A Day with the Migrant Children’s Foundation
On October 19, TBC students and faculty joined MCF’s founder, Helen Boyle, and her team of amazing volunteers, for a day spent teaching kindergarten and 5th grade students, English basics. Migrant Children’s Foundation, or MCF, is a Beijing-based non-profit that works with disadvantaged schools to provide kids with healthcare and educational support, among other things. The team works very hard to organize many opportunities for the kids such as, weekly classes, health checks, educational trips, and many more. TBC students got the opportunity to see first-hand how some of MCF’s long-term volunteers support these kids.
Upon arrival, TBC students were split between the kindergarten and the 5th grade classrooms, where they followed lesson plans to best meet the academic needs for the kids, while also engaging with them in a fun way through songs and games.
The kindergarten class was filled with energetic kids along with some visiting parents. The TBC students started by playing with the kids and their toys, before the teacher brought everyone together and the lesson began. Standing in front of the kids and their parents, the TBC students started off by introducing themselves and broke off into the ‘Hello’ song, encouraging the kids to join in by standing up to sing along.
For many of the kindergarteners, this was their first day in the school, so even though they were accompanied by their parents, they were feeling a little scared to be left alone. For this reason, this was a special day for TBC to join in and help make the kids feel comfortable in their new environment. At the beginning, many of the kids were feeling shy to interact with the students, but after a few minutes, they became more comfortable and were happy to have the chance to learn from older students, and the fact that the TBC students were of different nationalities, made it more interesting for everyone involved.
One girl in particularly, even at such a young age, already knew some English words and was very happy to have the chance to learn more English from our students. She did her best to talk in English with the student she was partnered with. The student enjoyed listening to her and trying to communicate in English, while also making an effort to talk with her in Chinese. It was a meaningful exchange for both of them!
Meanwhile, the students teaching the 5th grade class put their teaching and disciplinary skills to the test. The 5th graders were very vocal and excited to be taught English by our students. Three TBC students led the class by starting to pick out English names for each of the students. The student would tell their Chinese name to the student teachers, and they would do their best to think of an English equivalent. Names such as James, Matt, Sophia, and Hailey were among the ones the students chose.
Not only was this day rewarding because we spent it educating kids, but even more so, because service learning is and continues to be an integral part of our purpose and values. In doing so, we are committed to leading by example and teaching our students the value of doing good for others.
In honor of this commitment and our community, TBC has partnered with MCF, in addition to Bethel China, another organization that works with children, to join us at our Annual Dinner on November 17. To join our community and be a part of our annual dinner, contact [email protected] or click the link below. If you are interested in getting involved, click here to find out more about MCF!
Click here to register for the dinner event.
TBC is consistently involved in fun and interactive service-learning opportunities. Here are some of our upcoming activities:
- 11/2: 5 Loaves 2 Fishes
- 11/16: Bethel
To learn more about TBC’s service opportunities, click here!
