As some of you might know, over the past christmas break, 3 students from The British school of Beijing set of on an amazing project in the southeast region country of Myanmar. Their goal was to support a local monastery and a local poor children school and they have more than just achieved their goal.
As all 3 students have never been on such a trip before, it was a very good experience for them. Since they were staying in the monastery they supported during the whole time of their stay, the trip was not the least bit what they are used to at home. The sleeping accommodations were fine, but for example, to take a shower, they had to search a local hotel and pay to use their shower facilities. Now this may seem bad, but in reality it was a life lesson, and there were also many other memorable moments living in an environment which they were not used to.
In the local poor children school supported by the 3 students, the main focus was put on the learning environment and the study of the english language. To achieve their goals, the students taught 3 hours a day for 2 weeks in the school. The 3 classes they were teaching were grade 6, 7 and 8. Approaching the students were made easier by an existing english teacher who introduced the students and helped with any translations which had to be made, as the 3 BSB students were obviously not able to speak the local language. The children were allocated into various age and ability groups, so that the teaching was made easier in the coming weeks. Teaching the children has been an absolute joy. Therefore the hardest part of their journey was saying goodbye to all the children before they went on their well earned christmas break. Furthermore, the 3 students supported the school to equipe a whole classroom with tables and chairs for 28 children to improve their learning environment. In the coming future, the 3 students plan to help the school by employing teacher with the money they raised.
Alongside all of this, the 3 students also each taught 2 classes of about 30 monks and novices, everyday for another 2-3 hours depending on the monasteries time schedule. All monks and novices never had any English lessons before in their entire life. All of them were now able to introduce themselves after just 2 weeks of studying and effective teaching by the students. The efforts which were put in by the students was staggering and the monastery thanked the 3 by letting them stay in the monastery for free. In the future, the 3 boys have found an english teacher to support the monastery until the next group comes to teach again.
Speaking of the future, the only challenging step from now on will be to find good successors who want to continue the project with the same spirit and effort as the 3 BSB students who initiated it. Presentations about the project will be held in The British School of Beijing in the coming weeks.
If there are any more questions please contact:
Year 12 Students: Jan, Jannick, and Leonardo
Teachers: Mr Readdy and Mr Mounter