While working at my job, I did a lot of training and mentoring for warehouse workers, new hires and trainees in the company. I really liked this part of the job! This got me thinking: maybe I should try to do something related to teaching or education! I also really wanted to move back abroad, at least for a little bit.
To scratch the itch of both wanting to work in teaching/education and living abroad, I applied for this Fulbright English Teaching Assistanthip grant in Taiwan! A Fulbright grant is very competitive, so I was so grateful and excited to have been chosen! I moved to Taiwan last August, and I currently live on a collection of 90 islands called Penghu. It's on the western coast of Taiwan, in the Taiwan strait in the middle of China and Taiwan. They speak Mandarin, which is great because I wanted to practice! There is a lot of military here because Penghu is closer to China, and China wants to take back Taiwan for itself. The weather is very, very hot and humid in the summer and really windy in the winter. The population is around 100,000 people, about three times the size of Aiken.
I work as an English Teaching Assistant at two elementary schools in Penghu. I teach around 18 classes a week, including first through sixth grade. My schools are very small! My one school is only 17 students. My smallest class there is one student, while my biggest is five! My larger school has 41 students, and my smallest class there is four students, while my biggest is ten. I really like teaching English! It's really rewarding, and the students are very funny and energetic. Most people in Penghu do not speak English, so I really have to use my Mandarin every day. I take two Mandarin classes a week, which is great because I really need to improve!
