Teaching at Mingtan Junior High School in Nantou

William Young

There is too much for me to write about my teaching experience at Mingtan Junior High to fit this reflection journal. However, it was a wonderful experience, and if I had the time (and if my Mandarin was better), I hope to have the opportunity to repeat the AID Summer Program. In either case, I will be certain to advise others that there are few activities more rewarding than helping students improve their English and, in turn, improve their chance at success in life.

Figuring out what to teach the kids was by far the most difficult part of the two weeks I spent in Nantou. This aspect of the job was particularly difficult since there was very little information in the beginning regarding the students’ levels of English proficiency. At first, many of my materials were too simple, and then later on, after training, I made my materials too hard. In the end, it turns out the right spot was a balance between the two. If it is possible, I think AID could do better in letting teachers know beforehand how much English their students already know. While some school materials did get posted, it still was not enough to get a full sense of their command over the language. Thus, the first day was probably the hardest, and both my partner teacher and I (we worked in pairs at our school, which I think is the best arrangement) spent many hours trying to ensure that we would have excellent materials on hand so that regardless of how proficient or novice they were at the language, we would be prepared to instruct them and give them handouts. It turns out we were very lucky, and happened to have just the right amount of materials to cover them for the entire following week. However, I do not expect that others were so lucky, nor would I expect myself to be as lucky if I were to do the program again.

I did find the teaching materials from Archie and the other teachers at training helpful, but as a suggestion, perhaps it would help if they introduced more dialogue-based exercises. Language is best learned when it is practiced, and presenting it in conversational form would help students see what vocabulary and grammar/sentence structures are used most frequently. Moreover, with the presence of native English-speakers, they would also get a sense of what it sounds like to converse fluently in the language. Teaching students using vocab lists would not be very helpful, as there is no context to place them. What I found to be particularly helpful would be to teach around a theme or topic, such as vegetables or animals. After introducing anywhere from 10 to 15 vocabulary words related to the theme, I would take the time to create a second worksheet containing a dialogue that allowed the students to select and choose which words to fill into the conversation. Then, the students would have the chance to hear us two teachers practice in front of them, and after we felt the students understood how the exercise was supposed to work, we let the students take the opportunity to practice and hear themselves and their partners practice as well. During this time, the teachers and teaching aids would go around the room and listen in to make sure that the students were using correct grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation. To make the dialogues more interesting, we would also throw in a little slang now and then, so the students could hear how many English-speakers actually talk in daily life. As an added benefit, the slang we used is often not covered in the students’ textbooks, and many students found it fascinating to pick up on informal lingo.

One aspect of the two weeks spent in Nantou that I did not count on was the amount of physical exertion that would be required on my part. This partially stemmed from the fact that we had to prepare a dance for the students to perform on the final day of class, and from the daily exercise that we teachers felt the students needed to get them out of their seats and allow them to refresh themselves from a day full of practicing English. While some of these activities were designed to reinforce the lesson, such as jumping rope to a rhyme or teaching them basketball slang and then using it while on the court, many of the days were simply meant to give the kids some time on their own to release their energy. Some of my best memories as a volunteer teacher came during these fun-filled moments, and despite the immense soreness I would always feel in my muscles at the end of the day (or the next morning when I woke up), such play brought great joy and laughter to me, and reminded me how fun school could be at times. Fewer moments have helped me feel so young and alive at heart.

Another highlight during the two weeks was getting the chance to share bits of American culture with the kids, especially when giving them the chance to replicate experiences they normally would not have the chance to encounter in Taiwan. During the Friday of the first week, as a reward to the students, I brought in graham crackers, chocolate bars, and marshmallows for the students so that they could make S’mores, a very sweet American dessert treasured by many kids in the States for its connection to campfires and group gatherings. While I had some of the staff at the school prepare some burning coals (this part took about an hour to get ready), I set up a table and had the kids come down and acquaint themselves with the simple tools we would be using. First, I had the kids taste the graham crackers, as they are almost impossible to find in Asia (these MUST be brought from the United States). Then, I had the kids break the crackers into halves, and place a single square of chocolate on one of the cracker halves. Using wooden skewers (or in this case, chopsticks), we had the kids place one or two marshmallows on the end, and roast them over the burning coals. Taking care not to burn the marshmallows, we had the children brown the outsides until they were crispy, while leaving the insides sticky and sweet, and then had the students carefully sandwich the marshmallow between the two halves of the crackers. If done right, the heat from the marshmallow also melts the chocolate, and the kids could enjoy the delectable treat. While almost all of them agreed it was too sweet, and some even initially refused to eat it, given the unappetizing mushiness of the toasted marshmallow, many of them thought it was a great deal of fun and even made extras to share with their family members. While marshmallows and chocolate bars can be easily acquired from just about any 7-11, it is advisable to bring graham crackers since, as mentioned before, they are difficult to acquire abroad.

My short stay in Nantou, while at times beset with difficulties such as spending long hours each night planning the next day’s curriculum, having to sleep on hardwood floors, and learning to deal with multitudes of mosquitoes and even fleas, turned out to be a most rewarding and gratifying experience, and true to Taiwan’s national motto, the adventure truly touched my heart. Not only have I left with a great deal of entertaining and humbling stories of my short tenure as a teacher, I have also gained a great deal of friends among both the teachers and, especially valuable to me, the students. I wish every endeavor I undertook was as rich and as valuable as this one, and it is my great regret to know that rarely will such efforts match the intensity that I felt while teaching a handful of students in the most blissful, beautiful patch of countryside I have ever known.