It has been three semesters since the start of the brand new TED-Ed Club at our school. Over the past year, not only have all the members done their inspiring presentations with ideas that are “worth spreading”, but they have also stayed connected to the global community through innovative and creative ways.
Introduction – Why “presentations”?
TED is an organization that is dedicated to the spreading of different ideas and is based in New York City. In 2014, it created a program that is specially designed for students all around the world, which is TED-Ed. The mission of the club is to uncover new ideas that each passionate students have. Through TED-like speeches, TED will publish every students’ presentations onto its official TED-Ed Students Talks YouTube channel.
Starting from the first meeting, students discuss their creative ideas and start to brainstorm their potential topics. With the help of enthusiastic teachers and moderators, students will be able to find the right topic that he or she is really passionate about. After finding the topic, the student will be able to explore and share them by interacting with their peers. Finally, after many sessions of practice and corrections, the student will share their ideas on a global scale, where people from all around the world will be able to discuss and view their creative talks.
What Do We Do Other than Presenations?
As one of the most active TED-Ed Clubs in the world, we, DIS TED-Ed Club, have numerous meaningful activities for students to work on every semester. One of our most recent activities, was a video to support BLM. It was even featured in TED-Ed’s weekly newsletter!
Virtual Singing: A collaboration between Dominican International School Taipei, Amity International School (Delhi, India), and Choithram School Indore (Madhya Pradesh, India)
During the summer vacation, DIS TED-Ed club members were still able to connect through the online meeting platform. Since a lot of club members were aware of the ongoing social injustice and racism in the United States, we decided to sing together to show our support. However, because this is a global issue, we invited collaborators from other countries to sing with us. Together as a whole, we supported the community and raised awareness everywhere by singing “Heal the World” by Michael Jackson and “Blackbird” by the Beatles. Even though we were not able to meet one another in-person, we found alternatives to make the world better.
Online Discussions with other members in the TED-Ed Club community
On occasion, we would have an online meeting or seminar with students from other TED-Ed Clubs around the world. For example, on September 18, 2020, our club chatted with another group of TED-Ed Club’s students in India. We were able to discuss the difference between our cultures and ways of life between Taiwan and India. Club members from both sides were also able to share the things we have been doing in our respective clubs. Team members, for example, Jason, introduced the local traditions that Taiwanese do during the Chinese New Year. From India’s TED-Ed Club, they introduced their cultural festivals and what they know about Taiwan. Another topic we got to discuss was how life was like during the pandemic. By comparing and contrasting the situation in the two countries, we knew more about the pandemic on a worldwide scale. During the meeting, we also shared how Taiwan was able to keep its citizens safe from COVID-19. Finally, we asked each other questions that we were curious about, such as, are there any Taiwanese restaurants in India? Through seminars like this, we broadened our club members’ perspectives of the world, and most importantly, enjoyed the process.
DIS TED-Ed Club has been held at our school since 2019. In the club, not only will you gain presentation skills, but through different activities and collaborations, you will likely have an extraordinarily memorable experience in the club. Other than the activities mentioned above, we have many others planned for the rest of the school year! In early April, 2020, we created a video promoting the prevention of the COVID-19.
Below is a promotion video of the club used for Club Orientation during August:
You can also check out our DIS TED-Ed website here if you want to know more about us!
