Feature Story Final Draft

Teaching in Taiwan

Talking in English is not easy, especially when you have to teach it to people who can't speak the language.

In 2005 Emily Allen made a 14-hour plane ride from Utah all the way to Taiwan.

"I wanted to see another part of the world and I wanted to take photographs, but I also wanted a job. I didn't want to run out of money and I wanted to spend more than a small amount of time in Taiwan,” Allen said.

Allen took the job of teaching English. The schools always need new teachers and she knew that would be the easiest job to get. Allen also thought it would be a good way to meet new people. 

“I taught English at a school that was called a kindergarten but was really ages from two all the way to twelve. Most of the kids I taught were between six and ten years old,” Allen said.

As Allen was taking that first step onto the plane a lot of thoughts were going through her mind. Allen knew what she was walking into, but there was a small amount of fear inside of her. She was excited to have a completely different experience then what she was used to, but it felt like a dream.

"I was mostly really excited when I left. I felt very independent, and it felt like an adventure. I wasn't nervous at all. I just got on the plane and went for it. It was cool. I knew it was also going to be a safe place," Allen said.

Learning about the ability to go to Asia was what Allen had been waiting for at that time in her life. Allen had just finished college and knew she wanted to do something fun and exciting. She had heard friends talking about someone who had went to China, and she knew then that was what she wanted to do.

"I start talking about things long before they actually happen, so I kept bringing it up and saying 'I think I want to do this, I think I want to do this', and as I kept bringing it up things started coming my way. People would say 'oh I met someone from Taiwan' or 'oh I know someone'. I just tried to talk with anyone I could who might know someone or has experience," Allen said.

After searching and talking to others Allen finally decided to break the news to her friends and family.

"I told my parents, but they didn't take me very seriously at first. Then when they did take me seriously they were really nervous and scared. They were afraid I was making a foolish decision because I didn't have a lot of money and I didn't have a job lined up. Woody[stepfather] wrote me a letter saying he disagreed with my decision," Allen said.

Hearing that a sister is moving to a different country can come as quite a shock but Allen's sister, Holly Wray, seemed to handle the situation well when first learning her sister was leaving.

"I thought it sounded pretty cool, but also a little bit scary because she was moving to a country she has never been to and not knowing the language," Wray said.

Allen's mother, Lynne Godfrey, was also frightened when she heard about Allen’s trip. All she knew was that Allen did not have a job, money or a place to live. Godfrey explained how making an argument against Allen was hopeless. Allen was an adult who had already graduated from college and she is going to do what she wants. Godfrey attempted to try and talk her daughter out of it anyway.




“I was asking her ‘where will you get a job, where will you live, what are you thinking’. Godfrey said. “She just responded ‘I guess I will get a job teaching English and you know I’ll just figure it out at the airport’. So, of coarse, I was scared out of my shorts and said my prayers 5000 times a day that she wouldn't get kidnapped.”

Having English as her first language was a great advantage for Allen. Allen would talk to the other teachers and explain to them how they kids should be able to say words so they are comfortable and confident. Establishing this with her kids aloud them to become better students and it gave Allen a better experience with them.

“Any time I went into the classroom they would all say at the same time 'Good morning Ms. Emily', then I would say 'How are you?'. Then at the same time they would say, 'I'm fine, thank you, and you?',” said Allen.  

Allen volunteered in a high school that was very strict. All the kids were very nervous around her and they did not want to open up. Allen noticed that all the kids seemed to have very similar personalities and she assumes it was because of the way they were treated by the teachers.

“The high school kids were really shy around me. They were really nervous about speaking English and they follow very strict rules in the high school, so that was a little hard," Allen said.

Allen remembered being on a train and having no clue where she was. Luckily a nice English-speaking stranger noticed and told her where she needed to go. If that man had never asked her if she needed help, she would have gone the opposite way.

"I think when you can't totally communicate with the majority of people it's challenging. I think I was lucky. My experience is that people were really friendly, and helpful. I think the hardest thing is, I'm a very social person I like my alone time, but I need people. I felt very disconnected from close friends and from the culture," Allen said.

A big thing Allen learned was that types of humor are very different in cultures and she was ready to start expressing that again. Allen had spent about a year and four months in Taiwan before making her trip home. Allen explains her satisfaction on making her trip back home

"At that point I was very ready to come home. I had been there a year and four months, and I really missed my family and friends. I missed being able to communicate with anyone I see, and how I want to communicate. Not simplifying my speech and my emotions, I had to tell all these really basic jokes that I felt like I was telling a little kid. I was just ready to come home. I missed everything and I wanted to connect back with my people," Allen said.

Her trip to Taiwan had opened her mind up to new things, she might not be open to if she hadn’t gone. Allen appreciates her culture and respects others. Allen experienced first hand that you cannot judge a book by its cover or people by their beliefs.

“Things that you maybe thought were cool and not cool don't really matter because they are totally different when you go somewhere else. It makes you less worried about little silly things. It makes you open to different people, and different ideas. It made me appreciate home and really realize that I like my alone time, but I can't isolate myself to much or I get depressed," Allen said.

Allen knows that going to Taiwan changed her, she also knew it was going to be hard. If Allen had not gone to Taiwan, her whole life would be different

"Yeah, definitely it changed me. I think whenever you go somewhere that’s really different then what you are used to, like when you leave the country, it really opens your mind. It gets you thinking maybe all these huge things that you thought were so important in your life aren't as big of a deal. I mean they are still important because its part of your life, but you realize that there are so many different lives going on,” Allen said.