To love and to be loved— A voluntary teaching trip to Bo Ai School, Shanxi

“The Chinese government has made a lot of effort in carrying out quality education in the past 10 years, we see it here. A village school in this remote Shanxi countryside made it!”. Bo Ai School helps students of Shiu Pong College (SPC) see what the exam-oriented education system in China lacks. It also makes them understand that true education is education with love.

On 27th May, 2016, Professor Leung, Master of SPC, and Mrs. Andrea Leung, Shanxi project advisor, took 19 SPC students and a college tutor to Bo Ai School which is located in Fengcun, Qinyuan County, Shanxi, where they conducted a voluntary teaching activity. The preparation of this activity lasted nearly 6 months, which include observation work in November 2015, followed by team member recruitment, preparation of teaching content, a charity bazzar that raised RMB 8,880, and practices and rehearsals of teaching, all done during the Spring semester. All SPC students and the SPC tutor agreed that they have learnt a lot while teaching the children at Bo Ai School, which made contributed a great deal to their personal growth.

Participants think that “instead of coming to teach, we have come to learn about their innocence, their happiness, their strong thirst for knowledge and curiosity”. Indeed, when the SPC students think about what they should bring to the children of Bo Ai school, they actually learnt more from them.

One SPC student said: “The most beautiful smile in the world is the pure and unblemished smile of children…they make me find out the purest beauty of human nature…what’s more, I think, the children are my teachers, they teach us the most precious things that I can never find in a city or in a book.”

Bo Ai School is a charity school. It was established by Christine Chan, a lady from the U.S. For more than ten years after the school had been built, Christine worked hard with teachers as a team, holding that they should educate their students with love. With the effort of the school, Bo Ai students have enjoyed great improvement both in their morality and their academic results. Poor as they are, they lead a happy life; the school at the beginning did not have sufficient teaching resource, but students at Bo Ai always studied proactively and received good grades; they are polite and are always willing to help others. With such excellent results, Bo Ai School has received an affirmation and subsidy from the Chinese government. Besides, many voluntary teams come to serve at the school each year.

In addition, Master Leung was hoping to provide an opportunity for SPC students to serve the children at Bo Ai school, which would help them get inspiration and enlightenment from the educational pattern of Bo Ai School. He came up with a creative idea. He first invited 4 student leaders to go to the school for a four-day observation stay in November last year. The four students learnt about the stories of Bo Ai and its spirit through observing their classes and talking with the school’s superintendent, principal and teachers. Based on what they had seen at the school, they designed a plan for the following year’s voluntary teaching trip, and recruited a group of students from whithin SPC, hoping that more students could feel  the love of the school. They named the activity “To love and to be loved”, because they had learnt from the school that love is reciprocal. When the participating SPC students help the children at Bo Ai learn about the world outside, they also receive more from the children’s love.

From March to May this year, the 4 student leaders and the 15 students recruited from SPC worked on materials which can be divided into four different sections, namely, Chinese traditional value, the window of world, Science, and English, which were to be delivered to the students in Bo Ai from fourth grade to ninth grade. Besides the preparation of teaching, the students also held a charity bazaar at SPC, the proceedings of which was donated to Bo Ai school and the poor elderly living near the school.

After several months’ preparation, the SPC student team finally arrived at Bo Ai School for their voluntary teaching. For most of them, this was their first time to teach as a volunteer. They felt quite nervous at the beginning, but in the environment of love at Bo Ai School, the smiley faces of the children made them enjoy the teaching there and allowed them to build a strong friendship with the children. Some felt that they had grown a lot within a few days, saying with excitement: “What is love? What is happiness? These children have given me the answer!” Most of the students thought that the theme of this activity, “To love and to be love”, was fully realized.

In addition to the voluntary teaching, they also traveled to the ancient city of Ping Yao in Shanxi, experiencing the city’s architectural style and learning about its history from the local guide. They also went to visit the elderly living in poverty and brought them some food. After talking with the elderly, the students felt that it was not easy to be able to live a good life like theirs, and they started to have more understanding and care for the elderly. What’s more, the students experienced organic farming at the School. A student said that when she first experienced farming, it made her realize that it only took a few seconds for a person to eat a bite of vegetable, but it would take a famer several months’ effort to grow that same vegetable, and that’s why we should save food.

During the whole trip, the students not only benefited a lot for their personal growth, but also expanded their horizon. Shiu Pong College hopes to continue this meaningful activity next year, and to bring more SPC students to serve the children at Bo Ai and to help them experience the love by paying it forward.

 

《愛·被愛》山西博愛學校義教活動

“中國喊了十幾年的素質教育,竟在這樣一個山區裡的學校實現了!”。博愛學校讓澳門大學紹邦書院的同學們看到了中國應試教育中所缺乏的東西,讓他們明白,真正的教育,是愛的教育。

在今年的5月27日,19位紹邦書院的同學和一位書院導師在梁院長和山西義教的顧問梁太太的帶領下,去到了山西省沁源縣馮村的博愛學校進行義教活動。該活動的準備時間有近半年之久,其中包括去年11月到博愛學校的視察,在今年3月到5月的義教成員的招募,教案的準備,義賣活動以及課程的排練。紹邦書院的學生和導師都一致認為他們在義教的過程中學習到了很多,對人生的成長有巨大的意義。

他們覺得“與其說是來義教的,不如說是來學習的,學習他們的童真、快樂、強烈的求知慾與好奇心”。確實,當紹邦書院的同學們在想著要為博愛學校的學生帶去什麼的時候,反而是從他們身上學到了更多。

有同學說“世間最美的笑容莫過於孩子們純真無暇的笑容……他們讓我找回了人性最初最本真的美……我想,小朋友更是我的老師,是他們教給我在書本在城市生活中永遠學不到的最寶貴的東西”。

博愛學校是一所愛心學校,由來自美國的陳女士建立。建校十多年來,陳女士與其教師團隊共同努力,同心同德,堅持以愛為核心教育學生,使得學生在道德素質和學習成績上獲得全面的提高:孩子們雖然貧窮,卻十分快樂;教學資源不足,卻積極學習,成績優秀;待人有禮,隨時樂意幫助別人。由於其出色的教育成績,學校獲得國家的肯定和鼎力資助,而且每一年也有多個來自國內外的義工團體為學校服務。

同樣,梁院長也希望提供一個機會讓紹邦的學生幫助到那邊的孩子,并從博愛學校的教育模式與在幫助他們的過程中得到啟發和感悟。他用一個創新的方式,首先邀請了四位學生領袖在去年11月份先到博愛學校進行一次為期4天的視察工作,透過跟校監、校長和老師的交流與訪問,以及到學生課堂中觀課,了解了博愛學校的故事以及其中的精神,根據自己的觀察,設計了第二年的義教計劃,回到紹邦書院後招募成員,希望能夠把這份感動帶給更多人。他們將活動的名稱命名為“愛·被愛”,因為他們學習到,愛總是相互的,當學生為博愛學校的孩子帶去外面世界的精彩的同時,相信他們自己也能夠感受到更多來自學生的愛。

於是在今年的3月到5月,四位學生領袖與其招募的15位同學一同為博愛學校的小學四年級到初中三年級準備了四個模塊的教學內容,分別為中國傳統文化、世界之窗、科學和英語。為了能夠資助博愛學校和其周邊的村民,學生團隊還在期間舉行了一次義賣活動。義賣的物品為學生親手烘焙的曲奇、蛋糕,還有自製的飲料。在紹邦書院的大力宣傳下,活動吸引了大量愛心人士參與,其中不乏書院外的學生還有澳門大學的教授和行政職員。在短短的一天時間內,經過學生團隊的努力,成功地籌集了8880元人民幣。

在經過了數個月的準備後,紹邦書院的同學終於到達了博愛學校進行正式的義教。對大部分同學來說,這次是初次的義教,一開始他們都十分之緊張。但後來看見孩子們天真的笑容,在充滿愛的學校環境之下,他們漸漸地與學生融為一片,建立了深刻的友誼。有些同學覺得他們在短短幾天的時間內成長了很多,有學生說“什麼是愛?什麼是快樂?是你們給了我答案!”。對於大部分同學,他們都覺得這次義教的主題——“愛·被愛”在活動中得到了充分的體現。

這次義教旅程中,同學們除了在博愛學校中義教,也有一天一夜的山西平遙古城的體驗之旅,在當地導遊的帶領下欣賞中國古代城區建築風貌,學習了解那裡的歷史文化。同學還到了學校周邊的農村探訪孤寡老人,為他們帶去生活物資。在與老人的寒暄中,同學們慢慢懂得了自己優裕生活的來之不易,對處在貧窮中的老人多了一份理解與關懷。另外同學也在學校的菜地里體驗農耕生活,有同學說,初次下地耕種,令他們明白原來吃一根菜只需要幾秒鐘,而種一棵菜卻要農民多少日月的辛勤勞動,我們應該要珍惜食物。

在這次山西博愛學校的義教之旅中,紹邦書院的同學既獲得了心靈上的成長,同時也增長了自己的見聞。可以說,這次義教活動是十分地有充實、有意義的。同學們都希望今後每一年都能帶領更多人去幫助那邊的孩子,讓學生感受到愛,把愛傳出去。 

圖片分享/Photo Sharing

課堂裡面博愛孩子在學習中充滿陽光的笑容 The Boai school’s children smiling broadly when studying in the class

課堂裡面博愛孩子在學習中充滿陽光的笑容
The Boai school’s children smiling broadly when studying in the class

上課中紹邦書院的學生為博愛的學生解答 A student solving problems for the students in Boai

上課中紹邦書院的學生為博愛的學生解答
A student solving problems for the students in Boai

探訪窯洞老人 Visiting the elderly people living in the cave

探訪窯洞老人
Visiting the elderly people living in the cave

學習耕種 Learning organic farming for the first time

學習耕種
Learning organic farming for the first time

課外輔導 One to one tutoring

課外輔導
One to one tutoring

走訪平遙古城 Visiting the ancient city of Pingyao, whose architecture design remaining the same as Ming dynasty

走訪平遙古城
Visiting the ancient city of Pingyao, whose architecture design remaining the same as Ming dynasty

 

Video:https://youtu.be/zPyMqbCX25o