The Pilapitiya Maha Vidyalaya was the scene of a bittersweet celebration on Friday, March 27. Three undergraduates, one from the Netherlands and two from China, members of AIESEC – the world’s largest student organization, were saying their farewells, after two months of volunteer English language teaching in selected schools in Sri Lanka.
The project was organized by the Colombo North Committee (University of Kelaniya) of AIESEC to enhance the English knowledge of school children between the ages of 8-14 in seven schools in Kelaniya, Kiribathgoda and Kadawatha.
AIESEC was founded in 1948 soon after World War II to promote peace as well as understanding and social networking between youths. Four Sri Lankan Universities – Colombo, Kelaniya, Moratuwa and Sri Jayawardenepura are members of AIESEC. The organisation is currently in 107 countries worldwide with 35000 student members, 5500 of whom get to live and work abroad in their Global Internship program, under which these three interns came to Sri Lanka.
Sunsy is a third year undergraduate majoring in Journalism and Broadcasting in China. She taught at the Sri Siri Niwasa Dhamma school, during her internship. The advantage for her, being a foreign volunteer, was that the children were forced to speak in English.
According to her, the children had enough knowledge of the grammatical rules of the language, their only problem was that they were not used to speaking it. Sunsy has also tutored English in china and according to her, children in Sri Lanka had a stronger desire to learn and express themselves than those in China.
She says she will never forget her time in Sri Lanka, and that as a newly practicing Buddhist, the experience showed her how to love and respect others and live a better life without worry and sorrow
Kelly from the Netherlands is an undergraduate majoring in Language and Cultural studies. She says she got to experience both aspects of her studies here, teaching language to the students and touring the cultural heritage of Sri Lanka with her Chinese colleagues over the weekends.
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I asked her how much progress the students had made since then in learning English. “Well, I got about 50 postcards from my students to say goodbye and one of them mentioned that now they know the meaning of the word ‘left’ and will never forget it.” But she is very glad that she came and hopes to be back again on her own someday to do what she can for the school and its children. I saw a few of Kelly’s students later, all of whom obviously loved their teacher. They wouldn’t speak to me in English but they did recite a poem she had taught them – Weavers Weaving.
Angela, the other Chinese intern was the only one who did not have prior teaching experience. An undergraduate majoring in Information Technology, she says she found it difficult at first to know what to do and had to seek the help of the other teachers at the school. But once she got over her initial nervousness and bonded with the children, they got along famously.
She says she used games, role plays, pictures etc to create an informal learning atmosphere for the students which they seemed to have thrived in. More than a formal classroom atmosphere, the children were more adept at learning through drama, role plays and other interactive sessions.
According to the organizers, their objective was not only to enhance the English communication skills of the children but also to enhance their confidence and interpersonal skills.
Though only for two months, the teachers and students bonded very well together and though obviously an enriching experience for both parties, the ceremony was marred by the poignancy of parting.
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