Volunteer work at Beijing East Road Primary School

I was teaching him in the classroom
The boy i taught and me

The boy I taught and me

On the afternoon of April 1st, our class visited Beijing East Road Primary School to help students with English as volunteers. Our mission was to help them do some review for English lessons which they had learned and we would teach them some new words in English.

We arrived at the primary school at 3.00p.m. I remembered that Ms. Bartell had told us that the students we were going to teach were in Grade 5, so I thought it would be a piece of cake to teach them English. Ms. Bartell and their English teacher spared a boy to me who sat in the middle of the first row of the classroom.

The boy’s name was Li Tianchi. After a few words, I found that he was not a common boy like others. He was strong and tried to play joke on me by beating me for several times at the beginning. Ms. Bartell told me that he was the naughtiest student of the class. I finally understood why he sat in this place. It was a big challenge for me to teach him. I knew that if I appeared to be very angry and beat him back, it would not be the best way to solve the problem. I attempted to call away his attention from beating me, and started to teach him how to say and spell the names of some countries, languages and people in English on Ms. Bartell’s sheet. At the very beginning, he filled a few of them and he tried to look up the words he did not know in his e-dictionary. However, I realized that he was showing off his e-dictionary to me, that he always told me how cool the e-dictionary was and he even tried to play games or take photos with it. “I promise, if we finished our mission earlier, we can play games in your e-dictionary together. But now, you cannot. It is only used to look up the words!” I said to him with patience and he promised me as well.

After we finished filling the worksheet, I asked him to read the dialogues on his English book. It was just like what Ms. Bartell had said, that he was able to read all the sentences correctly, but he was just like a reading robot. However, his voice was much louder than others. I could say that his voice was the loudest in this class. When I was teaching him how to read without Chinese accent, he put his foot on the desk and tried to talk to other students. His attention was distracted from his book. I kept quiet and waited for him, but he talked even more and more loudly. I understood the reason why he was so naughty for he wanted to attract other’s attention; he wanted other people all look at him. My long silence seemed make him feel uncomfortable. He came to read book again without a word.

I realized I needed to change the way I taught him. I chose to talk to him and let him find some interests in English, instead of reading books wearily. I told him “Li Tianchi, do you want to speak English as naturally and fluently as us? Do you want to be outstanding in English?” “Eh…yes, of course.” he answered. “How is your oral English in your class? Is it Excellent, poor or so-so?” “So-so” “How do you think of the students which have high oral English skills? Your pronunciation is really weaker than them, isn’t it?” “No! I am able to be much better than anyone.” He answered me very quickly; I knew that I had caught his attention successfully. “Ok, do you know how to improve it?” “Eh…I don’t know.” “Fine, let me tell you what superiority you have.” At this moment, I totally got his attention.

“You are daring to speak very loudly. Did you hear your voice just now? I think it is the loudest in the class. Maybe you only think it is funny or you can get other’s attention by this. However, some students are not as brave as you to speak English so loudly. Your loud voice can help you easily find your mistakes in the pronunciation, so you will improve faster than others. It is your talent, isn’t it? Nobody had told you or taught you this before. These students have better pronunciation because they spend their time practicing and learning it, but they cannot learn how to have this talent! The only thing you need to do is to try your best to practice it and learn how to speak more naturally. You can listen to the tape and watch some English channel. Also, you can read the dialogue in your English book after the tape. If you really try your best to learn English, you will be better than anyone else in your class. ”

He silenced for a moment, and then told me. “Yes, I know if I try my best to learn English, I can be the most excellent English-speaker in your class. Thank you. I know what I am going to do. I will keep your words in my mind.” We finished the talking as the bell rang. I could easily see the difference of him between and after the conversation. Ms. Bartell told me I had done a good job. He was quiet and thought of something in his mind, and I did not want to disturb him. I wished our conversation could make him change a lot.

It was really a great opportunity for me to have such a close feeling to be a teacher. I eventually understood it is not as easy as I imagined being a teacher. They need to have such large responsibilities to educate students. A good teacher educates or treats the students like their real children. Their job is not only to teach students knowledge, but also educate them how to grow up correctly. From this volunteer work in the primary school, I found that I was quite suitable to be a teacher. I was able to educate any students even they are very naughty just like Li. During this volunteer work, I also showed the patience and wisdom when I was teaching Li.

In addition, it was a good chance for us to train our skills of communicating to young students. I know how to talk to these naughty boys and how to let them pay attention to one thing. It can train my discernment; I know how to find others’ talents or some special characteristics which other people do not have. To be a real teacher, I need to be very patient with my students. I cannot easily appear angry. Sometimes, we need to educate students in a special way. Some students cannot focus on one thing for a long time. I need to catch their attention and take them back to study.

In the future, I may not be a teacher, but this experience is also very valuable for me. I should pay responsibilities on my job just like teachers should be responsible to their students. When I face some problems or challenges, I should use my brain to come up with some new and creative ideas. Also, I think the boys would really keep this experience in his mind. When he gets low marks or has troubles in studying, it would remind him of that talking. I wish he really tries his best to study English and love English. It was an unforgettable experience and I learned a lot from this volunteer work.