By Lu Yue | TFT ER Team
What happens to learning when summer arrives?
What does a two-month summer break from school mean for children who already have limited learning resources?
And when classrooms grow quiet during the summer, who helps keep the spark of learning alive?
Today, we’d like to share reflections from a TFT alumnus who returned to the classroom through TFT’s Summer Tomorrow School.
When Summer Became a Learning Gap
For many children, summer is a season of exploration and rest. But for students in under-resourced communities, it has often meant a long pause in learning.
While some children spent their summer attending camps, exploring hobbies, or traveling with family, many rural students had far fewer opportunities for enrichment. After two months away from structured learning, they often returned to school needing to rebuild their study habits and confidence.
To respond to this challenge—often referred to as summer learning loss—Teach For Taiwan launched Summer Tomorrow School in 2021. The program invited university student volunteers to design and lead two-week summer learning camps, helping children stay connected to learning while discovering new interests and possibilities.
Seeing My Younger Self in the Volunteers
That summer, TFT alumnus Wang Sihan returned to the program as a course mentor, using three days of annual leave from her corporate job to step back into the classrooms she once knew so well.
As she supported volunteers preparing their lessons for children, she saw their dedication and vulnerability. Many balanced their university studies while writing numerous lesson plans and planning activities for the camp—despite having little or no teaching experience.
During her first classroom observation, the volunteers had just passed the “honeymoon phase.” The reality of teaching had begun to set in: energetic students, unexpected disruptions, and children calling out impatiently, “Teacher, when is class over?”
When Sihan gently asked one volunteer, “Are you okay?” tears quietly rolled down their faces. In that moment, she was reminded of her own first month as a teacher years earlier—the deep breaths, the uncertainty, and the overwhelming feeling of wondering whether she was doing enough.
From Doubt to Belief
A teacher once told Sihan,
“If the teacher cannot enjoy the lesson, how can the students truly enter it?”
Perfect slides or detailed lesson plans were never the most important part of teaching. What mattered more was the ability to respond to children with flexibility, curiosity, and sincerity.
So she encouraged the volunteers to rest, to set their lesson plans aside for a moment, and to reconnect with the joy of learning alongside the children—to dance with them, draw with them, talk with them, and rediscover the courage that comes from genuine connection.
Gradually, the volunteers began to adjust. During breaks, they talked with students, drew together, and simply stayed present. Slowly, trust began to grow.
When Teaching Became a Shared Journey
On the final day of the camp, the volunteers shared reflections that filled the room with emotion.
One child said quietly,
“It’s been a long time since a teacher cared about me like this.”
Another shared,
“Thank you for noticing the happiness I was pretending to have.”
At that moment, Sihan realized something important: education does not move in only one direction. The volunteers had accompanied the children through a meaningful summer—and in return, she had accompanied the volunteers as they discovered what it meant to teach.
Even when doubts remained—“Am I really a teacher?”—the children’s honest responses offered an answer.
For those children, the volunteers were no longer just older brothers and sisters. They had become teachers—people who appeared in their lives and left a lasting mark.
Thank You for Walking With Us
Because of your support, programs like Summer Tomorrow School were able to create spaces where children remained connected to learning—even during the long summer break.
Thank you for standing with Teach For Taiwan and making moments like these possible.
If you would like to continue following stories from the classroom, we warmly invite you to stay connected through our website, Facebook, and Instagram.
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