Taiwan (June 2003 – Dec.

2004)

• TEFL to Kindergarten & primary school children.

• Conversational classes to adults.

Working Abroad:

Henry Badenhorst

Project 4: Taiwan

(2003-2004)

Taiwan also known, especially in the past, as Formosa (from Portuguese: Ilha Formosa, "Beautiful Island"), is the largest island of the Republic of China (ROC), situated in East Asia in the Western Pacific Ocean and located off the south-eastern coast of mainland China.

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TAIWAN• I spent 18 months in

Taiwan teaching English as a foreign language.

• I lived in Luodong, I-lan county near the ocean.

• The highlight of my stay was a cycling trip of 1000 km around the island for a charity called the Red Heart Foundation.

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Teaching in Taipei• Jump Start Schools provided

me with my very first TEFL job. • I participated in a summer

camp held in Taipei for the month of August 2003.

• During September 2003, I taught at one of the branches.

• These were some of my students. They were quite an advanced group for their age.

• I preferred however to teach in the countryside and moved to Luodong at the end of October.

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TaipeiDoing a Christmas presentation

at Taipei 101

Taipei street sceneHenry Badenhorst 6

Teaching EFL in Luodong, Yi-lan County

• Nov. 2003 – Dec. 2004

• Taught English as a Foreign language

• in Luodong, Yi-lan County, Taiwan

• At Koala Educational Institute for 7 months

• At Cathy’s American School for 5 months

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Luodong, Yi-lan County•Luodong (traditional Chinese: 羅東 ); is an urban township in the central part of Yilan County, Taiwan (Lan Yang Plain).

•Luodong is famed for its large, beautifully landscaped sports park.

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Luodong, Yi-lan CountyThe Luodong Sports

park

The “expat” area. Coffee shops, restaurants, night clubs and apartments for mostly the

expat community in Luodong, across from the Luodong

Sports Park.Henry Badenhorst 9

Luodong, Yi-lan County

The most popular Schwarma kiosk in Luodong, run by a

Lebanese called Tony and his Taiwanese wife

Rural area on the outskirts of Luodong.

I often went cycling to explore the area.

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Luodong

One of the night market streets

Traditional Taiwanese ice-cream in pancake

delight

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Luodong Sports ParkFriend from Taipei

visiting me and enjoying the park

Kiwi, Chris Carr, my flat mate, enjoying the park on

his day offHenry Badenhorst 12

Luodong-Beautiful scenery

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Luodong RestaurantsItalian???

My friend Elma & I at a steakhouse

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Trips around TaiwanTrips with Chris (NZ), Elma (SA) and Sandy (Romania)

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Trips around Taiwan: Yi-lan Shan (Mountain)

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Yi-lan beach

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Cycling to Su-AoOne cold day I decided to cycle to Su-Ao, about a 70

km return trip

A Filipino man I met at the beach

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SU-AOLocated near Luodong, it has beautiful white beaches where ex-

pats go to relax

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Luodong to Taipei per scooter

I drove Freeway No.5 from Luodong to Taipei more than once to visit friends.

The freeway runs all along the coastline and is so beautiful that I often stopped to take pics, making the trip even longer with my Honda 50 cc scooter.

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Country-side around Luodong-Exploring with my Scooter

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Country-side around Luodong

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Intermediate class

Elementary class

Koala Educational Institute

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Kindergarten Teaching

Utilising songs, flashcards & games to

teach English

One of my kindergarten classes

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Koala Educational Institute

Tutoring small groups

One on one tutoring

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Trip to Thailand & MalaysiaDuring May 2004, I took a

10 day trip to Thailand and Malaysia, 6 months before the Tsunami….I flew to Kuala Lumpur and then took a bus to Penang island. From Penang I took a power boat ferry to Langkawi and from Langkawi again to Phuket in Thailand. I flew to Bangkok, where I stayed one night in Bangkok and then back to Taipei.

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Penang island Malaysia-2 Days

30

Langkawi island Malaysia-3 days

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Snorkelling at Pulau Payar (Langkawi)

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Phuket• Phuket, which is approximately the size

of Singapore, is Thailand’s largest island.

• The island is connected to mainland Thailand by two bridges. It is situated off the west coast of Thailand in the Andaman Sea.

• Phuket formerly derived its wealth from tin and rubber, and enjoyed a rich and colorful history.

• The island was on one of the major trading routes between India and China, and was frequently mentioned in foreign ship logs of Portuguese, French, Dutch and English traders

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Phuket Scenery

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Phuket scenery

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Bangkok

Taiwan Cycling tour 2004• During July 2004, I was given the

opportunity to be one of 4 foreigners to cycle around Taiwan for the Red Heart Foundation,

• in order to raise funds and increase awareness with regards to the suffering and stigma attached to the families of convicted criminals in Taiwan.

• We cycled approximately 1000 km in 11 days from Taipei to Taipei anti-clockwise around the island.

• The event was extensively covered across Taiwan & an article in a SA newspaper mentioned the tour.

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Taiwan cycling tour-Newspaper articles

Local Hualien newspaper

Taipei Times…..before tour began

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Taiwan Cycling Tour-Start in Taipei

All the embassy representatives of the

team: UK, South-Africa, Australia & Japan

The team L-R: Toby (UK), Henry (SA), Kenza (Japan),

Don (Australia) and the Taiwanese representative.

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Taipei startMy bike & I

Team photo-Just before the start in Taipei

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in action

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Resting

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Road scenes

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Nearing the end

Last break before Taipei. Still able to smile but only just.

Group photo: 30 km outside Taipei, after a

very loooong ride

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The EndInterview with Taiwanese

news station

Flowers & a press conference was a welcome relief after

about 1000 km’s in the saddle through Taiwanese mountains.

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Taiwan Cycling Tour-Newspaper articles

Article about me in an Afrikaans newspaper: Die Beeld

Article of tour in Taiwanese adventure sport magazine

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Taiwan Cycling Tour 2004

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The end

After nearly 18 months in Taiwan it was time to move on to mainland China where I accepted a TEFL position in Guangdong.

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