Reflection: English Corner

For one week we hosted an English Corner in the evenings, after we had taught all day. In order to get in, students needed to ask us for a ticket to get in. Because so many wanted to come, we needed to use our judgement and say no to some students, because there wasn't space, and it became so distruptive when it was full that nobody could concentrate. 

We were looking for students with the following criteria:

1. Able to understand basic English
2. Wanting to learn
3. Wanting to improve their character

Every night we would do the Davina Saga (which you can read about in my Davina post), which got the kids to laugh, added a cliffhanger element so they would listen to the lesson and the message and taught them the good morals to exemplify in their own lives, as well as bad decisions that can lead to unfortunate consequences.

We played some fun games and handed out prizes!

There was a special song every night, and one of them "You're a Good, Good Friend" was very popular. In fact, one day in class I asked the students if any of them could sing and one girl stood up and started singing "You're a good, good friend. It's who you are, it's who you are, it's who you are, and I'm loved by you, it's who I am, it's who I am, it's who I am". All the other students in class even started singing along!

Each night there was an English lesson about Honor, Self-Esteem, Overcoming Obstacles, Temptations and Leadership, which were followed by a simple message.

One night there was a mouse in English Corner. Madi was teaching during the lesson and there was a commotion in the middle of the room with students lifting up their legs and talking. She stopped her talk to ask if the mouse had returned and continued to teach while standing on top of a chair and holding a broom as a weapon, just in case!

We also had a translator with us for the English Corners, which helped exponentially! It took us a few nights to get used to not acting out parts of the play when we heard the English cues, but to wait until she translated the cues into Chinese.

The end of the night always ended with a dance party!