Join us on Wednesday, January 11 to meet Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar Ariel Hsieh.
Introduction:
My name is Yi-Ching Hsieh (Ariel) and I am the student at Columbia University Teachers College TCSOL program. I come from Taiwan. I am interested in Foreign Language Instruction and I have always wanted to be a teacher, because of my family influence and support. My mother is the manager of a private nursery school, she have been working there for more twenty years. My family has served many children who can’t afford to go to school and it strongly influenced me to follow in their footsteps. I wish one day, I could be a leader of an organization and increase the educational opportunities for children from low-income families. The following is my academic background.
Academic Background:
In order to prepare myself to be a teacher and organization leader, I have gained prominent degrees from Taiwan and England in the field of English language education. After graduating from high school, I entered the Department of Foreign Language Instruction at Wenzao Ursuline College of Languages. My master’s degree in TESOL program at Durham University in England has aspired me to learn about the complex nature of education in a broader context and gained in-depth knowledge in the theory of language teaching.
Work experience:
During the period of 2009 to 2010, I have been employed as an English lecturer and teaching assistant at Wenzao Ursuline College of Languages in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. My duties include assisting with the administration of the College’s Intensive English program and detailed curriculum design, as well as teaching classes in the Intensive English program. This job allowed me to apply the theories I have learned, provided me with the opportunity to observe the English education in Taiwan’s tertiary colleges and gave me the opportunity experience the importance of teamwork. Additionally, the accumulated teaching and work experience with colleagues and students have enriched my personal life and granted me a strong commitment to working with language learners. Moreover, I have run at least 15 English training workshops each semester for the Wenzao International Excellence Project, my duty is to do the orientation for each workshop session and nearly 1200 college students have attended the English training workshops.
Voluntary Activities:
I always have had a passion for teaching and during my university and master studies, I became particularly interested in English teaching and decided this was the field in which I desired to work. I wanted to gain serving experience and develop new skills while giving something back to the community, so I decided to spend some time volunteering. In college, I joined the Community Teaching Adult and Children English Training Program in Ding-Li Community Development Corporation from 2005 to 2006. During summer and winter vacations, I joined the English training program sponsored by my school, Wenzao. I served as an English teacher to a group of elementary and junior high school students from low income families. While pursing my master’s degree in England, I served as an international student worker and I cooked free dinners for all the international students at Durham Christchurch. Although these voluntary activities have at times been challenging, I have realized serving others always brings me happiness and have found the experience thoroughly rewarding and very enjoyable. I not only gain the chance to apply the theories that I have learned from school into practice but also allow me to develop my social skills, such as teamwork, communication, social grace and leadership. I was blessed to experience and learn so much more than I had expected.
The future community service project or activity that I intend to carry out is to join any Rotary service project, community servicing group or international voluntary club as an language teacher (English or Mandarin) or other relevant jobs, and I would have the chance to put my academic strength into practice to help more people and experience different things in the world. I believe helping others is the source of happiness and it is more blessed to give than to receive. Moreover, through these kinds of servicing jobs, people will notice the way I act as representative of the Rotary club. I sincerely hope that I am able to receive this ambassadorial scholarship; it would be a privilege as well as an honor to prepare myself for the challenge of serving as an outstanding ambassador of goodwill.
Wednesday, January 11
Time: 5:45pm registration starts, 6:00pm meeting starts
Place: The Downtown Association, 60 Pine Street
Cost: $25 per person; $20 member of Rotary Club of Wall Street
Includes: Wine, Cheese, and some snacks (soft drinks available)
Business dress required (no jeans)
