Reflection

Francis An

My life has been rather comfortable the first nineteen years of my life.  I have never needed to be afraid for lack of a meal or a place to sleep.  For me, the internet, television, and computer have always been constants throughout my life.  However, the past two weeks have made me distinguish real riches from visceral ones.  We may have been sent here to teach but I believe that we were the ones doing most of the learning.

          We arrived in Taitung via airplane via an airport in Taipei.  When we landed, the first thing the volunteers exclaimed was, “Oh my god it’s so beautiful!”  Taitung, unmarked by the effects of excessive city life, was a utopia away from the existence we had come to recognize as the norm.  But everything wasn’t 完美 as the Chinese say it.  While the scenery was exuberant and radiating, the society was in a state far removed from what we were accustomed to.  I remember during the opening ceremony that some officials came from the township to share some sobering thoughts.  One of them, a police officer, reminded the kids to keep their parents from drinking too much and driving while under the influence of alcohol.  I was readily taken back by this.  What was its meaning?  The children here at 海端國中 are the futures of their families.  Most are provided free and subsidized meals and free dorm arrangements.  And all are incredibly appreciative of what they receive.  These students, which we first met during the opening ceremony came in various colors, shapes and sizes.  But I remember that all of them looked at us with eyes that belied a mix of fright and anticipation.  They clapped politely when we finished each act and cheered when they saw something they particularly enjoyed.  At that time, we knew that even if society at 海端 was a little bit backward, the children 真得很完美.

          海端國中 is comprised primarily of Taiwanese aborigine.  Most of them are of the Bunun tribe while some are either mixed aborigines or aborigine-Han people.  I mention this because the children’s style here is different from that in the states.  Most of the parents work as farmers or simple workers in nearby cities (I was delighted one time when our teacher, Mr. Li, pointed out a patch of land and said that one of the kids’ father owned and worked it).  But no matter which way one sees it, one can deduce that the kids are not well off and knowledge is not their primary goal.  Some of the children agreed to the program only after being notified that lunch and dinner would be provided if they so desired.  The kids, however, have very open personalities and are not ashamed to give teachers hugs and pecks on the cheek.  We are not more than friends who are helping them learn English.  When they are in the classroom though, they become docile and silent.  Keeping their interest in the subject matter is difficult and sometimes lessons may incur complete unresponsive.  However, within each student is a will to learn, and when that flame is lit, the student burns with a fury of interest. 

Our group tested out many different topics to teach the classes, and each day had activities related to a certain theme that we were going to teach that day.  If, for example, the theme was “animals” then for our morning warm-up we would have a game of Duck Duck Goose.   The actual lesson would make sure that all students knew what a ‘duck’ and ‘goose’ were.  In general, the students did a very good job repeating the English words after the teacher said it.  And within each class, there were a couple students who picked up the words very quickly.  But for the majority of the students, remember and actually attributing the English word to its Chinese definition was very difficult.  Though they wrote them down, some could not remember how to pronounce the word after learning it the previous day.  I had a little difficulty getting the kids to review past words, but those who remembered or were just generally very proficient at English helped slower students and made the job a little easier.  Little by little, I believe that we hacked away at the barrier that some students had against learning English.  At first, many students were afraid to speak up for fear that they may mispronounce a word or incorrectly associate its definition.  But at the end, more and more students were willing to respond.  In this aspect, I think we did a good job trying to peak their interest in English.

          Though they taught the kids the meanings of nouns, pronouns, adjectives, and verbs,  they taught us the meaning of a single word: hardship.  Sure, it was difficult at first to communicate with the kids.  They like saying a phrase, “沒事沒事”, whenever we ask them to repeat something but we still sometimes get it out of them.  But that is not the hardship I mean.  What I mean is that a bit of the hardship that they have in their lives, in their schoolwork, or even in their minds, has rubbed off on us.  When we did our lesson on occupations, we had four doctors, two school teachers and a couple of jokers who said they wanted to be Sun Yat-Sen.  When asked why she wanted to be a doctor, one girl answered that she wanted to be able to help all people like Jesus helping His people.  The kids all have close families and close ties to their kin.  One boy told me that his father had trouble getting around so his father had to stay at home while his mother worked.  His two elder siblings went to schools in different parts of Taiwan, and he often had to live in the school’s dorm.  Every so often, his family had to move because the government would give them a new place to live which may or may not be better than the one prior.  He told me all of this as though it was natural; that this happened to everybody and that he had no problem with it.  I could only think to myself, if this were me, what would I do?  I do not think I could be as strong.  I do not think I could remain as steady and firm as this little guy was.  Each of the students had a story to tell.  Some were happy while others were not, but each had a hint of hardship within it, and I think we all took a little part from each student as the program ended.

          The two weeks spent at 海端國中 marked a trip to a side of life I had never experienced and probably would never have if not for the AID Summer Program.  I will cherish all the memories from 海端 and will always keep my eyes out for lessons that can be taught even while I am teaching.