Xin Chao!
Throughout the last week, our Youthlinc team has spent the majority of our time in Song Cau teaching various English lessons to the children attending the English camp Youthlinc organized. Lessons such as colors, weather, transportation,
and various medical lessons kept the children attentive and were very successful. We discovered that having the students repeat and spell the words we were attempting to teach them proved to be the best ways to have them retain the knowledge. The children were well behaved for the majority of the lessons, but as the lessons neared their thirty-minute time limit, most of the children lost interest because of the lessons’ repetitiveness.
Our team made some great improvements to accommodate the challenges we faced during the first lessons of the English camp. At first, the language barrier was difficult to work with. English is not taught at the school, unlike the majority of all other Youthlinc service trips. However, the language barrier does not stop the children and Youthlinc members from enjoying one another’s company and learning more and more about each other everyday.
Throughout the week the children could communicate better and better and could ask us some basic questions that helped us get to know the children. The students love to write their names and to have the teachers write theirs as well. There are always some students that disrupt the lessons, but thankfully our cultural committee organized multiple games they could play after each lesson. Duck Duck Goose, jump rope, soccer, Down By The Banks, bubbles, and painting are well liked by the children even if they have never played before. As our journey comes to a close, we are thankful for all of our adventures here in Song Cau and wish we didn’t have to leave so soon. We can’t wait for the student team to get here and experience it all for themselves!