On Sunday, October 27th, 2024, the AYLUS Roslyn Branch volunteered at the Chinese Cultural Association of Long Island’s Chinese school from 1:30 – 5:00 PM. The volunteers helped as teacher’s assistants caring for and helping the kids.
The TAs helped the teachers by providing as much help and support as possible to reduce any stress they might be under. This week, kids were allowed to wear costumes to school, and we saw many different costumes, like Superman, Elsa, a witch, etc. Today, the classes went out into the courtyard and went “trick or treating” with their candy buckets. Seeing the kids excited over their buckets being filled with candy lit up our day and brought a happy and cheerful learning environment for everyone. We also did other tasks such as bringing the kids to the bathroom, calming them down, handing out papers, and bringing kids to get snacks with their coupons they can use at the school store. TAs helped by working one-on-one with kids who might be finding the lesson difficult to understand. This made it easy for the teacher to teach without worrying about any students not understanding the material. By assisting the kids in packing their supplies and saying goodbye, we also made dismissal simple for the teacher and parents, helping the kids to see Chinese school as an enjoyable educational environment that they want to go back to. Although these activities might appear easy, they allow the teacher to focus on teaching the students, which is their main priority, rather than worrying about minor issues.
Even though, working as a TA can be extremely difficult and tiring. For example, handling loud kids might make it difficult to get the class to settle down. Talking with students is important, though, in order to calm any emotions that may occur. Being a TA teaches you how to be kind, calm, helpful, and productive with your time, even if it can be a hard job. It can be challenging but enjoyable at the same time.
Members who participated: Simon Long (3.5 hours), Hunter Chen (3.5 hours), Joy Zou (3.5 hours), Sofia Chen (3.5 hours), Jinrui Lei (3.5 hours), Lyann Lin (3.5 hours), Elizabeth Ouyang (3.5 hours), Ryan Lin (3.5 hours)
Reporter: Lyann Lin
