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Student Teacher Practicum/Volunteer Opportunities with My Culture Connect

About Us

My Culture Connect was founded in Taiwan on January 1st, 2009. It’s a not-profit organization that aims to enrich the culture and education of Changhua County. In Taiwan, it is known as Renshi (人師), which means role models or "people’s teachers." Our mission includes:

1. Training volunteer teachers to help in areas that lack educational resources.

2. Making free teaching materials and sharing them with students, teachers and schools.

3. Organizing study groups and promoting life-long learning.

4. Organizing contests, speeches and other educational events for students to participate in.

5. Increasing global understanding through English education.

We connect regularly with education leaders, local Taiwanese government officials, and business minded individuals to continuously grow and build the MCC network. While the majority of the program’s planning and operations exist in Taiwan, our volunteers and volunteer staff from around the globe play an integral part in the success of the organization.

Our Founder

In 2001 Luke became a full time volunteer teacher in rural Taiwan. His life is now devoted to providing more improved educational opportunities to students in isolated areas. Luke has offered free English classes to students in his community for over nine years. He is also passionate about organizing a variety of free special events and activities for higher educational purposes in his community.

Luke currently spends his time directing several educational projects and managing a network of volunteers. Together they have amassed an impressive library of free educational resources for students. My Culture Connect has now began to connect classrooms across Taiwan to people all over the world, helping to break down barriers and build cultural understanding for all.

To know more about Luke, check out the 2014 International CyberFair Project by Wanghe Elementary School, Taiwan: One Man's Dream

SOLDIERS GROVE - Soldiers Grove resident Michael Dishnow may be a retired educator, but when you hear what he’s doing it doesn’t sound much like retirement.

Dishnow has partnered with a retired Taiwanese English teacher deeply involved with expanding English language instruction in rural Taiwan. In fact, Luke Lin has founded an organization to foster cross-cultural understanding, while also increasing proficiency in English. It’s called My Culture Connect.

Luke Lin received an award for making contributions to the education of Taiwan from the Minister of Education, Mr. Wu.

President Ma (left) and Luke Lin

Our Program Manager

Meet Quentin Gooch, the Program Manager for My Culture Connect. He is the main point of contact and coordinator for student teachers seeking practicum hours, as well as being responsible for creating valuable content via webinars and workshops for the MCC community, and keeping our social media platforms active. He has a Masters of Business Administration (MBA) and a Bachelors of Science in Geography. Additionally, he earned his TEFL Certification from the International TEFL Academy in September 2020, and continues to be a co-teacher at MCC.

Prior to teaching English, Quentin worked in various roles within corporate America. The last position he held before transitioning full-time to education was an Assistant General Manager for a catering company in Los Angeles, California. One of his main responsibilities was creating and administering training programs for new employees. He was the first person at the organization that new employees worked with, and he loved the fact that by being warm, welcoming, and getting them started on the right track, he was able to positively affect their onboarding experience. This is where Quentin truly discovered his passion for being an educator and trainer, and sought to make this his full-time career. Quentin uses this same positive and uplifting environment to build his students’ confidence, whether teaching in the classroom or when working with student teachers in our practicum program here at MCC.

While he has found purpose in being an educator, Quentin’s passion has been, and will always be traveling and experiencing different parts of the world. He is currently based in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, and has absolutely loved embracing the culture of Mexico, and yes, learning Spanish. He’s also traveled to Canada, Peru, several countries in Europe, and Japan. It is his ultimate goal to set foot on every continent, even Antarctica!


North Bend, Washington State, USA

Machu Picchu, Peru

Meiji Jingu, Tokyo, Japan

Written by: Michael Dishnow

Last Updated: October 5, 2020

I am a retired educator. The past decade I have been a volunteer teacher for the Taiwanese Educational non-profit, My Culture Connect (MCC). MCC provides English education and cultural exchanges support to underserved rural schools in Taiwan. I live in Wisconsin, USA, and travel regularly to Changhua County in central Taiwan for 4-6 weeks at a time. When there, I live with my Taiwanese colleagues and we volunteer/teach in schools five days a week. When home in the USA, I regularly teach Skype lessons to Taiwanese schools.

Here are my 10 tips from over a decade of volunteer-teaching ESL: