On Sunday, November 17th, the AYLUS Roslyn Branch volunteered at the Chinese School of the Long Island Chinese Cultural Association from 1:30 pm to 5:00 pm. The volunteers worked as teacher assistants (TAs) and helped the children with various assignments and activities.
A s teacher assistants, we helped to lessen the workload of the teacher as well as create an educational but also engaging experience for the children. Our jobs start the moment we step inside the classrooms, and we first help create a welcoming and safe environment in the classroom as we greet and settle the children down into their seats, and collect their homework from the prior week. Throughout the class, the TAs completed various tasks such as passing out papers, ensuring that the children were on task, making sure the kids wouldn’t disrupt the lesson, assisting the teacher in the lesson, and taking kids out to use the restroom when needed. In the middle of the class, the children will have a break, and the teaching assistants will line the children up as they quickly receive coupons to exchange for snacks and toys. After the short break, we immediately resumed the class session and brought the kids to their culture classes once they started. Some of these culture classes were Calligraphy, Dance, Art, Yoga, Martial Arts, and various other classes. After delivering the children to the culture classes, we quickly returned to our classrooms and ensured that the children without a culture class still had a fun and engaging experience. At the end of the class, we ensured that dismissal was a smooth and safe process as we helped the students pack their belongings, bid our farewells, and ensure that the children returned to their parents safe and sound.
All in all, this experience as a TA helped us learn a lot about the difficulties teachers have to deal with. Despite the challenges, it was a worthwhile experience that aided in our development of kindness and empathy for children. By being in the classroom, we were able to enhance our knowledge of the teaching process and create an engaging environment that made the children eager to return to.
Participants: Simon Long (3.5 hours), Hunter Chen (3.5 hours), Joy Zou (3.5 hours), Sofia Chen (3.5 hours), Jinrui Chen (3.5 hours), Lyann Lin (3.5 hours), Emma Wei (3.5 hours), Elizabeth Ouyang (3.5 hours), Jasmine Lin (3.5 hours), Jasmine Wang (3.5 hours), Mingyao Xu (2.5 hours).
Reporter: Jasmine Lin
