Girl competes in contest to buy grandma wheelchair

Lin Yi-ting, right, stands next to her grandmother Lin Chuang Shu-wei sitting in her wheelchair in their home in Ilan County's Toucheng Township. PHOTO: KUO YEN-HUI, TAIPEI TIMES

Within one week, nine year-old Lin Yi-ting (林怡廷), a second-year student at Dali Elementary School in Toucheng Township (頭城鎮), Ilan County, memorized 100 English words for a TV competition in the hope that she would be able to give her 78 year-old grandmother a wheelchair.

Lin was still in kindergarten and living with her grandmother Lin Chuang Shu-wei (林莊樹微) when her grandmother slipped and fell while carrying her to the school bus stop, and since then, her grandmother has had to use a walking aid.

The school principal Shih Chih-wen (施智文) said the girl seems to blame herself for her grandmother's affliction, and always trying to find ways to repay her grandmother for taking care of her.

Teachers at the school are familiar with Lin Yi-ting's situation, so when they heard how the TV show Dream (圓夢巨人) on Chinese Television System has helped children from underprivileged families accomplish their dreams, they decided to recommend Lin Yi-ting to the program.

When asked what she wanted if she completed her task on the show, Lin Yi-ting said she had all she needed, but when asked again, she said: "A wheelchair for my grandmother," rejecting every other suggestion.

Her task was to learn and memorize 100 English words, so to help her, her teachers made tapes with all the words so she could practice it every day during the week leading up to the program. In addition, she had to learn another 10 words during the program.

Second graders at her school only learn beginners' English, the letters of the alphabet and simple words, so many of the words she had to memorize were far above her level.

Before the program started, the teachers suddenly saw that the otherwise so confident Lin Yi-ting was crying.

When asked, she said she worried she wouldn't succeed and wouldn't be able to give her grandmother a wheelchair.

Once the show started, however, and she was shown the Chinese words on signs, she replied with the correct English words within three seconds and won.