. I remember feeling nervous on the first day but soon relaxed because our group members got along pretty well. It was difficult in the beginning to break the ice but we slowly broke each other’s walls down. During the first week, I learned a lot about how to be a good teacher as well as some useful games and techniques to implement with a class. The next two weeks of camp were spent at Hsinchu. I loved the transition from living in a city to suddenly living in the countryside where I could see countless stars at night and felt the breeze on my face after shower. I eventually befriended all kinds of bugs that showed up at my school: from cockroaches, mosquitoes, to dragonflies and beetles. I felt like I was closer to mother nature in that sense. From teaching the kids, I earned a sense of accomplishment, learned how to be a better teacher and also how to be a better team partner. What I realized the most from the classrooms was that even though I was the teacher, I could learn a lot from my students. Overall, I was extremely grateful for the experience from Hengshan Junior High, especially the great courtesy extended to us from the teachers and principal. They made sure we were more than comfortable at all times so it wasn’t hard to call Hengshan home just after a few days. The last week of camp was a fun learning experience for me in that I learned about Taiwan in a deeper way. We visited places we’d never been before and bonded even more with each other. The last day came and it was hard to part with one another, but I know that in all our hearts, the memories of AID 2018 will always be one of the most special ones.
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Tang, Ethan (鄧卓彥)
Living in a foreign country, experiencing the rural landscape, meeting new people in a language I did not speak and all the while teaching kids how to speak English; it was both a challenge and an amazing experience. I can guarantee that participating in this program was beneficial to me in every way and I positive the students thought so as well. After comparing with other groups and their experience I definitely felt like I lucked out with the people I have been grouped up with and the school and volunteers that helped us out during the program. Teaching the students was whole other experience than the time a volunteered as a teacher's assistant. Keeping the students attention is probably the most stressful part of the job but when the kids are excited about your activities it really pays off. Overall, I think the program has been planned out nicely; information was provided ahead of the beginning of the program, materials and sessions helped us prepared before arriving at our school and the daily reflections helped us keep up to date and potentially helped us understand our teaching methods a bit better. I would say the one problem would be the how these information was displayed. I think the website needs to be restructured a bit to be able to be able to find information a bit better and some why of notify teachers about new info.
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Lee, Brian (李晨宇)
After the program have finished I feel like I could’ve done so much more for the students, spent more time with the them and taught more for them, but there just wasn’t enough time. I cannot use any words to describe this incredible opportunity that was given to me to teach these wonderful students and to work along with my awesome teammates. This program has taught me so much since day 1 during the training week. I’ve learned just as much from the students as they have learned from me. On the very first day I was extremely worried about the students not opening up to us, and I was correct. Second day morning, I did not feel like teaching at all. Fortunately, the students started answering questions in class and talking to us during break Which made me feel comfortable around them as well. After the second day everything went smoothly, and I wasn’t nervous at all anymore. I confidently walked into class everyday with my fully completed lesson plans, ready to teach the kids. The memories I made here will be unforgettable. Every interactions with the kids, all the fun that I had with my teammates will always be remembered.
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