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On Friday 19 October, Duke MBA students paid a visit to a migrant kindergarten in Shanghai with us as part of their international program. It is on the other side of Shanghai with fewer skyscrapers and more rice fields. Director Corinne helped these volunteers to learn about the migrant situation as well as our organization by giving them detailed facts and stories. After the training of English teaching for the kindergarten kids was completed, the Duke MBA students made great use of the opportunity to interact with the kids and sparked inspiration in English learning.  During the class, kindergarten kids learned a few everyday animal words through repetition, modelling and games. Provided that the children barely speak English, and the volunteers speak no Chinese, the volunteers tried their best to show and communicate. Laughter was heard everywhere and with a glance, you could spot funny expressions made by volunteers to help the kids learn.

The classroom teacher was very pleased with this activity and wrote us an informal thank you letter “I really thank the foreign teachers for their native oral English, fun body expressions and interesting classroom games. Through the interaction, the students experienced something different in learning and speaking English. For students’ responses, the teachers made great encouragement. From time to time, teachers were making funny movements while teaching, which made kids laugh. The learning activities embody an openness in education, and the children effortlessly learned those words during the English lesson. Very great experience.

Thanks to the foreign volunteers for providing our students knowledge in such fun way!”

Do you want to help English teachers for migrant and left-behind children improve their oral English confidence, thus helping them teach their students better? If so, our Teachers’ English Corner may be for you.

Between January and August 2018, We have sent 17 volunteers to teach in rural schools, villages and community centers. The beneficiaries have all been rural, migrant and ‘left-behind’ children spread out in seven different provinces. Both the beneficiaries and the teachers benefited from Stepping Stones sending volunteers to teach English at their schools.

Below are some key facts:

Through 495 lessons, the 17 volunteers taught grades spanning from Grade 3 to Grade 9 and even university students (EGRC project, click here for our previous post). These volunteers were from a diverse set of countries, including France, Australia, Germany, America and China. Volunteers not only taught English lessons, but held other activities such as crafts, games, and reading. Some of the volunteers were previous Stepping Stones interns that came specifically back to China to participate in this summer project. Below the map highlights the provinces involved where the lessons took place.

Are you curious about what the volunteers said about their experiences? Please have a look below:

“I really found value in sitting with teachers and talking about strategies to use in the classroom, both for English teaching and general classroom management. I felt like this aspect makes my time there feel more impactful, and teachers told me they will use some of what we talked about or what they saw modeled in my lessons to improve their teaching in the future. This is really rewarding!”    – Carly 

Ningning’s Testimonial

I’m Ningning, a teacher from Hongbo school in Luyi. In 2017 it was my first year to teach English, so I was nervous every day and felt so much pressure on my shoulders. Fortunately, I received help from Stepping Stones and since then, I have changed a lot.

Desi and Ross trained us online. I have learned a lot through their training, such as how to teach students, how to stimulate their interest and so on. They gave me energy and knowledge so that I could become more and more confident. Thanks to the improvement of my teaching methods, the students fall in love with my classes. They don’t think it’s boring to learn English.

Later on, in order to improve our oral English, they set up an online Teachers’ English Corner for us. It is a good chance for us to meet someone from a different country and practice our English. Ross is so humorous and knowledgeable that we all enjoy his classes.

To our delight, our trainer Desi visited our school in person in June. We were excited to see her. She observed our classes as well as Videolink’s classes, and then gave us and the RT’s some advice on how to improve our teaching. With Desi’s help, both the volunteers and us have gotten better and better. What’s more, our students love our classes. Last but not least important, students’ parents are really thankful and support our work. Besides, we were all moved by Desi’s professional dedication and selfless contribution. During her stay, she was so hardworking and helped us a lot.

In short, Stepping Stones helps our rural children and us teachers so much. In return for their help, we promise to teach our students well and make them have a successful future. We also hope we can get more chances to keep improving ourselves. Our gratitude is beyond words.

We will be present at the annual Expat Show in Shanghai! Come and have a chat with us between 21 – 23 September if you are around!

Our stand no. is VI06.