Reflection

Jason Lin

As I signed up for the camp I was literally hoping for something to take up time during my summer as well as receive hours for my contributions. At first, this was my plan: become accepted and earn hours for my school. This sounds pretty self-centered doesn’t it? However, I definitely received so much more than I had expected. I learned that the children being taught English we’re definitely deprived and obviously lacked the money and education to learn English. I come and help the children for two weeks and then I leave, right? Wrong, somehow after becoming close and attached to these children, I seriously felt distraught and disheartened to leaved. A program that sounds so simple can provide for such profound rewards.

The first day of camp seemed identical to the first day of elementary school. I came into the program knowing no one besides my brother, who wasn’t even in my group. It was an ever-awkward feeling to be standing alone in the midst of such a vast place and such a huge crowd. The first person I met during the camp was my beloved counselor, Eric. He definitely didn’t look like the outgoing type with his thick-rimmed glasses, and somewhat distorted English. I thought to myself, “What in the heck did I sign up for? What did I put myself into?” The week passed by slower than a snail, but in that time, I got to know so many new and interesting people. The first person I met was Jerel Ho. He came from New Jersey and was attending Notre Dame the following semester as a freshman. Then came Brian and JJ. Both were quiet and reserved at first. They turned out to be people that I could probably talked to on a consistent basis. In addition, the living conditions that we all were put in were just horrendous. There was no air conditioning, no washing machines, no drying machines, and the restrooms smelled like cow manure mixed with some other disgusting scent. Moreover, I didn’t even fit in the bed provided for us in our dorm. Now I realized how thankful I truly am for those luxuries I take granted for.  

          The teaching and learning experience was very beneficial in our later teachings to the elementary school students. With the help of Archie, our counselors, and the guest speakers, I have truly obtained a plethora of useful knowledge that guided me throughout my two weeks of teaching. I feel that the training given will, without a doubt, help me later on in life. With this being said, the difficult part of the summer aids program came. It took 86 turns up a twisting and winding mountain road to get to the school my group was assigned to. Once again, there was no air conditioning in our dormitory or even the school, similar to the Tao Yuan Training Center. It was seriously the hard life. Every day and night at the school was so tiring. The students we’re very outgoing and extroverted. They were full of life. Within the first ten minutes of the first day of teaching, every single volunteer teacher went and complained to the teacher of how bad the students were and how tired they were. The principal gave them this huge lecture and how we came all the way for the United States just to help and assist these unfortunate students learn English. After that one speech the students probably took in the realization of how lucky they truly were. I can’t say that the rest of the two weeks went perfect but there was definitely that sense of respect present. The students weren’t the hardest part of this challenge, I feel. Personally, the constant writing of the lesson plans and thinking of new things to do to entertain the children while teaching them English was the hardest. The students have to be entertained while learning English in order to be interested in wanting to learn English. Now that I think of it, the two weeks of teaching went by terribly fast unlike the Tao Yuan Training Center week. The students there are just like us and the students I was personally teaching were only 4 to 5 years younger than I. While teaching, I realized that these students were just like us. They all have a different personality and lifestyle. I also noticed that even though they may be deprived financially and live in poverty; they come to school everyday running around without a care in their mind. They all talk to each other with no prejudice and no worries. Everyone also takes care for each other. They even clean up the school every single day at 7:30. As much as the students admire me and the other teachers for knowing English and Chinese so well, as well as living in the United States, I admire the students even more for the type of people they are and how they can live life to the fullest potential. The emotional bond that grew between the students and I was truly awesome and utterly unexpected. The students started off not liking any of us at all to crying and sobbing terribly when we left.

          In summation, I cannot express with words how truthfully grateful I am that this program was made and created. I came into this program not knowing what I was truly getting myself into. The community hours in my mind are unimportant now. It’s what the students have learned and what I have learned that strictly matters. Two weeks is not a lot of time to teach students that much, however if I and my fellow teachers could keep them interested in learning and speaking English, that is what truly matters. Like that saying from Spider-man, “With great power comes great responsibility.” In my point of view, it is how we put our power into use that can decide another’s future.