"English Time" volunteering club project

“English Time” volunteering club at school

№21 with trilingual education.

“The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.” This quote by  William Arthur Ward inspired me to start my volunteering club at school. Starting a volunteering club at school is an invaluable resource to teachers and students. Those who volunteer at school will sharpen their teaching skills, become better leaders, and develop a sense of pride in contributing to students' success. On the other hand, it

can be tough. It takes a lot of organization, recruiting, and decision making, especially for a volunteering club that will be having events and doing services outside of school. But with a good idea, some motivated students, and the right knowledge, you can pull it off.

I am not looking for an easy way of teaching , I like a challenge. . I would like to gather as many ways of teaching as possible in order to incorporate it into my project work which I am leading at my school as well. I have started a volunteering club in order to help young children to speak English fluently who are unable to go to paid courses because they are from large families . Firstly, this project is done for helping families who are socially disadvantaged. We are seeking opportunities to show our care. The smallest gestures often make the biggest difference.

My students from higher classes help me to lead the lessons with me. On the other hand, students from higher classes involved to the project as volunteers. It will be more beneficial experience for them.

Volunteering can help them  gain confidence by giving them the chance to try something new and build a real sense of achievement. They make a difference, meet people ,be part of a community ,learn new skills, take on a challenge and have fun!

We are doing movie clubs and reading club as well. My teacher students are having great pleasure from teaching process and becoming more responsible. There is no good person than a teacher, who should be role model for his students and give continuous feedback which helps them to raise their level of English.

Our club’s objectives:

The main objectives is to create a recreational and consolidating opportunity for students to learn and practice English by doing different speaking tasks. Thus, it tries to

-give vent to students’ creative talents

- provide encouraging atmosphere for students to express personal views

-enhance students’ learning opportunity

-set new horizons for Students learning English through the media they daily use

-engage them in cooperative tasks

-envelop their awareness of themselves as individuals with special different talents and capacities

- maximize students’ exposure to authentic English through media, books…

- trigger their active involvement in learning and school life.

Why this club?

• “English Time” volunteering club tries to compensate for the lack of exposure opportunities to English as a second language for our students.

• The club activities will be based on communicatively authentic material, as much as possible and this includes:

• Film reviews and discussions

• Listening comprehension and discussion

• TV group watching

• Group reading and discussions

Our clubs principles are:

-Active participation

- Regular attendance of meeting

-Respect of the club’s basics

-Cooperation

-Contribution

The program

-The actual program is conceived by students groups and scheduled to cover both school year terms.

- The Club work is held on every Saturday

-Published on a web site: Instagram group where students share with their expressions and knowledge. @english_time_21

Here is a comment from my first volunteer :

“My name is Aigerim. I graduated school-gymnasium #21 two years ago and currently major in Hospitality & Tourism at Almaty Management University. During my high school days I was actively involved in our volunteering group called “English Time(ET),where my classmates and I with the help of our teacher taught young students who didn’t have the opportunity to attend extra courses or who just wanted to get extra guidance and knowledge to improve their English. Every Saturday, they would come in with bright, excited eyes and an enthusiasm that was infectious. I left school feeling a great sense of achievement, knowing I had left a certain mark in someone’s academic life. Within moments of my first day in the classroom, I started to develop strategies in classroom management, intervention, learning modifications and adaptations. A lot of my skills were developed on the fly, while under the guidance of our teacher, Khassenova Saltanat, and I knew that no matter the situation, she was there to encourage my own personal development, while still maintaining a level of independent learning. Volunteering as an English teacher helped me develop coherent interpersonal skills and build long-term relationships with a diverse group of adults and children. Most importantly, the program is effective in boosting student outcomes. The students were tested throughout the year, and results showed that they were making progress in their comprehension of English. I hope I played at least a small part in their academic success. When I first volunteered to tutor, I was a bit apprehensive. I had no teaching experience, but I found out that you don’t need any. All you need is a willingness to give of yourself and a desire to work one-on-one with these children who so desperately want to learn something new and improve their language skills.

I have tried my best since that first experience to continue on the journey of giving back. As soon as I started studying at the university, I applied to a volunteering group, where we help out the community by donating, organizing different events and even master-classes where each member shares their experience and knowledge about a particular topic. I used this opportunity to tell my story of teaching English and hopefully inspired other people to consider it as an option and know that you can be doing something useful towards a cause greater than yourself.

That first experience of volunteering at “English Time”, sharing our knowledge with the younger generation and staying late at school every Saturday to come up with more creative ways to learn a language, communicating with friends and asking our teacher advice and just having an amazing time really opened me up to a new perspective in life. I owe so much to volunteering and all the people who were a part of this wonderful opportunity, and I genuinely believe that without the experience, skills and confidence that volunteering has given me, I would not be in the position I’m in today”

Our achievements :

Our volunteers won grant to take part in 1^st International Pre-Service Teachers Conference “Teaching and Learning English in Transition to Tri-Lingual Education: Research, Challenges and Successes ” which was held in Shymkent and certified with international diploma. In purpose of sharing information they organized 1^st regional conference among students and were honored by Appreciation Letter .

Some people are born to teach, whilst others must constantly strive to reinvent themselves and recreate their lessons in the perpetual pursuit of perfection. It is an ever evolving yet challenging and lifelong learning environment of which we are an integral part.

Hope you find it interesting and make another step on the road to even better teaching!