One of my students.
I started volunteering with MCF in March after attending a charity fundraiser. During the fundraiser I was able to speak to one of the English teachers from the migrant school, I liked the idea of being a Beijing buddy.
So the next Saturday I went on a bus bound for one of the migrant schools, idly chatting with other volunteers about what to expect. After teaching at one of the CBD’s international schools I was a little surprised at just how small the migrant school was. I entered the classroom to see many eager faces ready to learn. During the lesson I sat with three girls who introduced themselves and were so proud of all the English they had learned. I sat with them the entire lesson and helped them with their spelling and pronunciation, then we drew some pictures before a quick recess and it was time to say goodbye. Then without saying a word one of the girls took my hand and walked me back to the bus stop. It was a wonderful moment and from then on I was hooked!
I continued to attend every Saturday sitting with the children, helping them and watching them try so hard. After teaching at an international school it was refreshing to be amongst children who wanted to learn. The international students usually come from very affluent backgrounds and are not always as eager to learn. English to them is an expectation, not a privilege. After one of the sessions the English teacher approached me and asked how I felt about teaching the class myself. I jumped at the chance and welcomed the opportunity right away. She told me that the following Saturday, I would be the teacher.
The next Saturday as I waited for the bus, I was petrified. I was going over the dozen or so lesson plans I had written for the kids, making sure I had covered every eventuality. The other volunteers were very reassuring telling me how I had nothing to worry about. Even though I had been a teacher for a few months already, I didn’t want to give these children anything less than they deserved. The volunteers with me were right, I had sat with these children, helped them for almost a month. I knew them and they knew me, but still this time I was their teacher. I arrived at the school, taught my lesson and the children were just as enthusiastic as they have always been and as soon as it was over I couldn’t wait to do it all over again the next Saturday.
Now that I have been teaching these children for nearly two months, I can’t begin to describe how much it has enriched my life. Saturday is now the highlight of my week, waiting for those big smiles and eager faces. Saturday is the best day because I get to teach them, students who can’t wait to learn. Last Saturday I asked my students to draw pictures of what made them happy, one of the students drew me teaching. It’s moments like that, that let me know I made a great choice helping these children.
If you are reading this and thinking about volunteering then please come along - everyone is welcome. If you are a teacher thinking about volunteering, please do, we need your help to teach more of these wonderful children, children whose enthusiasm will enrich your life. They have made my Saturdays so rewarding, and they can do the same for you.
The book “Middlesex” by Jeffrey Eugenides.
Yesterday was one of the most emotional days I have had in a long time. I work as an English teacher in Beijing city centre, I teach grade 6 English and on Monday all my students graduated.
I started this job 5 months ago and I still remember my first day so vividly. I was extremely nervous and so full of questions about my new job. I walked through the door to my first classroom to two dozen blank expressions and expectation about me. I decided on that first day I should teach nothing except who I was, I let them ask any questions they had no matter the question I promised to answer it.
Over the next 5 months I saw these kids everyday, sometimes more than once, we learned from each other and I became there best friend, confident, enemy, teacher and student. The kids taught me so much, more than I gave back to them no matter how hard I tried. I was there when they cried, I comforted them, I was there when they laughed and I laughed with them, I was there when they shared their feeling and I listened. I will take these memories with me now, memories that still make me smile with a slight tear, a tear of happiness for the brightest, most wonderful, funniest and best children I have ever taught.
Then the worst day…. They graduated on Monday, I watched as each one of my students walked so proudly across the school stage. I clapped the loudest, equally as proud at their achievements. I was so happy for them, there whole lives ahead of them, there lives an empty book just waiting to be filled with their own adventures. Then I began to feel sad, selfishly I wanted to go back to when my classrooms were filled with laughter, when all the eyes were on me, empty vessels waiting to be taught.
After they had walked the stage, shook the principals hands and signed each others books, they started to leave. Some didn’t notice me, too wrapped up in the enormity of the moment, one of the most significant in their lives. But then they started to come back, to give me hugs and high fives, one last smile and a last goodbye. Then I was washed over with happiness as I remembered I had had the privilege to be a part of their lives, to share in their laughter. That was the most wonderful realisation, I had made the right choice, I had done something good and the fact that each student walked so proudly across that stage, that they said they would miss me let me know I had done a good job.
My classrooms sit empty now, the chairs upturned on the desks and the laughter no longer there. But I am the happiest I have ever been, because I got to be a part of it all.
Yesterday was so sad because I had to watch all of them go, but one of the happiest because I knew I had done my part to ready them for the journey ahead.
Enjoying a moment of quiet refelction
