"I arrived in Rai shwai late at night on the eve of my Happy Summer experience and was unsure what to expect. First of all I was introduced to the other volunteers, and Kevin, who had organised the event. The first thing that I noticed was the energy and passion that everyone had about working with the aborigional children. In fact the first thing that I had to do on arrival was to learn a dance routine for a game the following day. I made some final preparations to my lesson plans, and fell asleep not knowing what to expect the next day. After waking up early we drove to the school where we would be teaching. It was set in a beautiful location in the mountains, surrounded by lush, green trees and steep slopes. We greeted and introduced ourselves to the children, who numbered nearly 70! This would certainly be the largest class that I had ever taught. Teaching the classes was a lot of fun. The other volunteers helped me to manage the numerous students during classroom activities and I felt that everyone had a very positive experience. The aborigional children always show their emotions, so teaching them is very rewarding as you can clearly see their reactions to your teaching. During periods where I was not teaching the students were entertained and exercised by the other volunteers, who used a variety of games to help them built a solid base of the English language. The final day was very emotional as strong bonds had been built between students and teachers. This was visable when all of the students handed thankyou notes to the volunteers, along with hugs and handshakes. Teaching at Happy Summer was a very positive experience and I would recommend it to anyone that wants to help disadvantaged children learn English. The whole experience was a two way process. The more energy the volunteers put in, the more positively the students responded. It was very encouraging to see so many people caring about the future of the children. I encourage you to spare some of your time for the Happy Summer experience, and it is certainly something that I will be doing again." Graham Hogg (NST Hualien branch)