On March 10 of 2024, The Roslyn AYLUS branch partnered with The Chinese Cultural Association of Long Island, as scheduled from 1:30 to 5:00 PM at Great Neck South High School.
As a teacher’s assistant, our main responsibility is to ensure the functionality of the classroom. Our tasks can range from taking attendance, issuing announcements, or helping children understand the material better. Our work is crucial as we help reduce the teacher’s time spent on mundane tasks so that they can focus teaching. A big part of our jobs as teacher’s assistants is being able to communicate between the teacher and the child’s needs seamlessly. In doing this, genuine interactions between ourselves and the children have played a major role in making sure that they feel comfortable. Establishing that kind of security allows for the kids to feel comfortable in this environment, fostering a positive outlook when learning Chinese. This also allows us to voice their concerns to the teacher and vice versa should there be any communication issues.
One of the main struggles that we faced today is keeping the children focused during class time. As there is only such brief window of time that they are here, time is of the essence. In order to help them pay attention, we try to make the class engaging, trying to work with them and not against them.
The second portion of the day was their cultural classes. In calligraphy class, the kids were able to expand their knowledge of chinese writing, practice their artistic skills, and engage with Chinese culture in a different way. Today, there were new characters that were assigned for them to master. Some of them struggled with replicating the strokes as the teacher did, but as they practiced and familiarized themselves with it, they were able to succeed. It is such a gift to be able to work so closely with teachers and children celebrating and learning about Chinese culture. Overall, the day was a great success, and we look forward to the next time!
People who participate:
Tiffany Lin (3.5 hours), Mathew Zhong (3.5 hours), William Wei (3.5 hours), Chloe Wu (3.5 hours), Angeline Li (3.5 hours), Charleen Fu (3.5 hours), Christopher Zu (3.5 hours), Simon Long(3.5 hours), Hunter Chen(3.5 hours)
Reporter: Chloe Wu
