Our class was postponed for two weeks due to the extreme weather condition in Taitung.

Saturday, October 22nd

Our class was postponed for two weeks due to the extreme weather condition in Taitung. Finally, we could get back on track and started Lesson Three of Unit Two. With the more and more unpredictable weather phenomena happening around the world, we all pray that our friends in the beautiful land of Taitung can stay safe and sound under this severe weather.

After the storm has subsided, the internet upgrade at our Taitung location was finished successfully. The quality of the connection has become more stable, and the only problem we need to fix is the damaged video conference equipment caused by humidity. Although now it's kept inside a humidity control cabinet, the performance of the lens was still affected by moisture. Teacher Walker, please continue to take care of the important task for us!

Tonight's lesson was conducted by Teacher Amy, and the purpose was to train our volunteer teachers to become more proficient in teaching and to prepare "seeded teachers". We want to train our volunteer teachers to manage the time and the flow of each lesson well, so they will be able to have a wonderful interaction with the students and encourage them to learn more. We have the confidence to achieve this goal and do it with perfection. Teacher Amy did an excellent job last night by controlling the flow of the lesson seamlessly, which allowed our students to get more engaged in learning. We'd like to give her a big thumbs up!

The thing worth to talk about is that Teacher Walker mentioned to us how our students were immensely inspired during the past few weeks after the class was over. They want to learn more during each session. However, the time zone differences forced us to end each lesson before 9:30 PM to let our volunteer teachers go home to rest. But at the end of the session this time, we made the announcement that Teacher Yale will be back online 5 minutes later to facilitate the practice session, and we invited all the students who wish to practice more to stay with us.

After an hour and a half long class, we thought there would be only two or three students showing up and the rest would go back home to have lunch. Then I witnessed the most amazing thing...

Yes, indeed, when I open the Skype connection screen, I saw every one of them sitting in front of the monitor, no one had left!

To our dear family and friends who have followed our journey so far, that is where our non-profit platform -MyGiraffe receives the strength and motivation to continue to serve!

<Chinese Version>

10月22日星期六

因台東氣候緣故停課兩周後, 第2單元第3節課總算得以開課. 面對越來越極端詭異的氣候現象, 祈福我們居住在好山好水的花東朋友們都能平安順利度過每一個大自然的挑戰.

風停雨歇之後, 台東接收端的網路升級也順利完成. 傳輸品質相對穩定許多. 唯一尚待克服的就是即便已收置於防潮箱的視訊設備還是因受潮影響到鏡頭表現. Walker 老師, 就有勞您多費心維護了.

今晚的課程決定交由 Amy 老師獨挑大樑全程主導. 目的就是增加志工老師們的熟練值, 以培育種子志工老師為出發點. 在遠距非傳統教學環境下如何做好時段的掌控, 課程的節奏, 互動的誘導以及態度的展現上, 我們是有信心可以做好, 做滿. Amy 老師昨晚的教課過程很流暢, 孩子們對學習也更加的投入. 給 Amy老師一個大大的讚!

值得一提的是台東志工老師 Walker 告知 最近幾次上完課後學生們都有正向心態, 感覺意猶未盡. 但 因時差緣故, 課程結束時已經是美國晚上 9 點半, 不好耽擱志工老師們要回家休息時間. 因此昨晚在課程結束時告知同學們有興趣要多練習的歡迎留下來, Yale 老師 5 分鐘後會上線協助學習.

原本以為上了近 1個半小時的課程再度上線後, 可能最多 2, 3 個留下, 其他的就下課回家吃中飯了.結果令我驚奇的事情發生了…..

是的, 5 分鐘後Skype 連結畫面一開啟, 原班人馬繼續排排坐, 一個都沒少!

各位關注我們的親朋好友, 這就是鼓舞 MyGiraffe 齊徠福公益平台服務精神最大的原動力.