雙語部　Ninnie Chiang (STEP President)

STEP(Student Teaching English Program)是實驗中學雙語部的英文教學志工社團；參與的志工同學接受指導老師的訓練課程，學習英文教學方法並編製教材。

2016年7月4-8日志工同學來到新竹市青草湖國小辦理快樂英文營，今年的主題為 Travel With Me: Around the World.期待藉由認識世界各國來學習英文。

新竹市青草湖國小報名參加快樂英文營的同學有80名，我們依年齡分成5個班，每個班級由4-5位英文志工協同教學。教材的編製與設計皆由志工同學分工合作完成，教學方式多元豐富， PPT、game、bingo、reading、spelling、story time 、cooking，英文志工同學非常認真教學，享受教學的樂趣。

Held at ChingTsao Hu Elementary School （青草湖國小）from 9-12 a.m. on 7/4-7/8, the 2016 English Summer Camp was composed of one administrator, six STEP officers, around 30 IBSHers – consisting of both teachers and photographers – and 5 classes, each filled with around 15 students. The summer camps are a collaboration event between a governmental project to spread English around local elementary schools, headed by Ms. Agnes Sun, and STEP (Student Teaching English Program), and for this year, the officers and Ms. Sun have agreed to focus the courses on the theme Travel With Me: Around the World to achieve this goal. This theme allows students to learn about the world using English, as well as how this international language can help them on their travels.
The teachers' dedicated attitudes were apparent from how they always show up at least half an hour before the students do. On the first day, everyone arrived even earlier at 8 to learn more about the campus, in case it was a battle of the familiarity of the landscape against runaway students. When the teachers first went in the classrooms, most were horrified to find that there would be no A/C to combat the sweltering heat, and that the sweat trickling down their backs will only stick on their already damp T-shirts, rendering everyone in a muggy, irritated state. Though it was initially uncomfortable, gradually everyone became used to the heat, and the regretful sighs of how they failed to appreciate IBSH as one of the only elementary schools in Hsinchu with A/C died out, to be replaced with detailed lectures for the students or instructions to educational and entertaining games. During the officers' teachers evaluation, in which the teachers were escorted out of the classroom so the officers can hear the students' true thoughts on their teachers' performances, many students noted that they learned many vocabulary words because of several interesting games.
However, after the clock struck on the hour, the classrooms erupted in cheers and guffawing as the students joked around with the teachers, with challenges to win snacks and a chant to get a certain cameraman to bust out some CBC moves. The camaraderie enjoyed between these teacher and student relationships were evident during the ten-minute break times, and while some classes took this time to play with their teachers, others were so interested in the lesson that sometimes the classes kept going without stopping.
Though we had to cut short the summer camp by one day due to the incoming typhoon, the students went back home with new words that are applicable to daily life, the promise of their public library filled with English books purchased and donated by Ms. Sun, a slip with a link for a website that can perpetuate the students' English-learning journey long after the camp, and a certificate commemorating the four days that they have worked hard and played hard. The teachers themselves departed from ChingTsao Hu with several selfies and sweet memories of goofing around with kids. Though the summer camp may hold different meanings to different teachers, one thing was clear: teaching English was a challenging yet rewarding experience. Especially afterwards when you can go home, take an ice shower, and crank up the A/C while reminiscing fondly about the summer camp.

(Ching Huang, Annabel Chang, Phoebe Huang, Catherine Tsai, Song-Ya Pong)

After months of careful planning and preparation, the five of us will be teaching a class of first graders the English language, centered around the the theme Around the World. Over the week, even initially shy and unresponsive kids opened up and bombarded us with comments and questions. We played games like bingo and hot potato, we taught them vocabulary from different continents, and we had hands-on activities such as origami and vocab cards. The trip provided a valuable experience as well as a cherished memory.
We planned our own schedule for the kids, and made a powerpoint for teaching them key vocabularies from each continent. On our first day teaching, we realized that the words we chose were too hard for them, so we decided to make it easier. Also, we noticed that the best way to make them interested is to include small games and fun activities while teaching. The children enjoy playing games, and they also enjoy chatting with us during breaks.
We encountered various problems whilst teaching. The kids were often uninterested in the subjects we taught and would interrupt us every few seconds. Despite the frustration, we tried our best to teach in the least tedious possible way for the kids. Eventually, we were able to keep the kids under control and hold their attention for longer periods of time. The kids even begun to show interest in the subjects we were teaching. Before long, they were shouting questions after questions, hoping to gather more information on the material we were teaching.
On the third day of the English camp, we were told that the camp might end abruptly on the next day because a typhoon was coming. The kids were happy and excited;even those that were most friendly and attached to us hoped that they could get their summer vacation freedom as soon as possible. So, it was unexpected that when the officers asked the kids to evaluate us teachers, their response were all positive and expressed that they like our class.

(An-Che Teng, Lucy Baek, Elizabeth Li, Gloria Liu, Hugo LeeTim Lin)
Most of us forget what it's like being second graders. However, during our trip this summer camp, we have had an experience that has led us to not only learn more about teaching, but to also interact with kids younger than us. On the first day, we introduced ourselves and why we were there with interactive games. Soon, we memorized most of their names, but most importantly, they knew who we were and were not afraid to ask us for any type of help. Our lessons were based on vocabulary words that they can use in daily life. Arts and crafts that the students could bring home to their parents were used, and the teachers had as much fun as they did. We also wished to let our students know that English is not as intimidating as they think it is as well as to encourage them.
It was certainly tiring to try to keep up with the second graders, and trouble such as delays were certainly inevitable. Through this experience, however, we have learned to work as a team to not only make our students' learning experiences better, but to also improve as teachers. We came into this elementary with bagfuls of materials and nervous butterflies; we went out with empty bags, captured memories on our phones, and gained experiences.


(Chloe Chen)
The four days of this program gave me an amazing time, and to be honest, was the best time of my summer vacation so far. Despite a few setbacks and problems along the way, I truly feel that both our team and the kids had a great time. I think our team functioned evenly and effectively with: Jacob and Yao in charge of entertaining the children and making their time at the camp enjoyable; Stephanie, Bella, and I paying more attention to the “details” such as kids who required help or more attention; and the very fact that we made ourselves more children-friendly using easily memorable nicknames such as 捷哥(Jacob), 小馬哥哥(Yao), 白雲姐姐(Stephanie), 蝴蝶姐姐(Bella), and 蜜蜂姐姐(me).
The first day of the camp was, in my opinion, the calmest day we’ve had since most of the kids were still kind of shy and unsure of the situation. I think we had a bit of a bumpy opening with the ice breaker of “2 Truths 1 Lie,” and to be honest I was a bit worried since first impressions are extremely important. Luckily, we’ve managed to recover from the awkwardness and have successfully established authority (for the most part). The rest of the day went rather smoothly with the teaching and the increasing of interactions with and between the students. There was one girl in specific that did not interact with others and refused to speak, only answering yes or no questions with a nod or shake of her head. She had some problems with recognition of letters and writing. Though we assumed she was dyslexic given that she wrote her name in a completely mirrored way, I became not sure of it when she proved no problems with writing characters or letters, only occasionally missing a stroke, repeating a letter, mistaking an alphabet for another similar one, or flipping an alphabet. There was also a boy who brought in a shock pen.
The second day of the camp also went smoothly and we can tell that the kids are truly enjoying their time at the camp, especially with Jacob and Yao. Even though we gave ourselves nicknames that ends with 姐姐 or 哥哥, we can tell that we have already successfully placed ourselves in the children’s minds as an figure of authority with them calling all of us 老師. Although some kids were starting to be loud from time to time, they were still under our (and the snack’s) control. The quiet girl who didn’t speak or interact started opening up and even answered some of our questions verbally thanks to Stephanie’s patience. The boy who brought in a shock pen was dealt with in the best way possible. He tried to trick us into pressing the pen but: 1. He shocked himself once; 2. No one was that clueless; and 3. Yao just continuously pressed the pen for ten seconds without flinching, which created some sort of admiration and respect as the kids were all amazed. All in all, it was hilarious and we had an enjoyable time.
The third day was when things started to get a bit out of control. Some of the kids were bullying Stephanie (I think it’s because Stephanie was way to nice and tolerates actions that shouldn’t be tolerated.) There were a bit of conflict within the student groups themselves as the “true colors” of the children started bursting out. On the bright side, the quiet girl and I became more attached. To help her with writing and copying down vocabulary, I brought in a notebook of my own and wrote out the vocabulary in a clearer and more recognizable way. Since she would frequently miss a stroke and confuse letters, I did my best to correct her and help her with her work through teaching and drawing (I figured that she adores drawing so I interacted with her mostly through art.) I think it is important to figure out the likes and dislikes of a child and analyze the best way to interact with him or her.
The fourth day was the day when we seemingly lost all control. There was this girl in specific who kept on picking on Stephanie. She didn’t listen to anyone and didn’t care about anything. She even took Stephanie’s stuff and hid in the bathroom. In the end Ms. Sun took care of her by taking her out of the classroom.


(Stephanie Shyy)
Overall, the week went by smoothly and everyone had fun! It was only on the first day when we had some problems getting to students to feel comfortable in the classroom. They were quite shy and we had some help from the officers and other teachers, especially on the first day.
The kids started feeling more and more interested at what we teach and started warming up to us fast. Everyday after that the children started having conversations with us teachers! We found out later on that they enjoy playing games and completing with each other and prefered getting to leave their chairs to sit in the back of the classroom together. So, we let the kids play a few games if we said they behaved well or if we happened to have extra time at the end of last period. We even played with the students during break time as well, which could be the reason why the children thought we didn’t give them enough break time when we were always with them.
However, the more they warmed up to us, the more disobedient they became. They wouldn’t listen to the teachers, especially in the last two days. The children even played around too much around me that they would run away taking my glasses, attempting to pull off my clothes, and stealing my bag. One of the students was misbehaving so bad that our teacher, Ms. Sun, came to talk to her separately.
One problem we had with the kids was that some girls were pointing middle fingers at each other and writing swear words on the board. They usually act uninterested and liked talking back to the teachers. One girl especially liked hitting us. They ignored us most of the time and we pretended to ignore them back.
My group was lucky in the way that we happened to be in the same grade, making it easier to find each other to find teaching materials, for example. Most of us were in the same class, so it wasn’t hard to talk to each other. It also made us less nervous on the actual week, since we all knew each other.
However, some kids in the class were quite smart and understood everything we said right away. But there also some kids they didn’t. Some couldn’t understand the stories we put on the board unless we pause every few seconds to translate the story. On the first day, there a was girl that looked blankly at us and wouldn’t talk. We suspected she had dyslexia however on the second day she became one of the most hyper kids in the class!


(Nina Low, Michelle Han, Sonia Wang, Karen Tseng )
To say the truth I personally think Class 4 did the best out of the four other class (even though Jack keeps complaining that our material was irrelevant to the theme). With Sonia, Karen, Michelle and Erin Class 4 was outstanding in flow and atmosphere. The children were a bit distanced with us teachers because of the strange unfamiliar language: English. However as we progressed and taught them slowly with laughters and sobs.Most importantly we and children got pretty close and familiar with both language and people.
Day 1: We sticked onto trying to remember the continents and taking a careful test of the water’s temperature, of the children’s knowledge and skill level. Surprisingly, many of them although fourth graders cannot understand any continents or concepts of continents. They had no clue what any is called, even Asia( in both Chinese or English).Throughout the day, we had many activities that revolves around continents and maybe at times a pop quiz. At the last point we eventually reached a point where we say a specific person or term and they can scream out either Chinese or English and maybe even both languages of the continent’s name. For instance, Europe being Queen Elizabeth, the UK, and Africa being Madagascar or Egypt.
Day 2: Review of Continents with activities such as pangaea: put the continents back. The cutting, pasting, and coloring activity did take a pretty long time for the children. The children colored the continents with their own desire in colors, and cutted nicely around the borders. The funny thing about this activity is that some pasted continents upside down, slanted 90 degrees, Asia to North America with the world map right on the projected screen. Only one person out of eleven did everything right in place. So we then asked them to neatly label the countries one by one with the Chinese and the English translation. All students worked really well on the activity and the teachers were really cooperative. Africa based lessons then ensued. Students were asked to make the pyramids and tell us any interesting stories they know. All of them were staring at us blankly when asked to tell stories, so then we decided to tell them some interesting facts and knowledge of Egypt. How the brain was sucked out from the nose, why the pyramids were triangular with “steps”, and etc, the children were later staring at us curiously waiting for more stories. We later found a pretty fun interactive game that required children’s help in finding the sacred Egyptian beetle that had to be found to continue with the game.
The last two days were the most interesting turning point but I suffer from short term memory loss so can barely have a full image of what happened. But I remembered that we’ve created masks, or technically children did it, of different animals in Africa. Many of them were worried about their awful drawings when their drawings are really artistic and creative. There were professional looking giraffes and gazelles, awkward looking zebras and elephants and simply adorable rabbits and bears in the masquerade during the morning. We also played charades and pictionary with English, it was pretty amusing looking at the intense competition. Mafia was also played during the days, but not quite well with uncooperative people. There were obvious peekers, sneaky peekers and tattletales every single day and night in the game. But the children really enjoyed it no matter what, always begging us one more game one more game please. I remember the last moments of Thursday, with baked pizzas and happy children we reviewed all the materials we had learned from the past few days. Review of continents, animals, pyramids, and etc, were demonstrated through few games of hangman. Children actively participated at first, but the results were scary. Four dead sad men in four rounds, very poor results were given, and they were complaining heavily thinking that this classic is a boring game. The children were begging for a last round of mafia, so I told them, if they want to play they will have to get this one question ( with hangman) correct or else 3 more boring games will ensue with no game of mafia. Within a few minutes they got the answer correct with barely any mistakes or errors. Unpredictable children we have right over there. Summer camp in general was for me the best days I think I will enjoy, not including my birthday.


(Katie Tsung, Yu-shin Lee, Katherine Li, Tiffany Lin)
Our experience in STEP was really educational and fun. When we first began teaching the kids they were quiet and followed our instructions . The problem that we see when we enter the classroom was that the students sit with their groups of friends separately from the rest.Luckily the students listened to us when we asked them to sit closer to each other. As we progress throughout to about 11:00 they get more hyper and want to play games. We played lots of games with them, most of them were educational, but when we play for too long the kids tend to get bored and want to do their own things. While we taught them English,we let them interact with each other through games.Examples of the games include,charade,telephone,picturenary,andetc.We learned some characteristics about the kids through the games.Most of them like to volunteer,however, a few of them are too shy to speak up,but they were still able to get along with the rest easily.We let the kids watch some videos,however they found it boring and start chit-chatting among themselves. Once we began to know each other more, we learned more things. For example, we taught the kids words from countries as well as the month and colors. They were willing to learn everything.Some other things we really enjoyed doing with the kids was singing. We taught some of them how to sing and they were willing to sing along. Some girls were leading the way while some boys not willing to sing.By solving the problem,we went to their desk and told us to sing along with us. It was really fun and they tried to understand the meaning of the song.Even though we have small problems with the kids,we still enjoyed the time we spent with them.