Honors Experience: Practical English, Productive Life
Some people take honors seminar for their honors experiences, some travel abroad. For me, I just spend my whole summer in my hometown dedicating my knowledge and a little bit of my time for the orphans in Sai Gon Station orphanage. The self-project just started in early June due to the orphans’ schedules and it’s supposed to end in mid August. When I chose to do this project, I wanted to teach them English – Practical English to be specific – so that they can at least communicate with their donators (who are Dutch) whenever they visit. I also hope that they can take use of the summer time to catch up with their peers in school in English. When the project started, I tried not only to teach them, but also to understand and to be friend with them. They all have their own stories, some were left, some were kidnapped, and some were sent to the orphanage because their parents could not afford their living. Understanding them helps me to shorten the distance between us. When they love my friends and me, it will be easier for them to listen to us and learn English. I believe that everything starts with love and sympathy. Besides English, I also teach them to make some small animal stuff or key chains using felt. Although they are not all skillful at it, I know that this will help them someday. I chose “Practical English, Productive Life” as the name for my project because of that reason. Because English will help them to communicate, sewing and other vocational training will at least help them to relax and enjoy, even some may do it for a living when they are older.
The project itself is really significant and important to me because of many reasons. First of all is a personal reason. As mentioned in my proposal, when I was little, I used to have a lot of concerns about young children who were at the same age at me at that time wandering around the city to make a living. They did everything, from selling lottery, selling breads, cleaning shoes, to begging, stealing. I would not say that I thought much about how their life would be as I was so little by then, I just wanted to help them some way to brighten their lives up. And the idea for the project came from my dream when I was little. I decided to help them with knowledge and some basic vocational training. The second reason of all is because Ho Chi Minh City is where I was born and brought up, I understand and love all the people in my city. If many people donate money for big projects, all I do is donate my time and knowledge for small kids. Once again, it all starts from love, no matter what kind of love that is.
This is all I can say about my project up to date, as it is just our third week. Everything will be updated soon as soon as the project is over. Hopefully there will be some images about these awesome kids. We will have to wait until August then.
Reflective Essay
Part 1: What?
My last summer in Vietnam ended with some great experiences and memorable memories that are going to last forever. That was how my self-designed project Practical English, Productive Life during the summer. The project was about coming to a particular orphanage, which in this project was the Ga Sai Gon Shelter, to teach the orphans English as well as some vocational training. Although the project was supposed to start on May 13th, it got delayed because the summer of the orphans had not started yet. Therefore, we waited until the beginning of June to start the project. We started with teaching the orphans based on Let’s go English book, then gradually made our own syllabus and lesson due to the fact that they could not learn too much within one day. The English class always took one hour and a half, following the vocational class, which was one hour. I started with teaching them basic sewing techniques then a strawberry made out of felt, a cake, and, finally, a complex keychain. I used the Honors grant money to buy a lot of felt and threads so that, even when the project ended, they could still have the materials to keep up their work. The most significant about this experience, I would say, was how my friends and I came to the orphanage often that made both the orphans and the teachers there really grateful and happy. As stated in my proposal, I chose to do this project because when I was young, I always had a dream, or a goal indeed, that one day I would be able to use my ability and my knowledge to brighten the orphans’ lives up. Seeing them enjoying learning new English words, playing games to learn English, and even sewing their first strawberries made me feel accomplished. The experience overall both met and differed a lot from my expectation in the proposal in the spring. I met my personal goals to make them feel more optimistic about the world, about their life and their ability to learn English well. I also met the goals set in the proposal that they actually benefited from learning English. During the summer, there were some groups of foreign people visited the orphanage. Because the kids were able to communicate with them, they felt more connected to the orphanage. In the end, they decided to be ones of the donators for Ga Sai Gon Shelter. However, I could not help the orphans to make actual money from key chains because they would need a long time to perfect their skills. Still, the orphans were smart to give their key chains to foreigners as gifts, so that was a plus. Overall, my project did not only raise awareness of purpose of service for my friends and everyone else, but also for the foreigners who visited Vietnam just occasionally. Also, because I worked with 10 more friends of mine, I am happy to say that I have gained a lot of experiences from working effectively with other people towards sustainable social change. During the project, we kept sharing works and taking alternative shift to teach different groups of orphans. That gave us a chance to get to know all the orphans, and that also made us reliable, passionate to the teachers. I also worked with the three teachers to know more about their stories, their lives and their habit so that I could made small differences in the way of teaching for each orphans. Furthermore, in the end of the project, three of my friends decided to stay and keep teaching at the Ga Sai Gon Shelter, which is sustainable in the future. Getting involved in the project helped me participate in the whole community and understand my own role as a citizen: that I should have more projects like this, or even better, to together make an effective, beneficial, and sustainable change to the society.
Part 2: So What?
To prepare for the project, I read over the book called “Sewing for Dummies”. It was not that I did not how to sew so that I need to read over it, but it was because it gave me a better idea how to demonstrate the sewing techniques for the kids. It was hard to teach anyone something they had never known before, but teaching children was even harder and more challenging. Furthermore, there were many of children who would be sitting in front of me at the same time and focusing on what I was saying, so I had to be as straightforward as possible. I had a lot of times suffering with all the questions coming at the same time, but thanks to the guiding in the book, I reached every question easily and thoroughly. Furthermore, my knowledge in instructing other people through drawings also helped a lot. I took a drawing course in the spring, and one of the assignments was to draw a short instruction. I applied what I had learned in school and in the assignment to my personal project, and that worked out well. The experience had a great impact on my development. I must say that it did not have much benefit for my academic nor my professional goals, yet had a lot of impact on my personal goals. Although the project was a community engagement experience, I also wanted to include some leadership experience in it so that I could get more out of it. The project overall strengthened my leadership skills as I had a chance to work with many people: my friends, the teachers, people in the Women Charity Organization. I learned how to share work among members effectively and equally, how to take over others’ shift when they had something come up, how to keep track of the syllabus and the project overall, and how to be kids’ leader also. I was successful at attempting these goals to be better at leading other people, and this was the most precious experience I took away from this project. It was not easy to share work among a lot of people because my friends also had other stuff to carry out through out the summer, so I worked really hard in making them happy about the schedule yet still maintain the flow of the lessons. Giving and taking feedback was also a part of my leadership plan, that I would observe my friends lessons and tell them what they should have done to make it better. I also received feedback from others to get better at both being a leader and teaching. In addition, I created a Google doc form for everyone to fill in what group they took care of, what subject they taught, and how the lesson was. The purpose of the form was so that anyone who would take care the following day would have an idea about what they should teach. All of those turned out to be effective and beneficial to everyone, and I am glad to carry out the experience in the summer.
Part 3: Now What?
If I ever had a chance to do this experience again, I would do it differently in the way that is more effective. I would include more people in the project and would make it have bigger impact on the society: instead of only obtaining one orphanage, I would try to handle two or three orphanages. That was my intention at first, but then I realized I did not have enough people to handle and to keep all the work in good shape. Therefore, I decided to only work at one orphanage to have a really good result rather than to have a so-so result for more orphanages. Furthermore, if I could, I would take some more time before the project to get to know the orphans and their stories as well as to talk to them and be a part of their lives. I say that because it is always easier for children to learn from someone who understands them, who is willing to be their friends instead of just teachers or volunteers, and who can be their siblings. If I could, I would also take time to have lunch or dinner with them to make them feel as close to us as possible. Throughout the summer, I figured out that when they were getting close to me, they trusted me and told me everything about their lives, their stories, and even schooling. That was when they started to actually learn everything I taught, and that was when they understood things more easily. Therefore, I would tell any peers who are going to do the similar experiences as me that they should take more time to get to know everyone included in the project, both the children and the co-workers. Because we live in a society, it is hard to do anything effectively without knowing other people well. Besides trying really hard to understand other people, I also shared images and our work on Facebook. It was not a really formal way to disseminate my project, but I think in some ways it turned out to be the best option. People at my age in Vietnam use Facebook a lot, as well as people at my parents’ generation, which means a lot of people would be able to see what I was working on and how passionate I was. There were many of my friends asking me where I volunteered, what I was teaching, whether they could join me, and even some of them asked me the orphanage’s address so that they could come later when the project ended. I also invited some other of my friends to join one day teaching at the orphanage so that they could feel the happiness in the orphans’ eyes, and some decided to stay, some decided to bring another group later in the year. From sharing my experiences and my learning during the project helped me a lot in finding a new group of volunteers that would be willing to spend time and dedication to continue my project after mine ended. That made the children’s studying continuous without any interruption. I also learned that: The more you share, the more you get from others. It is true for any circumstances.
The project itself is really significant and important to me because of many reasons. First of all is a personal reason. As mentioned in my proposal, when I was little, I used to have a lot of concerns about young children who were at the same age at me at that time wandering around the city to make a living. They did everything, from selling lottery, selling breads, cleaning shoes, to begging, stealing. I would not say that I thought much about how their life would be as I was so little by then, I just wanted to help them some way to brighten their lives up. And the idea for the project came from my dream when I was little. I decided to help them with knowledge and some basic vocational training. The second reason of all is because Ho Chi Minh City is where I was born and brought up, I understand and love all the people in my city. If many people donate money for big projects, all I do is donate my time and knowledge for small kids. Once again, it all starts from love, no matter what kind of love that is.
This is all I can say about my project up to date, as it is just our third week. Everything will be updated soon as soon as the project is over. Hopefully there will be some images about these awesome kids. We will have to wait until August then.
Reflective Essay
Part 1: What?
My last summer in Vietnam ended with some great experiences and memorable memories that are going to last forever. That was how my self-designed project Practical English, Productive Life during the summer. The project was about coming to a particular orphanage, which in this project was the Ga Sai Gon Shelter, to teach the orphans English as well as some vocational training. Although the project was supposed to start on May 13th, it got delayed because the summer of the orphans had not started yet. Therefore, we waited until the beginning of June to start the project. We started with teaching the orphans based on Let’s go English book, then gradually made our own syllabus and lesson due to the fact that they could not learn too much within one day. The English class always took one hour and a half, following the vocational class, which was one hour. I started with teaching them basic sewing techniques then a strawberry made out of felt, a cake, and, finally, a complex keychain. I used the Honors grant money to buy a lot of felt and threads so that, even when the project ended, they could still have the materials to keep up their work. The most significant about this experience, I would say, was how my friends and I came to the orphanage often that made both the orphans and the teachers there really grateful and happy. As stated in my proposal, I chose to do this project because when I was young, I always had a dream, or a goal indeed, that one day I would be able to use my ability and my knowledge to brighten the orphans’ lives up. Seeing them enjoying learning new English words, playing games to learn English, and even sewing their first strawberries made me feel accomplished. The experience overall both met and differed a lot from my expectation in the proposal in the spring. I met my personal goals to make them feel more optimistic about the world, about their life and their ability to learn English well. I also met the goals set in the proposal that they actually benefited from learning English. During the summer, there were some groups of foreign people visited the orphanage. Because the kids were able to communicate with them, they felt more connected to the orphanage. In the end, they decided to be ones of the donators for Ga Sai Gon Shelter. However, I could not help the orphans to make actual money from key chains because they would need a long time to perfect their skills. Still, the orphans were smart to give their key chains to foreigners as gifts, so that was a plus. Overall, my project did not only raise awareness of purpose of service for my friends and everyone else, but also for the foreigners who visited Vietnam just occasionally. Also, because I worked with 10 more friends of mine, I am happy to say that I have gained a lot of experiences from working effectively with other people towards sustainable social change. During the project, we kept sharing works and taking alternative shift to teach different groups of orphans. That gave us a chance to get to know all the orphans, and that also made us reliable, passionate to the teachers. I also worked with the three teachers to know more about their stories, their lives and their habit so that I could made small differences in the way of teaching for each orphans. Furthermore, in the end of the project, three of my friends decided to stay and keep teaching at the Ga Sai Gon Shelter, which is sustainable in the future. Getting involved in the project helped me participate in the whole community and understand my own role as a citizen: that I should have more projects like this, or even better, to together make an effective, beneficial, and sustainable change to the society.
Part 2: So What?
To prepare for the project, I read over the book called “Sewing for Dummies”. It was not that I did not how to sew so that I need to read over it, but it was because it gave me a better idea how to demonstrate the sewing techniques for the kids. It was hard to teach anyone something they had never known before, but teaching children was even harder and more challenging. Furthermore, there were many of children who would be sitting in front of me at the same time and focusing on what I was saying, so I had to be as straightforward as possible. I had a lot of times suffering with all the questions coming at the same time, but thanks to the guiding in the book, I reached every question easily and thoroughly. Furthermore, my knowledge in instructing other people through drawings also helped a lot. I took a drawing course in the spring, and one of the assignments was to draw a short instruction. I applied what I had learned in school and in the assignment to my personal project, and that worked out well. The experience had a great impact on my development. I must say that it did not have much benefit for my academic nor my professional goals, yet had a lot of impact on my personal goals. Although the project was a community engagement experience, I also wanted to include some leadership experience in it so that I could get more out of it. The project overall strengthened my leadership skills as I had a chance to work with many people: my friends, the teachers, people in the Women Charity Organization. I learned how to share work among members effectively and equally, how to take over others’ shift when they had something come up, how to keep track of the syllabus and the project overall, and how to be kids’ leader also. I was successful at attempting these goals to be better at leading other people, and this was the most precious experience I took away from this project. It was not easy to share work among a lot of people because my friends also had other stuff to carry out through out the summer, so I worked really hard in making them happy about the schedule yet still maintain the flow of the lessons. Giving and taking feedback was also a part of my leadership plan, that I would observe my friends lessons and tell them what they should have done to make it better. I also received feedback from others to get better at both being a leader and teaching. In addition, I created a Google doc form for everyone to fill in what group they took care of, what subject they taught, and how the lesson was. The purpose of the form was so that anyone who would take care the following day would have an idea about what they should teach. All of those turned out to be effective and beneficial to everyone, and I am glad to carry out the experience in the summer.
Part 3: Now What?
If I ever had a chance to do this experience again, I would do it differently in the way that is more effective. I would include more people in the project and would make it have bigger impact on the society: instead of only obtaining one orphanage, I would try to handle two or three orphanages. That was my intention at first, but then I realized I did not have enough people to handle and to keep all the work in good shape. Therefore, I decided to only work at one orphanage to have a really good result rather than to have a so-so result for more orphanages. Furthermore, if I could, I would take some more time before the project to get to know the orphans and their stories as well as to talk to them and be a part of their lives. I say that because it is always easier for children to learn from someone who understands them, who is willing to be their friends instead of just teachers or volunteers, and who can be their siblings. If I could, I would also take time to have lunch or dinner with them to make them feel as close to us as possible. Throughout the summer, I figured out that when they were getting close to me, they trusted me and told me everything about their lives, their stories, and even schooling. That was when they started to actually learn everything I taught, and that was when they understood things more easily. Therefore, I would tell any peers who are going to do the similar experiences as me that they should take more time to get to know everyone included in the project, both the children and the co-workers. Because we live in a society, it is hard to do anything effectively without knowing other people well. Besides trying really hard to understand other people, I also shared images and our work on Facebook. It was not a really formal way to disseminate my project, but I think in some ways it turned out to be the best option. People at my age in Vietnam use Facebook a lot, as well as people at my parents’ generation, which means a lot of people would be able to see what I was working on and how passionate I was. There were many of my friends asking me where I volunteered, what I was teaching, whether they could join me, and even some of them asked me the orphanage’s address so that they could come later when the project ended. I also invited some other of my friends to join one day teaching at the orphanage so that they could feel the happiness in the orphans’ eyes, and some decided to stay, some decided to bring another group later in the year. From sharing my experiences and my learning during the project helped me a lot in finding a new group of volunteers that would be willing to spend time and dedication to continue my project after mine ended. That made the children’s studying continuous without any interruption. I also learned that: The more you share, the more you get from others. It is true for any circumstances.