The first week of my LiA in Taiwan, or rather the weeks leading up to it, were quite rough. Due to some visa issues (shout out to my incredibly weak passport), I found out that I would only be able to be in Taiwan for a month, causing me to shift the date of my departure from June 28 to July 22. As such, I am writing this reflection from Indonesia, where I am currently spending some time with family before flying off to begin my LiA in person.

What went well?

Thankfully, my hosts were incredibly understanding about my visa situation, and we negotiated an adjusted workload to accommodate for my changed travel dates. Two of my main responsibilities as a volunteer were to (1) create English lesson plans and materials for the organization’s summer camp and (2) teach English lessons alongside local volunteers. Since the dates of my trip changed, we decided that I would be solely responsible for making the lesson plans in the first two weeks of my LiA, before transitioning to teaching English lessons in person once I arrive in Taiwan.

According to the volunteers who are already in Taiwan, most of the children seemed quite receptive to the lessons and fairly engaged, which I am happy about!

What could have been done differently?

One big problem I ran into after the volunteers finished the first English class was realizing that the students knew less English than we assumed. Though English is taught in primary schools in Taiwan, access is not uniform or consistently high quality. As a result, some children had issues with reading and phonetics. As a result, we had to pivot, changing all the lessons for the first week to alphabet and phonetics lessons.

What did I learn about myself when working with others? + What did I learn about leadership?

I learned that I need to be able to discern when I should rely on others, and when I should take the lead on things. I figured that I have a habit of taking on all the tasks for myself, or leaving someone more senior than I am to handle everything. Typically, I dislike asking people younger or more junior than me to take on work, as it feels like I am burdening them.

However, in working with volunteers younger than me, I learned that most volunteers are excited to do work and make an impact, and that they don’t see taking on more work as a burden. I think I need to be more conscious in my leadership, and understand when to assign work to others.

What do I want to develop or focus on next?

Next week, we are starting proper lessons that are based on the worksheets myself and some other volunteers produced. Since the students will now be faced with full texts/reading comprehension, I want to focus on remaining adaptable and understanding that lessons may take much more time than I anticipate. Because of this, I want to remain communicative with the other volunteers and ensure that I am continually adjusting the lesson plans based on the volunteers’ feedback!