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Hilary Adamson writes......about her experiences while volunteering in Vietnam.During my volunteer placement in Vietnam I was mainly at the CAHORS orphanage in Hoi An. At the orphanage, I taught 1 lesson in the morning and 1 lesson in the afternoon. Teaching in the orphanage was a lot of fun and an interesting experience (where else does a teacher have to go and wake up her students in bed so that they can come to class?!). There was a timetable, but generally some of the children didn't turn up and other children who were keen to learn would come to class, hence flexibility regarding lessons was always required - on some days lessons would be a little chaotic but on other days I'm sure I could have won a "Teacher of the Year" award! Although I had no teaching experience, I was given the freedom to plan and teach my own lessons. I usually tried to support what the children were doing at school or teach topics or grammar that they tended to get wrong when talking to me. One of the most rewarding aspects was talking to the children out of the classroom and hearing them use words or phrases that they had learnt in my lessons. In addition to classroom teaching, I also spent time (after lessons and in the evenings) with the children talking to them, reading them stories and doing other activities such as painting and playing games. The children generally seemed quite happy. In some ways the children are similar to children at home. They liked playing games, drawing and painting and worked harder in class if they would get a star or sticker for their book. The boys loved playing football and taking photos with my camera, the girls liked playing with my hair and talking about whether I had a boyfriend or not. In other ways they were very different from the children at home. They didn't have many possessions but what they did have they were always happy to share, they all slept together sharing a few mattresses on the floor and they had very few clothes which they had to wash themselves by hand at the well. I took some English story books and they all liked looking at the books and having a story read to them - I'm sure that quite often they really didn't understand too much of the story but I think that they have never really had stories read to them before, so that was quite a novelty. Friday night was always "Bingo Night", (introduced to help them learn numbers and colours in English) which they were all mad about. They would go crazy when they won a prize which would be something like and an orange, a hair band or notebook and pen. Whilst I was there, we acquired a jigsaw. The children were very excited to be doing a jigsaw, but I was amazed how long it took them to complete it. They just had no idea about the strategy for doing a jigsaw - edges matching edges and that pieces of similar colours are more likely to fit together than those that aren't. I'm pleased to say that by the time I left, they had certainly got the hang of jigsaws! I planned to go to Vietnam for 1 month and then leave. I ended up staying for nearly 2 months but the friendships I have made and the memories I have will last much longer. The children don't have many possessions, but possessions are not what they really need. What they really need are people to give them some time, teach them, care for them and love them. If anyone reading this is wondering about volunteering, I would say just do it, it's something you'll never regret. |
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Feature Fundraiser: Machu PicchuIn August 2006 we will be hiking to Machu Picchu in Peru to raise funds for endangered rainforest in Ecuador, among the most threatened pristine forest eco-systems on the planet. Funds raised in the climb will go towards buying and protecting land in two of our Ecuadorian reserves.more >> |
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