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Singapore Volunteers Talk it Up!
Singapore volunteers help teach English at Laos Buffalo Dairy over Zoom during the pandemic.
For about 8 weeks in January - February, Laos Buffalo Dairy was the lucky recipient of some wonderful volunteers from Singapore that had been with us to help teach English online. That’s right! They helped teach English online to our team and to the local school children.
We had 7 team members, 5 youth teachers and 10 school children join the classes.
Caught on camera! The teachers and our local school kids during English lessons.
For about 8 weeks in January - February, Laos Buffalo Dairy was the lucky recipient of some wonderful volunteers from Singapore that had been with us to help teach English online. That’s right! They helped teach English online to our team and to the local school children.
We had 7 team members, 5 youth teachers and 10 school children join the classes.
How? Might you ask, was this possible? Well, previously we had some representatives from Youth Corps Singapore visit us at the farm. They had heard about us and wanted to talk about getting some of the Singapore youth here on a trip community service. This was all before COVID hit. We thought our chances had disappeared. But in September 2020, we received an email from Steven Lau, Assistant Director to Youth Corps Singaporeabout an opportunity. They wanted to talk to us about the possibility of going online. The Youth Corps provides short-term volunteering for youths who would like to enhance their skills and do some community service as well.
As luck would have it, back in early 2019, 10 Amazon tablets were donated to the farm for our English classes by Paul Kenton from Canada. (Paul runs a project here in Laos called Laos Village Project.) These tablets are loaded with English books and programs like Math, science programs as well. And these tablets had WIFI capability! So, through many conversations on how to make this work, we realized that we could indeed make English classes from Singapore work via online teaching.
The farm team members and the school children were broken up into small groups in order to work with each of the tablets and teachers from Singapore to get the most out of the classes. Lesson plans were drawn up from our side on what the team and children were currently learning and sent to Singapore for the volunteers to expand on. Weekly topics were also sent to help coincide with what they were learning here and allow the volunteers to come up with an in-depth plan for the week.
Classes commenced twice a week with the volunteers and twice a week with just our normal classes.
As the first few weeks passed, the Singapore volunteers decided they wanted to learn some Lao and have the farm team and children teach them. They sent us a list of easy phrases that they wished to learn and we passed that on to our students. The Volunteers reported back to us that the kids and team members were extremely enthusiastic about trying to help them learn the Lao phrases and were excited that Singapore was taking an interest!
Below is some of the feedback from both the Singaporean teachers and some of the kids.
Volunteer Joey Feedback - Joey:
I really enjoyed my time volunteering to teach the students and staff. It was very fruitful to see that at the end of every lesson we have with them, they come out of it more knowledgeable and are able to apply what they have learnt. I constantly looked forward to the sessions that we have together as they were extremely interested to learn and were not afraid to say that they do not understand, which I find very encouraging as they were keen to understand what they do not know. Moreover, even if they do not understand even after asking the volunteers, they will seek help from their friends or Link. This shows that they were really inquisitive and enjoyed the learning process.
One takeaway, that I find really meaningful, was a couple of sessions where the student teachers taught us some words and common sentences in Lao. The student teachers were really engaging and really supported our learning by constantly praising and smiling at our efforts to learn their language.
These students and staff are really resilient when it comes to learning within a limited time frame while also having to deal with internet connectivity issues. They persevere and continue to learn no matter the circumstance and I really admire them for that.
All in all, I hope to be able to be part of this project again should the opportunity arise! Meanwhile, continue to be curious and keep going forward on this path of learning. I hope we meet again!
Project Angkid volunteer feedback - Belinda:
I am glad I decided to participate in this project and to have the opportunity to meet everyone! I looked forward to every lesson, to be able to see the smiles and meet my friendly students. It made me very happy when I see that my students were able to understand what was being taught and were able to learn new things. Although there was the occasional connectivity issue, we never gave up on trying and always tried to make the lessons as fulfilling as possible. I hope my students enjoyed the lessons as much as I did teach!
Project Angkid Leader’s Feedback - Xin Yi:
Prior to YEP-GO, I have gone overseas for community projects. Due to travel restrictions, I thought it was not possible to volunteer and serve overseas. When I was introduced to YEP Goes Online, I had to take the chance and give it a try. Despite facing various challenges, the past few months, I have learnt so much through this journey. Having to juggle studying, working and coordinating Project Angkid taught me how to better manage my time. It was my pleasure to meet and work alongside such inspiring individuals. I look forward to the weekly sessions and preparing the content for our community partner, Laos Buffalo Dairy.
Our students had a good attitude towards learning which made teaching them a joy. It was my motivation seeing how much they enjoy learning new facts and acquiring new knowledge. As a team, we made sure to listen to their needs and wants. Every session we strive to improve and be better than the previous. It’s been an eye-opening and humbling experience for me. I have definitely gained more than what I gave. This also made me realize how education is often taken for granted as it comes so natural for Singaporeans. Whereas students in Laos are so eager to learn but they lack resources that come easy for us.
I am glad I was given the opportunity to lead this project with Perita. As I have gained new knowledge on managing a team virtually, facilitation skills and being able to adapt to situations. This will not be the last time I volunteer; it is only the start of learning how to be a better individual and inspiring more people to be on this journey.
Project Angkid Leader’s Feedback - Perita:
This was my first-time being a part of collaboration with an overseas community partner. Laos Buffalo Dairy was very welcoming and truly enjoyed the collaboration with them. As I have not been to any Youth Expedition Program prior and this was my first-time, I was quite uncertain and nervous how it’s going to turn out to be especially the engagement being online, Youth Expedition Project Goes-online (YEP-GO). It turned out to be enjoyable indeed and the students from Laos Buffalo Dairy had such a positive attitude towards learning. Despite the differences the volunteers and the students were both excited for the sessions, the differences made us curious about each other and to learn about each other’s culture and environment. It definitely opened my eyes with the little things that I have taken for granted for such as having a stable Wi-Fi. It was a pleasure leading with Xin Yi, with her positive attitude, it kept me going and to always do better for the next session. This was extremely enriching experience and I would love to take part again!
Here is Mee’s feedback on the class. Not bad for someone who has only been studying English with us for 4 months, huh? 😊
Hello
My name is Mee
I am 15 years old
I studied English at the Farm buffalo
I studied English for 4 months
I like English very much because I want to speak and I want to know very much because the teacher teaches Free and it is a school He teaches English.
He still teaches and still train with our and it has knowledge and it is the school near my village it still has many students in to learn English in the Farm buffalo that and It still has a library for with students read or we read, I have very happy at the teacher still teach English with us and I have feeling I want to say thank you for teacher and thank you for your boy stay in the Farm buffalo here and everyone still at to welcome student in to learn English the here + thank you teacher! And your boy and Everyone bye bye bye
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Share The Wonder is a non-profit that organises fun and educational day trips for underprivileged children. The organisation launched in late 2020 and has so far organised trips in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam for children living on the streets and in slums, handicapped children and impoverished children with limited opportunities in life.
Share The Wonder partners with reputable children’s NGOs and social travel enterprises to maximize the impact of their day trips on the children they support. They believe that every child should have the opportunity to experience the eye-opening and inspiring wonders of travel, no matter where they are from or their background.
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