How A First Grader Named King Ed Made My Year

Can I Really Teach in Rural Taiwan for One More Year?


Thinking about teaching in rural Taiwan

For most people, it was a normal November Wednesday night last year in Tempe, AZ.  I stood on the back patio outside of my friends Jeanna & Zach’s place.  I had just gotten back from what I knew would be my last stand up comedy show for a long time, mostly because of where I was going back to live.  The patio lights, and the reflection of the pool, would have given me something for my mind to stay occupied under less stressful circumstances.

On this evening, I was too busy pacing around in a circle as I contemplated my next move.

"Dude. You know what you’re getting yourself into. “
“Why do you want to put yourself through this again?”






I had just finished an epic four month journey. It included going to three countries I had never been to, Japan, Hong Kong, and Macau. The beaches in Japan were unforgettable. So was the walking on the ShikokuPilgrimage, an event most people not only will never get to do, but also have never even heard of. The history of the relationship between Portugal and Macau was enough to fascinate me for a twenty four hour stay on its tiny island.  Also, walking around Hong Kong and trying all the Dim Sum, and listening to Cantonese for a few days was plenty enough to keep me happy. Don’t forget the comedy shows I got to do while I was in Hong Kong.


Life After the Appalachian Trail

I will never forget my trip on the AT



Then, the hardest part to turn away from came after my first visit back on US soil for longer than a two week stretch in over six years. This visit not only included getting to see family and friends I hadn’t seen in years, but also a 350 mile hike along one of America’s most fabled trails, the Appalachian Trail. As my friend Tyler wrote when hiking the Pacific Crest Trail, every day on the trail was its own story.

So, after all this, I was really feeling like I  wanted to stay in my country again. I continued putting serious thought into backing out, “God, can I really go back to this isolated life in Douliou, Taiwan? Teaching at small farm schools, where none of my co-workers speak English. Where none of my neighbors, have anything to relate to me. Can I really do it for one more year?”

 It’s not to say my colleagues and other people living in this area are bad people. It’s just that a lot of them have spent their entire life in a 100 km radius. Taipei is the biggest adventure they will ever get to do in their lifetime.  On paper, it sounds like a relatively easy thing to deal with these friendly and accommodating people. I understand they’re not stupid. Again, they’re not bad people. But, when that is your surroundings every day, it takes a lot out of you.

I crunched the numbers one last time as I got ready to go to the airport to go back to Taiwan in less than a few hours to see if I could possibly stay back in the States. I was really hoping to find a way to make it work. I quickly realized I would need a job making close to 50 thousand dollars per year to live at the same standard of living as I live in Taiwan. I also remembered that the amount of time I actually work is definitely less than forty hours, which is a major advantage. Something that makes you willing to put up with a lot.

Even after crunching the numbers, and knowing it would be a struggle for me to take up residence again in America, every single bone in my body was telling me to cancel the flight back to Taiwan.


Take Me to Sky Harbor Airport- Mr. Uber Driver

Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport



For some reason,  I still got in the Uber at 2:00 in the morning to go to the airport even though I was overflowing with doubts.   

The driver chatted me up right away.
“Where ya going man?”
“Back to work, in Taiwan.”
“You military, bruah?”
“Nah. I teach English to kids. It’s an easy job with great pay.”
“Bruah. I have always wanted to travel. My family is Mexican, and I have never even been abroad.”
“Live the dream for me, Man.”

This is a simple conversation that I often have when I am back home. However, I usually take the seriousness of the conversation for granted. This is because to me, jumping on a plane and going to a foreign country is about the same level of risk as going to the grocery store.
But, while I waited in the airport, my mind kept telling me that I didn’t have to go back to Taiwan again.
It’s my time. “
“I’ve had enough.”
“I can’t teach anymore.”
“Teaching is stupid.”
"Don't get on that plane. You're going to regret it."

I still boarded the plain.

Back in Taiwan



However, for some reason, when I came back to Taiwan,  everything changed for the better, at least when I was at work. School  went way smoother than than it had ever gone before.

It didn't matter what I asked the students to do this year,  they always did it, without even an attitude. If you're not a teacher, this may not sound like much. It also may not sound like much if you are a teacher in your own country. But, you have to trust me in understanding that it is a powerful feeling if you are able to tell thirty fourth grade kids to move to the gym without disturbing any of the other classes, and listen to you explain the game you want to play , in their third language without anyone getting killed.

It really did not matter one bit what I asked them to do,  not even the older students would even think  about hesitating to do it. It was awesome.  I almost had to worry that I might slip up and tell them to jump out a window as a joke, and one of them would do it.

Still, my old teaching strategy was making me crazy. I used to follow a very standard way of teaching ESL. Pick a topic. Then, find about 7 or 8 vocabulary words to go with that topic, and just practice that vocabulary over and over again while incorporating games. From there, I would pick a sentence pattern for the students to learn.

For example, if they were learning Super Heroes. The lesson might go something like show pictures or flashcards of different superheroes, and play some games until they got the words down pretty good. And, then put the words into a sentence pattern, which is teacher-talk for a question and answer.

It might be something like, Who is He? He is Super Man. The students have always liked me since I started teaching, and they usually went along with this kind of lesson well enough to at least not make me crazy.  But, I found teaching very un-stimulating for me, which obviously meant it had to be boring for the students as well.

Every time I played  any of the traditional ESL games this year like sticky ball, flashcard races, teacher says,  it quickly started to eat away at my soul. I was also constantly remembering a story this year one of my former colleagues told me after class one day.

Oh my God, Josh. What in the world are we doing here?”
“I taught How’s the weather today. The lesson was perfect.  Then, I saw one of the best students in the hallway later in the day . And, I pointed at the sunny skies outside and when I asked about the weather he just looked at me like I was a Martian.”


A Time For Change 

I couldn't take standing in front of the class anymore.

Then, one day I was teaching my class in March. I could feel that I was already getting sick of teaching the way I had done things over the past six years. I saw that I was playing a lot of the same games, very similar activities, and I also knew even though the students were happier than usual, they weren’t really learning anything. 

So, I got an idea one day and went with it. When I was about to pass out worksheets, I said even though it’s third grade, and they can barely say their abc’s without drooling on themselves, I’m going to make them form a line, and they’re going to have to ask me,
“Can I have one paper please?”
Me: “Ok.”
Student: “Thank You”
Me: “You’re welcome.”

This wasn’t exactly rocket science by any means. But, this was as real world conversation as I could possibly think of for students with such a low level of English to possibly be able to do successfully. They were being forced to talk in complete sentences, and unable to sit back down again, until they figured it out.

However, the first time I told them to do this,  they looked up at me like it was Rocket Science. The Taiwanese Co-teacher in the classroom also looked at me like that is way too hard.

But, I stood my ground, and went, no, nobody is getting a paper until they figure out how to not only say this sentence, but they also got to say it with perfect pronunciation. I thought if this is all we do the rest of the class, I am totally ok with that. But, I’m not going back to my old way. It's mind-numbing for me, and it is also exhausting. This is finally real world, and practical English , at least as close as I could possibly think of for farm students in third grade in Douliou, Taiwan.

Of course, the students figured it out and the same with the rest of my classes. Then, I started adding more and more scenarios, and sentences to go with it. It basically got to the point this year that we could do whatever they wanted to do, but they would just have to ask me individually first in English while using an abundance of manners.   'Can we go outside please?' Then, you get outside, and they all have to individually say, 'Can we play volleyball please?'

Again, it may not sound difficult. But, given the environment I teach in, I was totally stoked that they were able to be constantly having real world conversations. They were tiny, but still very realistic.

It eventually grew into a full-blown method, which gave me what I really wanted, an excuse to take them outside all the time while they are still learning. I literally haven't stayed inside the class for at least two months now.


Things Will Get Easier 




Teaching started getting much easier from that day in March forward. The scenarios that I could put them in started coming to me much easier. I was able to start taking the students outside all of the time with the new system, and they were still learning.

But, I was going through the year, knowing it was a good year, even a great year.  I still never really knew why I was doing what I was doing. We don't have tests, and always being forced to have some kind of blind faith in what you're doing can be grueling at times.

Then, suddenly, in one of my most beautiful moments since I started teaching, it all came together, why I came back.

King Ed Told Me Why



It happened in the first grade class, which I have been absolutely amazed lately that in a normal class we have found away for all of them to get through. It's literally like George Bush had in mind back in the day with No Child Left Behind. 

Can I come in please?
Can I have my name tag please
Can we outside please
Can we play a game please
Can we go to the gym please
Can we play baseball please
Can we go inside please
Can I wash my hands please
Can I have one paper please
Can I have one cookie please?

It doesn’t sound like much, if you’ve never taught in Yunlin, Taiwan. But, trust me, it is impressive that they learned that much in a year.

But, I gave them a slightly more difficult sentence yesterday and let them use my phone to take a picture of their classmate, “Can I take your picture please?”

And, Ed, who I like to Call King Ed, showed me why I came back to Douliou. I just call him King Ed for no other reason than it sound funny to imagine him being the King of anything.

First of all, Ed is one of the sweetest  seven year old boys you will ever meet. But, he looks funny. He wears glasses that only cover about half of his eyes, as they are usually resting on his nose. He walks like a duck. And, I described his coordination once as,

The kind of kid that couldn’t catch a big fluffy dice if you put Velcro and super glue  on the dice, then opened his hands, and dropped the dice into his hands. Not only that, he would still manage to clap his hands in fits of laughter after the dice hit the floor.”

Really, I can’t tell you what a nice kid he is. All his classmates love him. He never once has disobeyed me, not even by accident. Seriously, one of the greatest kids you will ever see.

But, when the first graders were in there line, trying to get through this new sentence. The line came to a halt when it came time for Ed’s turn to say, “Can  I take your picture, please?”

He stopped for a sudden moment as he tried to think about how to say the sentence. They have all also been trained to go help their classmates if they know thet sentence. I refuse to repeat myself more than once because I find they will all make me do this before they speak every time, which means they will never learn anything. As trained, one of his classmates went to help him, and in the absolutely most beautiful moment I had since coming to Taiwan, he waved off his classmate

King Ed told his classmate, iMnandarin  

“No. Stop.
“I can do it. “

To hear a Taiwanese kid just say, no don’t help me, and back that up with , Wo ke yi, or I can do it. It  took so much remarkable courage, and heart , that I just don’t often see, even in the youngest students here in Taiwan. It tells me that he is already learning the four most important words he will ever learn. If he wants to be rich, if he wants a million girlfriends, whatever he wants, he can do it if he can continue to believe in himself.

 I knew at that moment, why I came back to Douliou again this year.It really took everything I had not to fist-pump.

I smiled instead, and teared up later when I wrote this

Thanks again.
King Ed!


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