05/23/2018 School outing

School Outing

I was told that today was going to rain. It turns out to be the one of the best weather since I landed here. The clouds covered the sky and the wind just kept blowing throughout the whole event. If the weather was like the day before, no clouds in sight, I think I will definitely melt.
Ms. Xu and I tasked to help out in the last station of the event where we need to give out stamps on students question slips if they wrote the correct answers. At first, I had some difficulty trying to determine the characters so let me apologise if I stamped wrongly.

Apart from the great time chatting with Ms. Xu, we were soon surrounded by students. Now I understood the "熱情" of the students hahaha. All the hands holding a slip of paper starts to pop out everywhere in my view of vision. I tried to recall back in my days if I ever queued during school events... not really, depends. From bad handwriting, leaving answers blank or even blank papers all hoping that I would accept it. There are always students who like to test the waters.. typical!

05/21/2018 Introductory Speech

Introductory Speech

It is officially my first week here in Chin Hse. I remember when I was first told to do an introductory speech about myself I was a little shook. I guess there is a first for everything. Having hundreds of students "listening" to what I have to say is a little daunting.

Luckily my speech does not have to be too long. Felt bad making you guys sit under the hot sun and me thinking of what to speak haha. Although I was used to giving presentations to professors and classmates, it was never about presenting myself. 

Looking at the student council students reminds me of the times in middle school. The times where a group of friends that was tasked to do something together. Whether if we did a good job or not, what matter was the process of having fun while doing it.

P.S."You guys did a great job on stage"

05/20/2018 ClimbingTree Session

Tree climbing lesson

This is the first time participating in a tree climbing lesson.


The lesson itself its quite entertaining, really enjoyed it. The instructor, 鴨子，is amazing. I wonder how he managed to hold the attention of the kids for so long. He also showed me pictures of the trips and lesson he taught in his job. The aerial shots of the mountains and forest were amazing.


The kids were also having fun as they refused to come down when they reached the top. They wanted to enjoy the summer breeze as the weather is too hot. On a whole, it's a fun-filled event!

  

05/18/2018 Class / Student interaction

Observation in Camping Lesson

Students are very cute and smart. They are able to follow the instructions taught by Ms Ling Chen on how to start a fire. But following and executing the instructions are two different things. Some groups noticed that the breeze in the morning increased the difficulty in starting a fire. They shift to a corner where sudden gusts of wind will not affect their fire starting process. Whereas some groups stayed in the same position trying to start the fire. It caused them precious time as sudden gusts of wind blown away magnesium flacks that they collected from scraping from the fire starting kit consisting of a magnesium block and whetstone. It is fun watching them having them trying their best and contriving weird ideas on how to collect magnesium while the wind is blowing at them. Whether or not have they successfully started a fire I felt that they have gained something through the lesson.

Student Council

The first group of students I was introduced to was them, very opinionated haha. Working along quite well with them! About discussing translating my introductory speech during the assembly on Monday. *You guys are very mature, I felt like am talking to adults. Also taking your job seriously like memorizing the text is very admirable! keep it up!


謝謝804同學協助生難字標註

observation觀察
executing使.....生效
instructions教學
increased增加
process安置
gusts猛刮
magnesium鎂
precious寶貴的
assembly朝會
mature成熟
admirable令人欽佩的

05/17/2018 My First Day/Impression

This is my first time writing a blog, pardon me if it gets boring. :D
It's a start of a new adventure. It is also my first time exploring Taiwan through the lens of a volunteer. As there are differences in experience when you are exploring another country from being a tourist, a student or an expat. I was fortunate to join Chin Hsi as a volunteer.
This project allows me to experience Taiwan unique way and also hoped to leave behind a positive image of Singapore.

Arriving around 5.30 am in morning and did not have much rest on my 4-hour plus flight from Singapore. I was honestly quite tired.
Luckily, I was warmly welcomed by Ms. Ling Chen and Madam Xu during my arrival. that took some of my fatigue away from their hospitality.

With them guiding me, I was introduced to my accommodation and more importantly the school which I will be working with for the following weeks.

Being here reminds me of my middle school back in Singapore where I had my share fond memories. There are also differences that I noticed when I was here.

1. Area Cleaning of the school compound

I am surprised that students have duties to clean up the school's compound every day. Whereas, in my school, we called it community hours. We have to clock a certain amount of hours in one academic year.

2. School Hours

The long school hours that students have to endure. It is roughly the number of working hours in Singapore if you are a working adult!

The whole day was eventful, being brought around the school compound explaining the purpose and name of the building, to be introduced to the school's principal and teachers.

I was also introduced to the Student Council by teacher Ling Chen, they were a fun bunch, seriously practicing for the upcoming dance. I heard that they were voted by and for the students which I find it quite interesting. My teachers in my school back in my days have no faith in us to vote for reliable candidates, therefore, student council was selected by the teachers.

I hope to interact more with you guys as I want to know more about Taiwan.


謝謝804同學生難用標註

pardon 原諒
adventure冒險
exploring探索
lens管道.媒介
volunteer自願者
tourist旅遊
expat外籍人士
fortunate幸運
allows 允許
unique特別
positive 政向
image想像
fatigue疲勞
hospitality待客方式
guiding嚮導
accommodation住處
fond 喜歡的
Area 區
compound校園
duties本分
Whereas然而
certain某
amount幾個
academic year學年
endure忍受
roughly大約
explaining說明
purpose目的
Council自治會
upcoming即將來臨的
faith 信任
reliable依賴的
candidates候選人
council委員
selected選擇

源起

本校於105學年度開始申請桃園市教育局國際青年志工參與孩童教育專案，於106學年度成功媒合到１名新加坡籍國際志工Lim Soon Ji，在本校服務時間為107年5月17日至107年6月24日。

本網誌將請國際志工紀錄在青溪國中的生活。