ISM Community Service Blog

Students Teaching Students

The ISM English Summer School Program

You know when you're about to take on something new, a really big challenge in your life… and you're not quite sure how it's all going to work out... And then people begin to encourage you, saying "we can do it"... "we can make it happen!" and more people start doing the same. That is the feeling we had when this project began back in March 2012.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 I'm happy to say now that, because of the enthusiasm of ISM students, we did it! We made it happen, and we made a difference!

The English Summer School Program ran for 3 weeks, from April 30th to May 18th 2012. We taught 56 Burmese children ages 7 to 13. Over 200 ISM students and teachers were involved, making us a huge team of English teachers.

The great thing about this program was how many different groups of people from both ISM and our local community were invovled. Included were the ISM 6th and 7th grade advisory and health classes; the Community Service Club which has ISM students ranging from 6th grade all the way up to 12th grade; teachers from the elementary and middle school; administrators supporting us along the way; and there were teachers and the principal from the Burmese school who backed up our efforts everyday throughout the 3 week program. Plus, of course, the 56 Burmese students who were ready and willing to learn English with a lot of enthusiasm!

ISM students came to understand that,

although the Burmese students do learn some English in school, they hardly ever have a chance to practice it. This understanding helped us prepare lessons that focussed on the Burmese students acting, playing with, practicing, and speaking the language. 

This, of course, was a challenge for ISM students who, for the most part, had never taught English a day in their life! It was sort of scary for some of us, especially in the beginning. To overcome this fear, we prepared and practiced our lessons ahead of time. And, as the Summer School program progressed, ISM students began expressing their excitement and joy with the program, saying things like, "When can we do this again?" and "Can we continue this program next school year?"

It was surprising to see how much the Burmese students learned during these three weeks of daily practice. At the end they all shared their gratitude and we celebrated together with a "graduation" ceremony and an ice cream party. Many of the Burmese parents and families showed up to share in the celebration of our accomplishments during those three weeks. We now feel much closer with our local community, and a feeling of friendship and respect is growing between ISM students and the Burmese school children. What a wonderful bonding experience this was. Together we proved that when we put our hearts and minds into making a positive difference in the world, the results can be life changing!

ISM Community Service would like to express our gratitude to everyone who was involved in this program. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

 Let's keep it going, keep reaching out, keep giving, and keep doing community service as much as we can so we can continue to truly make a difference!

By Mr. Todd

 

 

Boy's Training School 2nd Visit

On the day of March 3rd 2012, the community service club made their second trip to the wonderful Boys' Training School. Everyone showed up around 7:15 and after we loaded all the donations from Community Service week on the bus, we were off to the boys' training school!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once we got there we separated the boys into 3 groups- storytelling, outdoor games and art. The storytelling group along with Ms. Megan told the kids stories about animals, cars and fairytales. The boys laughed at the funny pictures and learned new words that improved their English vocabulary. The outdoor games group played games like football, Frisbee and jester sticks. Even though most of the kids wanted to play soccer, it was nice that they learned new things. The arts group taught the boys origami and had them color pictures of cartoons. Some kids were very good at origami and shared what they did with the whole group. We stuck all their colorings together and showed them their magnificent artwork.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Later all the boys, community service members and teachers sat together in a circle and shared what they did that day. We passed around their artwork and asked a few of them to share their origami or recite the words they learned that day. This was a very interesting thing to do because it helped the boys with their public speaking and it summarized the day so everyone would remember it even longer. With that we were off, satisfied by the big smiles we left behind!

By Aashfeen (6T)

                   

Seeing and Changing

The Community Service Club (CSC) is all about starting small to reach for bigger goals. Starting in September 2011, the Community Service club has been devoted to helping the children in the Primary Burmese School just a corner away from ISM. We meet with the children on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays from 3-4 pm almost every week. All members of the Community Service club truly engage themselves into educating and making a brighter day for these children. We engage the children in fun activities such as art, gardening, games and English teaching. As the months have passed by, it is evident that the children’s abilities are growing as well as their desire for learning.

Once, we had a day where we planted a small garden in the front yard of their school. The children in the school got together with the members from the CSC and planted eggplants, onions, grapes and flowers. We told them that these tiny seedlings would grow to be big plants with fruits and huge leaves. We told them that they were just like those seedlings, ready to burst out and become mature and caring citizens. We regularly went to check on the seedlings and in only three months they had become huge plants with full-grown vegetables and fruit ready to harvest. The children all gathered around their little garden with proud smiles on their face and we came to realize that we had made a sustainable difference. This garden is something that will stay with their little school forever.

In English teaching class, we blended some humor and fun with what we were teaching to get the kids motivated and interested. We engaged some friendly competition between groups and got them involved by creating colorful posters about with the words they were learning. We could tell that some kids were truly attracted to our lessons since they would study new material once they got home. We’ve sat where these kids are sitting now, so to speak, in a class, listening to a teacher drone on and on about something that nobody was listening to. So, we're making it our mission to get the children excited with fun activities but still maintain their focus on learning.

In Art class, we carried out activities such as coloring, drawing, face and hand painting and card making. The kids enjoyed the face and hand painting tremendously because they could have their favorite cartoon character, object, or animal drawn onto them by the members of our CS group. The card-making activity was also a huge success during Christmas and each child received a Merry-Christmas card from the CS club.

One very memorable time was when we brought over donations from the ISM Community Service week to the Burmese school. Our donations included books, pencils, pens, canned food, rice, eggs, clothes, and hygiene materials such as soap, shampoo, toothbrushes, and toothpaste. We emerged into their little school carrying boxes and books and supplies and bags like a sort of bizarrely happy marching band. All the kids in the school as well as their headmistress and teachers came rushing out, all looking like little children on the morning of Christmas receiving their presents.

With our donations, the headmistress and the teachers at the school cooked Mohinga, Coconut curry soup, and tuna salad for all of the students and served them while the children were taking their year-end exams. She also passed out the clothes and told us that the students truly enjoyed getting the “new” clothing to show off on their holidays. Our old has become their new.

Everyday around our neighborhood, we see kids our age lugging around huge pails of water to their houses, we see young boys playing with marbles while they could be going to school, and we see young girls serving Mohinga in the local shops while they could be earning a good education. “Once there is seeing, there must be acting. Otherwise, what is the use of seeing?” Thich Nhat Hanh, Vietnamese Zen Master and author of Peace is Every Step once said. Our CS club does the best we can to help out with what we see. Although we may not be able to change everything all at once, by starting out small and giving what we can, we are making bigger and bigger changes day-by-day. Simply by seeing, caring, giving and
changing we are truly making a difference!

 

                                                                                                                                Written by Yuri 

                                                                                                                                          Grade 9

 

 

Counting Smiles

On December 3rd, 2011, there were about 21 community service students and 8 teachers who visited the Boys' Training School in Yangon. Living there are about 150 boys, many of them are orphans and/or come from families unable to support them financially. They range in age from 6 years up to 15 years old with 3 students already in the tenth grade. 

We brought with us clothes, shoes, books, exercise books and Burmese stories, hygienic materials, stationary, and a WASHING MACHINE! The washing machine was a last minute surprise donation from the family of a CS student (Pike). All other supplies were bought from the funds raised from the Book Buffet, CS student donations, and left over funds from last year.

On that special Saturday we all headed out to the orphanage at 8:00 am. We were eager to get started on our activities which included games, storytelling, English teaching, art, and sports. We had prepared everything ahead of time and when we got to the orphanage, we were excitedly greeted by a group of children who were just as excited as we were. 

Our activities truly brought the kids out of their shells as their athletic and fun side began to emerged. We had the boys sweating out on the soccar field and playing other outdoor games. And indoors, some of our activities such as storytelling, art and English teaching allowed many boys to show their inner talents in listening, reading, drawing, painting and acting. It was nice to see the boys truly engaged in their projects at hand. 

In art, the boys could ask for their favorite character to be painted on their faces or hands. That way, they could be reminded of the fun they had once we left. There were many magnificent works of art drawn by our ISM students in the face-painting booth. The nice thing was that they got to experience all the different activities as we rotated groups every half an hour.

We stayed at the orphanage for about 3 hours and cherished every minute of it. At the very end of our trip, all the kids from the school lined up together to say goodbye to us. At that moment, we could almost feel the sense of joy in the air and it came to dawn on us; Community Service is not about how much money we can donate or how many things we buy. It’s not about changing lives or moving mountains. Looking at their genuine smiles and hearing their laughter, we realized that Community Service is all about the happiness, the joy, the laughter, and the hope that we can bring to somebody’s life, even for 3 short hours. In the end, we reached our ultimate goal.

Special thanks to: Mr.Todd, Mr.Nick, Ms.Katie, Ms.Meghan, Ms.Zoe, Mr. Wyatt, Mr. Nilan, and his friend Mr. Jeff and the entire Community Service club for participating in this special trip. And to the Boys’ Training School Orphanage for letting us spend this most wonderful day with them!  

       by Yuri 

      Grade 9