Aug 10 2011
2011年夏日英語課程 –Review by a volunteer
It’s time to go now! Surprisingly, I’m already missing this place. Remember the day before I left, I wasn’t looking forward to it because I didn’t really like kids previously; they always cry and are very clingy, which, in my own opinion was rather annoying. On the other hand, I was also a bit curious about being a teacher as I have never been one before.
On the first day, it took us quite a few hours to arrive Qing Yuan, Dong Shan. It was a very nice day with the sun shining brightly with a blue, clear sky hanging above highly. “What a good start!” I thought. Even the weather was welcoming us. The first thing we did was to drop down our stuff and we went down to the library afterwards. It was already late afternoon, so the kids had finished their lessons and hanging around with their friends. I introduced myself to them and immediately they became very passionate and started to hold my hands and ran around. I was totally fought down by their energy. They were so energetic and they never felt tired. After playing with them for a while, some sightseeing was definitely a good thing to do, especially in this beautiful weather. We went up the mountain and arrived to this gorgeous place – Yun Cha. This place was pure natural, covered with trees and water, just like a painting. I couldn’t imagine how it became such a stunning place from a piece of land, alike to a desert without any water and trees. This place brought me closer to the nature, with the silence, peace and calmness. I thought I started to love this place, from then, I felt deeply that I’m starting to yearn to stay in this place.
The next day, our English summer school started. Firstly, we had a pre-test with the kids to check their abilities and put them into different classes. To my surprise, their level of English was worse than I thought and I reckoned it would be a difficult time for them to get on track. I was responsible to teach them the dictionary skills and the first lesson was not easy. The kids didn’t understand what I said and started to play around and do their own things. It was then I understood how being a teacher is a difficult job. As each day past by, the kids started to make some progress and now a lot of them could look up dictionaries by themselves. I was so pleased and somewhat proud of myself. I wasn’t being arrogant (laughter), if you imagine at the beginning of the summer school, nearly no one knew how to use a dictionary, but now almost all the kids could look up the dictionary independently and with a reasonable speed. I’m sure if you were me, you would feel the same.
Normally after lessons, we played and chatted with the kids, they always loved to bring us to their houses. I had to say we are very lucky as compare to the people here; we have a so much higher standard of living and we don’ t have to worry about our daily needs. I found that the kids here are very different to the kids in cities. They are more mature, more independent than their normal ages and they always put their families in their first priorities. Most of them have to do the housework and work in their fields. On one side, they are very bouncy, love to jump and run around all the time. But on the other side, they love writing letters to us; they talked about their families, friends, hobbies and school. This allows us to know about them more and therefore can help them when they have difficulties. Even though this was the first time I have been here, I got a big pile of letters. These letters always cracked me up; the kids were just so cute and adorable. I remembered that one letter said this, “I will wait you to come back no matter how long I have to wait, even my hair turns white”, this was written by a 7-year-old child. Although it was just a sentence, I felt so warm and touched, it seems like they have invited me to become a member of their family.
I enjoyed this trip very much and this will be a precious moment in my life. Like I’ve said before that I didn’t like kids very much, but after this experience I have changed my mind completely. I think they’ve melted me, especially the little ones, they are just so cute and tiny, it makes me want to cuddle and hug them tightly.
On the day I left, when the kids said good-bye to me, I was already missing them. I was already missing their laughter, their shouts and their enthusiasm throughout the lessons. The feelings they have given me was very tenacious and they treated us in a wholehearted way. I do hope I will have a chance to come back again one day.
Karen Ip
Comments Off