Parents Are Both Health Care

¶ … parents are both health care workers who created a free clinic in a rural part of Taiwan with a few of their friends. It lacked all but the most basic medical supplies, but the free clinic strived to provide a better environment for the inhabitant Aborigines. Having learned how to take blood pressure with a mercury sphygmomanometer, I asked my parents to take me with them in order to help take care of the simpler tasks. They agreed and took me with them on the trip, but there were many times where there was nothing for me to contribute to their patients.

I decided to make the best and most productive possible use of my spare time by teaching English to the town's Aborigine children English. As an American-born Taiwanese, I knew that multilingualism, especially if one of those languages is English, greatly increases the chances of professional success. Since I knew that children learn best in the context of other activities they enjoy, I decided to develop a program teaching English through coaching badminton. A racket, net, and a shuttlecock were my most important teaching tools because they helped me maintain a positive learning environment that motivated my students to learn.

I started off my days with a run and during that time, I would plan out my lessons for the day of teaching young Aborigine children badminton in English. The terms of each move ran through my head again; a last revision of today's lesson. By the end of my run, my physical fatigue was no match for the sense of excitement and adrenaline I experienced knowing that I was about to face a group of children as eager to learn badminton as I was to teach them English in the process.

In general, teaching English in a way that makes it engaging to children is not a simple task, and the younger the children, the more difficult it is. However, knowing how much they love running around and playing sports, I decided to teach them some basic conversational English through the theme of badminton instruction. I was hoping that, despite my lack of experience in teaching, my experience as captain of the badminton team would help me convey good lessons. I had been accustomed to leading my teammates into warm-ups and drills, and teaching them simple tricks to make serves and plays run more smoothly. Using the same leadership commands, I worked on translating those term and commands into Chinese. I had to consult my parents many times for the correct usage in Chinese to make sure that my instructions were in the simplest possible form so that they could be easily understood by children. After numerous revisions and many hours of preparation, I finally came up with a routine that started with simple English terms and plays then slowly built up into full sentences and games. My goal was that by the end of the summer, an entire game of badminton could be conducted by the children speaking only English to express themselves.

Seeing the Aborigine children run around the court with their rackets made me feel very proud of my decision to do more than just assist my parents with familiar tasks. The combination of teaching English and badminton simultaneously could not have been more rewarding, especially since I knew how much of an advantage speaking English would be for those children. I am tremendously thankful to my parents for giving me this unique opportunity. However, I believe that I have developed a broader worldview than theirs because I hope to use my education and my talents to help many more children than just those who happen to share aspects of my national heritage. I do not fault my parents for having a narrower worldview than mine and I realize that much of that difference is a function of our different upbringing and life experiences.