Source: Chaozhou Daily 2013-02-01 Page 11

Written by: Yu Xuchun

Translated by: Yu Jingbing

Since the arrival of a group of university students a few days ago, the excited children in Hongsha Elementary School, Jiangdong Town, Chao’an County have been staying with them from morning to night, chatting with each other without reserve. 27 undergraduates from Youth Volunteers Association of Sun Yat-sen University were grouped together and volunteered to teach in rural areas in winter vacation. While bringing rural children new knowledge, they also opened up a window for them to learn about another world.

The children had enormous fun

Recently, journalists went to Hongsha Elementary School and happened to see children having a music class. On the platform, the student volunteers taught the children to sing a song called “Invisible Wings”, "I know, I’ve always had a pair of invisible wings that take me into the sky and bring me hope…" Children sang loudly along with the music, their faces wreathed in cheerful smiles.

In the next classroom, students were having an art class, completely absorbed in doing handiwork. They cut specific shapes such as houses and clouds out of newspapers, stuck them on a sheet of cardboard and applied different colors with crayons. A few student volunteers were teaching paper-cutting and explaining art knowledge. The Children had enormous fun while learning.

"What we can teach to the children is very limited because the voluntary teaching activity only lasts for a few days, but we can stimulate their interest in learning through on-the-spot demonstration of some interesting stuff.” Zou Shengmiao, head of the voluntary teaching team, told reporters that in a science class, a student volunteer did an experiment on the platform. First, he put an egg into water and the egg instantly sunk to the bottom. Then, he slowly added salt into the water until the egg floated up to the surface. At this moment, the children craned forward with curiosity, eyes widening, and asked in surprise, “How can the egg float in water? It’s miraculous.” Having completed the experiment, the volunteer explained this phenomenon and the children were all ears.

Opening up a window for children to learn about the world

During the interview, reporters learned that Hongsha Elementary School only has over 200 students and up until now couldn’t offer formal classes in music and art, except for Chinese and Math, due to a shortage of qualified teachers. The university students came to teach classes such as Chinese, Math, English, Science, Geography, History and Psychological Health, and they got along well with the children.

Speaking of the initial motivation for voluntary teaching, Zou Shengmiao told reporters that when he was little, a group of university students from the city volunteered to teach in his hometown, depicting a wonderful city life to local children. “It’s a sort of inspiration to me and makes it clear to me that only through studying hard can I go out to experience university life in the city.” Zou Shengmiao also realized the value of voluntary teaching from that experience — “It’s a window that offers rural children an opportunity to learn about the outside world and realize that everybody’s future has unlimited possibilities.”

Although the voluntary teaching activity only lasted for as short as a week, the volunteers still planned to maintain contact with rural children after finishing their volunteer work through writing letters and chatting on QQ to offer continuous love. Guo Sui, a member of the voluntary team, said that they hoped to put efforts into opening up a window of wisdom for the children and raising their anticipation for the future. The group of university students named their voluntary teaching journey as “Voluntary Teaching for Setting Sail”. They hoped that the activity could set sail the endless wonderful dreams of rural children.