Read volunteers' story wrote by our host school on their school website:
http://www.xa-btc.com/NewsShow.asp?ID=760&SortID=61.html. The same article was posted in the school's newpapaer board on campus.
Below is the translation of the article done by an English teacher from the school:
“Lei Feng” from the Other Side of the Ocean
During spring time, a new group of Global Volunteers came to Xi’an Biomedical Technical College. They are Roger Rossman, Elizabeth Rooney, Alice Polk, Charles Chen, Johannes Wirtz and Tracey Lam. They come from the U.S., Canada, Germany and Hong Kong, China. Though they come from different countries, they all own the same elegant and respectable heart.
http://www.xa-btc.com/NewsShow.asp?ID=760&SortID=61.html. The same article was posted in the school's newpapaer board on campus.
Below is the translation of the article done by an English teacher from the school:
“Lei Feng” from the Other Side of the Ocean
During spring time, a new group of Global Volunteers came to Xi’an Biomedical Technical College. They are Roger Rossman, Elizabeth Rooney, Alice Polk, Charles Chen, Johannes Wirtz and Tracey Lam. They come from the U.S., Canada, Germany and Hong Kong, China. Though they come from different countries, they all own the same elegant and respectable heart.
They still didn’t have time to get used to the jet lag after they arrived in Xi’an. Though we were late because of the heavy traffic, they showed understanding and forgiveness. During the welcome party, the students, teachers and volunteers enjoyed their communication. What we expected was the following days in our college.
From Monday to Friday, volunteers gave lessons. Volunteers would like to make full use of all the time when they stayed at our college. They were so energetic that it seemed they had no idea about the word “tired”, when they communicated with the students, though language difficulties often arose, they showed full patience. Students made a sentence with words in disorder, volunteers would help to correct and help the students to say the right sentence word by word. Always they won’t forget their praise to encourage the students with “very good!”. I wondered where they got so much patience. It must be the seed of love in their heart. None of the six volunteers had the experience to work as English teachers. However, they came up with so many wonderful ideas and methods when they served as English teachers here.
Roger is a retired mathematics teacher. When attending his class, you still can learn a lot even you don’t know anything about English. His great patience as well as his wit in leading the students to use their mind reminded us of the days when he was a mathematics teacher.
Elizabeth is a librarian of a hospital’s library in Toronto, Canada. She has traveled to more than 40 countries, which contributes to her rich knowledge. This makes her lessons always fresh and helped the students who have never traveled abroad tasted lots of fresh knowledge from her traveling.
Johannes is a tall architect from Germany. He is like a dancer in his class usually. If the students can’t understand something, he would try various ways to help them. His talented body language helped a lot when he teaches. His commitment to his teaching impressed us deeply. In order to teach the students an English song, he carried the DVD player everyday from the hotel to school. When you see him, the song “True colors” will come to your mind.
Another volunteer Alice tried her best to make her speaking speed get used to the students English level. When she observed some confused eyes, she would say it again. She often came up with creative interesting teaching ideas, and her great sense of humor in class often made the students feel relaxed. Laughter often broke out from her classes.
As a little girl, Tracey traveled with her parents from Hong Kong to the U.S.A. She had 4 weeks’ holiday for a whole year, and she put them all into her volunteer’s mission. She would to go back to her job soon after she returns to the U.S. You could feel her understanding, elegant heart and wisdom through her classes. Endless wonderful ideas always came to her classes. To help the students understand the passage Honolulu, she had her husband send photos and pictures about Honolulu to her, and then showed them to her students.
Charles moved to Canada from Hong Kong with her parents. He is energetic and the youngest of this group. The patience he showed was not a common thing for such a young man. He was a quick learner to become an English teacher. He tried various ideas in his classes, his sunny smile and laughter often brightened his students’ faces and mind.
“The heart that gives, gathers.” This message is from one of the volunteers – Roger. Giving hearts brightens our lives with hope. Someday their names may not stay in our memories, but the love grows and lasts when they’re willing to sacrifice and give.
