Summer
Peer-to-Peer English Tutoring
Program 2006 -
EssaysAll our tutors at
the Fukien Middle School (North
Point) program have written
essays sharing their experiences
in the Chinglin
Tutoring Program 2006.
We have
essays by Rose, Calista. Francis, Byron, Jordan, and John.
Students from Fukien Middle
School (North Point) in the
program have also written their reflections to share with us
all.
I had
always thought that
peer tutoring
was no different from
normal teaching until I
joined in the Chinglin
Peer Tutoring Programme
(July- August 2006). The
past three weeks I spent
with students at Fukien
Middle School was a brand
new experience to me. Not
only could I feel my
students improving every
day, I myself was also
getting more and more
mature with every lesson. When I first
stepped into the
classroom of Fukien
Middle School, I was a
bundle of nerves. I had
been taught by others my
whole life, but this was
the very first time I
ever formally taught
anyone. The first lesson
didnt go as
smoothly as I had
expected and a small
incident occurred when
the other tutors and I
were trying to play
Simon Says
with the class.
Apparently we hadnt
explained the regulations
to the students clear
enough, for most of them
were out
after the first round of
the game. Then something
totally out of my
expectations
happened---the students
who were still
in stood up
and joined those who were
out in a
corner of the classroom
and wouldnt go back
to play the game. It had
been quite an
embarrassing moment for
us. Finally, after a lot
of persuasion and
re-explaining of the
regulations, the students
gradually filed back into
their seats. They became
brilliant at the game
once they understood how
to play it and the rest
of the lesson was filled
with laughter and
happiness. It was then I
learnt that one of the
most important conditions
to become a good teacher
is to understand the
students needs and
think from their
perspectives.
I soon
discovered that endless
lecturing was not the
most efficient way for
the students to learn
English. Concentrating
three hours a day on
lectures only made them
feel sleepy. Therefore, I
and my two partners,
Jordan and Jennifer, only
devoted half our time to
lecturing. For the other
half of each lesson, we
helped the students to
revise what they had
learnt in the form of
various games. This
policy proved to be a
real success. Slowly, I
felt some subtle changes
taking place among the
students. At the
beginning of this
programme, they would
just stand there saying
nothing when I invited
them to speak. With every
passing day, however, I
noticed that they became
more and more talkative
and willing to express
themselves or ask
questions in English.
They would even volunteer
to answer my questions.
The atmosphere in the
classroom was no longer
tense, but light and
relaxing.
However, strange
enough, I discovered that
the best way to help the
students improve was not
by making them do
exercises or playing
games with them, but by
simply trusting them. If
you yourself truly
believe that your
students have the ability
to do something, they
will be able to
accomplish it, difficult
though the task might
seem. I still remembered
once asking them to write
an essay on My
Favourite Season,
which apparently was
something they rarely
did. When I told the
class they had to write
at least 100 words in an
hour, I was met by
exclamations of surprise.
All of them seemed to
think it was an
impossible task. However,
after being encouraged to
try, all of them were
able to write more than
100 words. One particular
student even managed to
write more than 200
words! His happy face
after realizing what he
had accomplished was the
best reward for me that
day.
These three
weeks of tutoring at
Fukien Middle School is
undoubtedly the most
meaningful activity I
have taken part in this
summer. It made me
rethink about and
redefine peer
tutoring.
Peer tutoring
is not a simple one-way
teaching. It is
beneficial to both the
students and the tutors,
who learn a lot from each
other. To me, not only
have I learnt how to
become a good teacher, I
have also learnt how to
communicate with peers
coming from backgrounds
different to mine and
establish friendship with
them. I would like to say
a big thank you to all my
students---Michael,
Leslie, Willy, Annie,
Michelle and Sara, whose
enthusiasm and
willingness to learn had
made teaching enjoyable
to me. And of course, I
would also like to
sincerely thank my fellow
tutors---Byron, Calista,
Francis, Jennifer, John
and Jordan , with whom I
have become close friends
in these three weeks, for
their hard work and
brilliant ideas.
Lastly,
I would like to take this
opportunity to thank
Maplewood Education
Services and Fukien
Middle School for
organizing this
meaningful programme for
us all. I sincerely look
forward to joining in
similar programmmes in
the coming year!
Rose
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A
3-week-program might be
too short for achieving
great improvements, but
it is more than enough to
enrich and brighten a
normal summer vacation.
Laughter made by students
during games, moans
because they hated
homework, wishes on the
last day of the program
All these are
unforgettable moments and
experiences I gained in
Chinglin Program 2006. As
I was still in New York
when the organization
meeting was held, I
missed the chance of
meeting other tutors and
joining the discussion
about the teaching plan.
I would like to take this
chance to give a big
thank you to all tutors,
for briefing me on what
happened during the
meeting. Furthermore, I
would also like to
express my gratitude to
the coordinators of
Maplewood and teachers of
Fukien Middle School, for
giving different types of
advice and information,
which helps to run the
program smoothly.
The
night before program
kick-off was arduous for
me. Due to my absence of
the meeting and limited
information I had in my
hand, I had a busy time
preparing teaching
materials for my
students. I was rather
nervous on the first day,
worrying there would be
dead air and tedious
moments in class, but
later on found out my
fears were redundant. We
merged all students
together and start off
our very first class with
self-introductions and
ice-breaking games; the
afternoon was eventually
filled with a joyful and
pleasant atmosphere.
Challenges
approached us after the
first few days of class;
Ideas were running out
me and my partner
John, were trying to make
lessons more interesting
but useful to students.
Diverse levels among
students this was
one of the most difficult
problems to deal with. We
tried to separate them
into even smaller groups
for teaching, hope to see
a better effect in
teaching. However such
action didnt really
help much. Time was
running out too to
be frank it is nearly
impossible to teach them
everything in English
(even the basics of
English) within 3 weeks.
All these problems
combined together and
turned into a big
obstacle for us. Besides,
students started to have
a concentration problem
during class. They
complained about the
tedious exercises we gave
them for both class work
and homework, which were
relatively useful in our
point of views. Honestly,
we were a little
frustrated by the end of
the first week. We
didnt give up, keep
on trying various methods
to get to know more about
them. Finally we managed
to take in some skills of
communicating with the
students and knowing
their needs. I
wouldnt say we did
the job successfully, but
the satisfaction earned
was inexpressible.
Throughout
the conversations, I have
a deeper understanding of
students
backgrounds. It is such a
huge comparison with the
life of local Hong Kong
youngsters are having.
Some of them have to work
during holidays, unlike
students in Hong Kong,
who may enjoy their
holidays by hanging out
with friends.
They
may not have their own
personal electronic
products such as ipod or
laptop; they may not have
their own room due to
shortage of space in
their flats; however,
they face their life with
courage. They are the
brave fighters who have
the courage to fight for
their future. We, the
tutors witnessed the hard
work they had done and
effort they had paid in
it. We are sure that one
day the students will get
back what they deserve
since they did pay off.
In
conclusion, this is still
a precious experience
that would benefit the
rest of my life. As I
teach, I recall and
rejuvenate the knowledge
and thus enhancing myself
as well. I made this
summer a meaningful one,
hopefully everybody else
who joined the program do
feel the same. Good luck
my peers!
Calista
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This was my
first time teaching. It
was a brand new
experience for me. Before
this, I had never even
dreamed of teaching at
all, or in other words, I
never wanted to. I always
knew that being a teacher
is not at all an easy
job, if the students were
good ones, brilliant; if
not, hell. I am a student
myself and I know how I
treat and think about the
teachers, I also know
that teachers do not
really enjoy teaching. So
there is no doubt that
being a teacher is
absolutely boring and
breathtaking, literally. When
I first knew about this
program, I was
uninterested, very
uninterested. Partly
because of the reasons
listed above, partly
because deep in my heart
I knew I am not and will
not be a good teacher.
But after the first
lesson, it came to me
that teaching was not
really as boring and
breathtaking
as I thought, I guess it
was because I had a
really good partner.
The
students were not bad
ones, but not good ones
either. They were a bit
slow, and it seemed to me
that they did not know
anything about English,
every single word that I
think is extremely easy
turned out to be some
unknown. After a few days
I found out that they
were not as slow as I
thought, they were just
not used to listening to
English. That was why
they did not say a thing
in the first lesson. So I
decided to speak in a
slower pace and use
Chinese to help them
understand more about
what we were teaching.
After
three weeks of teaching,
the students have made
tremendous improvements
(at least that was what I
thought) and they became
more eager to speak in
English. Yet if there
were more time I would
teach them on how to
write and more about word
forms. Unfortunately,
time is limited and all I
could teach was
pronunciation and give
them a myriad of passages
to read and due to the
lack of topics some
students tend to be half
awake throughout the
lessons. I appreciate
their effort in trying to
keep themselves awake. If
I were the student, I
would be sound asleep if
I had to work on such
boring things.
These
three weeks were
successful yet
unsuccessful.
I
feel that I am successful
because I taught the
students a lot of things
and they have made
obvious progress. The
once reluctant and shy
students of mine have
morphed into fun and
lively companions, there
was never a shortage of
laughter.
Yet
I feel unsuccessful
because I did not quite
reach the
peer stage.
They were friendly, yes,
very friendly. Still they
treated me as a teacher,
instead of a friend and I
can feel that they have
an invisible wall in
between. If I had more
time, I would reach them
as a friend, not as a
teacher. If I had more
time, I would try to know
them more and let them
know more about me.
Despite
the fact that I was more
of a teacher than a
friend, I have learned a
lot from this program. I
learned how it was to be
a teacher and how to be a
good one; I learned that
no matter how small you
think you are, you can
still help someone in one
way or another. This is
an extremely memorable
and enjoyable experience.
Francis
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This Summer I worked
in the Fukien School,
enlightening students
being assimilated from
China to mainstream Hong
Kong bilingual society. I
would like to thank the
people who made this
opportunity for me
possible. I felt that the
two weeks I matured and
it gave me the chance to
give back to the
community. Although I
was not present for the
entire term. I am hopeful
that my methods of
teaching could be adopted
by my colleagues/friends
Jon, Calista, Rosy and
Francis. My methods
included the systematic
repeating of every
syllable in every word,
as to improve the
students\rquote
pronunciation. In
addition I used the plan
of displaying maneuvers
so that students could
pronounce difficult
sounds such as
"th" or
"z". This
tactic has been used for
at least a century since
Alexander Bell used it to
teach deaf people to
speak. Finally I also set
up quizzes in the format
of well-known knowledge
based game shows in
America. This was
conducted in order to
make students improve
listening, thinking and
speaking skills.
Furthermore this was
hoped to make students
more confident in their
ability to speak English.
I myself have seen
students like Leo or Alex
(So-So) who were
originally not confident
in speaking English could
now out-perform the most
out-spoken student Ben.
However these game shows
were certainly not a way
to produce entertainment.
In each lesson I would
teach a specific topic.
For example: geography,
weather, food, family,
festivals, animals and
school were some of the
topics taught. They were
chosen to give students
the ability to speak
about simple topics to a
native English speaker
more comfortably. The
students would also have
to remember materials
taught to utilize during
the game show. As a
result their vocabulary
improved dramatically
because they had to
memorize words in order
to win prizes.
Even though I was only
present during 65% of the
entire program I can be
sure that my teaching
partner Francis did a
fantastic job for the
remaining week. This is
because he tenaciously
found and used a
newspaper directed at
teaching students
translations. In class
this was read out by
students who could soon
pick up words readily.
I believe that
Chinglin Program is a
major success. However I
reckon some improvements
can be made in the
structure of the program.
Firstly, it is necessary
to add guaranteed and set
break times, so that
students can have a
maximum amount of time in
which to learn. Moreover
this would prevent
students from some
classes in disturbing
students in other
classes. Secondly I
believe that the whole
program should have an
academic activity that
involves everyone, to
test how much improvement
in English the students
has really been made.
Finally it is unfair
to say that only the
students learnt from this
experience. The students
allowed me to communicate
in Cantonese more freely,
without being afraid to
make mistakes thus
helping me speak it more
comfortably. As a result
the programme was a
win-win situation for
everyone. I would like to
once again thank Perry,
David, Nancy and anyone
else who was involved. I
hope the students learnt
a lot from me. I know I
did!
Byron
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My
experience at Fukein
Middle school was only 2
weeks long, but I still
believe I taught the kids
a great deal. From the
very first day my goal
was to put something back
into the community, and
so, I and my colleagues
set off to teach the
rather important language
of English. On
the first day I was quite
overwhelmed by the many
new faces in the
classroom, and I
struggled to make myself
heard to the pairs of 21
eyes as John and Rosy
stole the limelight.
However, the mass of
students were later split
into 3 groups, with me
and Rosy taking charge of
a relatively balanced
group of boys, girls, shy
and outgoing
pupils. In the first
lesson we managed to
squeeze in some class
discussions, as well as
reading some of Harry
Potter (although we
didnt get past
Chapter 1: Privet Drive).
As
I am usually the first
person to enter my
classroom (301), I wiped
the board out. The board
which was used by the
previous teacher had
explanations of
past participle,
unreal past, passive and
active
voice
.
Im no expert in
these terms, and my own
School (island) has never
taught it. The meanings
of these words are hard
to understand, so I
decided to each more
speaking and reading
rather that writing.
From
the 2nd day to
the 4th I had
to teach alone. This gave
me my first real chance
to test my teaching
ability. I knew the kids
had some reading
problems, so I played a
game where they needed to
circle words on the black
board that I spoke out.
To my delight they
managed to circle most
words correctly, only on
the occasion where two
words sound identical did
they trip up (i.e. Sheep,
Ship). This game also
allowed me to introduce
new words into the
lesson, and to introduce
a speaking element as
well (I made the kids say
the words on the board).
I
was told from the
beginning that the kids
would have an accent, but
I still tried my best to
neutralize it. One pupil
that I renamed Willy,
from Wai, had a difficult
time saying Excuse
me, and
continuously said
accuse me. By
the end of the 2nd
week I think the speaking
ability among the class
improved as I used a
teaching technique where
I made the pupils speak
fragments of a word. This
technique was also
heavily used by Byron.
In
the second half of most
of my lessons I
introduced games like:
Jeopardy, Hollywood
squares, and The
Weakest Link It was
in these parts of the
lessons where I tested
the students in 9 main
categories, obviously the
emphasis on English was
higher. The categories
were History, Sport,
Geography, Science,
Speaking, Listening,
Reading, Writing and
grammar. The games were
rather fun, and hopefully
the kids managed to learn
more about the outside
world as well.
In
the 2 weeks of teaching I
have grown to become a
better speaker( if not
better at least louder),
become a more creative
individual as I had to
constantly think up new
bullet proof lesson
plans.
This
program gave me a unique
opportunity to teach 6
pupils that have never
left the mainland before,
English. The experience
had its highs and lows,
no where else have I
yelled to be overheard,
have I been so happy to
hear a correct response,
have I had to had to
through chalk to wake
someone up and where I
have met such an
industrialist bunch of
kids. This is the real
Fukein experience, no
salt and pepper added.
Jordan
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When skiers
are about to tackle
difficult terrain, they
often scan the terrain,
observe the various areas
that could cause trouble
and make a mental sketch
of the best possible
route that they would
follow. When they do
decide to ski the
terrain, they concentrate
on the little details
that matter, such as the
steepness of the moguls
and whether there is any
incoming traffic. When
they eventually finish
skiing the terrain, they
make little mental
remainders of what went
right, what went wrong
and what could have done
been better. During the
course of the Chinglin
Program 2006, I tackled
the challenge of teaching
English with the mindset
of a skier. I must say
that it was a hard and
worthy challenge- it was
as mind-boggling and
unsettling as skiing down
a tree-studded terrain.
In other words, at times
it seemed hopeless, and
other times achievable. During
my first day at Chinglin,
the conditions on the
slopes were uncertain, to
say the least. I did not
know the levels of my
students and I got the
impression that they
joined the program
because they saw it as an
ample opportunity to fool
around. They were
ridiculously unresponsive
and I thought that I was
going to ski off a cliff.
In other words, I felt
like I hit a dead end.
And over the course of
the first week, the
terrain felt mostly the
same- icy. It was as if I
was trying to teach them
too much and they were
trying too hard to avoid
learning. I did what all
sane skiers would do when
they encounter such
terrain: take a deep
breath and reexamine the
mental route they were
following. I still
remember Callista telling
me one night on the phone
that I seemed too
condescending, too
frustrated and most of
all, too unapproachable.
It was that sound
observation that
kick-started the engine
of progress and the very
next day, I opened up,
revealing little bits and
pieces of my character.
Immediately, the
atmosphere lightened up,
and it was a nice way to
start anew.
Despite
the refreshing
atmosphere, there laid
many moguls and tree
wells ahead. For one,
despite teaching my
students on a one-on-one
basis on important
components of English
such as reading
comprehension and
grammar, the improvement
they had shown were not
consistent. Too often,
Ive discovered, my
students either feign
their understanding of
their material or needed
extra time to digest the
material, but were
reluctant to tell either
Calista or me. Calista
and I once handed over
the reins of teaching a
section of grammar to our
students in the hopes
that they understood the
material well enough to
explain to their peers.
We were disappointed, to
say the least. In other
words, I felt unbalanced
when I skied that route,
always just missing the
tree wells.
Shortcomings
aside, there were many
positive things worthy of
mention. For example, my
class was respectful
towards Callista and me
most of the time. They
asked a lot of questions
despite their
aforementioned
tendencies. Callista, as
well as the other team
members, were
instrumental in
contributing to the fun I
had participating in this
program. Bryan and Jordan
were always cracking
jokes and Rosy was always
showcasing her
intelligence. Francis and
Callista helped me to
overcome my fears of
roller coasters and the
pirate ship pendulum
during the trip to Ocean
Park. In particular,
Callista acted as my pair
of ski poles, helping me
to navigate through rough
terrain and detecting
problems. I must also say
that everyone at Fukien
Middle School and
Maplewood were helpful in
this endeavor, with
honorable mentions going
to Miss Nancy Chan, Mr.
Perry Yu, and the people
at front desk who always
helped me to photocopy
material.
The
Chinglin program was a
great experience for me.
I felt that Ive
made a small contribution
to the education of the
few not as fortunate as I
am. The experience not
only made me a better
person, it also made me a
better skier.
John
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