The Nexus

Jeff Chen (12) can vividly recall the first time he laid eyes on You Mu Elementary School. He remembers standing at the bottom of a massive set of stairs leading up into the school, taking it all in.

His first thought?

It’s going to take forever to carry my luggage all the way up those stairs.

The Teachers

Chen spent the next three weeks of his summer at You Mu, a rural school situated in the mountains south of Taipei, teaching English to 4th and 5th graders.

This opportunity was sponsored by the Taiwanese Ministry of Education through the Assisting Individuals with Disadvantages (AID) Volunteer Summer Program.

“I had heard great things about this program from friends who previously participated,” Chen said. “Though the teaching can be tiring and stressful, it’s ultimately a very rewarding experience.”

Gulce Ozturk (10) also volunteered a month of her summer to teach English at a school funded by the University of Arkansas.

Unlike Chen, she taught high school and college students in Gumichane, a small town located in the Black Sea region of Turkey.

“On my first day, I was shocked to find that my students were 3 to 5 years older than me,” she said. “It was strange for somebody my age to be at the front of the classroom, lecturing. Where else would I be able to do that?”

Chen agrees and says that being put into a teaching role threw him off balance.

“The first day was intense and nerve-wracking,” he said. “[My fellow teachers and I] were surprised by the students’ knowledge of the English language. We had to improvise because our pre-made lesson plans were too basic. You never know what’s going to happen in the classroom.”

However, creating lesson plans was only part of the teaching responsibility.

“It’s especially hard establishing what level the class is beginning at,” Ozturk said. “There was a wide range in what each individual knew. Somebody might be really good at ‘if clauses’, another might know a lot of adjectives. That made it hard to find a common ground to work on.”

Chen said that he faced similar problems while teaching at You Mu.

Despite his efforts to accommodate all his students, some continued to show no interest in learning.

“The learning gap was so pronounced that the stronger students and the weaker students formed their own [respective] cliques,” he said. “Watching these kids do that to their selves saddened and frustrated me. I wanted to make a difference and make a statement for the value of education. But I couldn’t reach them all.”

The Friends

Within the week, both Chen and Ozturk grew accustomed to their new roles. Though grading papers and tests was tiresome, both found interacting with students to be fun and unforgettable.

“The students came from different areas of Turkey and each had a distinct culture,” Ozturk said. “When they all met in one school, it was like a melting pot. Each student had something to share that was unique.”

Ozturk spent a lot of time with her students during free time after class.

She said that the mixing of cultures made for diverse and rich friendships.

“I definitely had some culture shock,” she said. “The most memorable time was when they wanted to do ‘something fun’ and took me and my co-teachers down to a wedding. In America, you could never just walk into a wedding. But in Turkey, the wedding is open to the entire town.”

Though Ozturk sometimes felt out of place, she said that her students were equally unfamiliar with the American culture that Ozturk introduced.

“We’d gather in an empty room and watch scary movies at night or just go out and play a game of basketball. These are everyday things we do here in America, but the students in Turkey were surprised [at these things].”

Chen also encountered a unique side of Taiwan.

“If you’re a tourist, you’ll be presented with a sterile, commercialized image,” he said. “But it’s different as a volunteer. From the night markets to the students’ houses, I experienced firsthand how rural Taiwanese people live.”

Looking back, Chen felt that he really bonded with his students on a field trip to Man Yue Yuan National Forest.

“I found the students to be inquisitive and full of curiosity,” he said. “They played a bunch of games with me as we hiked– I felt like I was back in elementary school. That was the point when I realized that I had to be a friend, teacher and role model all in one. I’ve never had all that demanded of me before.”

Ozturk also felt pressured to be three people at once.

“It’s almost like a double, or triple, life,” she said. “In the classroom, we’re the teacher and role model. We tell our students ‘Be quiet’ or ‘Turn in your homework’. Outside class, we’re all just a bunch of kids. We lived in the same dorms and held sleepovers. We hung out in internet cafes and played football together.”

The Role Models

On the last day, Chen’s students presented him with a surprise going-away poster. In bright construction paper and block letters, it read: “Never forget us.”

“I was sad when I realized that it was time to go,” he said. “But I was also inspired when they told me that they were grateful for what I had done.”

As their programs came to a close, Ozturk and Chen both felt that the time they spent overseas was worthwhile.

“[Participating in this program] changed my perspective on life,” Chen said. “Here in America we have a great educational system and a way of life we take for granted, but that’s not true for the rest of the world.

We must take advantage of what we have. Carpe diem. We have opportunities not available to others. There’s no excuse to fall behind when everything is there for us.”

For Ozturk, it revealed the value in always giving back to the people around you.

“There needs to be global awareness and passion for helping others in the world,” she said. “It’s about branching out and extending a helping hand. If you have that chance, don’t hesitate. Just jump on it. You won’t regret it.”