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Special Change that a Ten Thousand Won Donation Can Make>
It has
been more than six years since Rainbow Dream has started teaching our children
Korean, Math, and English at Saturday School. On our first year (2010), we were
only able to open piano classes, and it was since 2011 that we began to hold
study sessions with volunteers.
At first, we had to make copies of textbooks and let four to five children
share one book together. Because of the lack of textbooks, children were not
allowed to write directly on the exercise books and had to write on the copied
sheet of paper only. Naturally, children could not use or play with the
stickers that come with the Korean-learning exercise books (which they very
much wanted to use). The books had to be shared, so children were
Starting
from two or three years ago, we gave those children who came every week
diligently to Saturday School their very own exercise books as presents. These
children were so thrilled and excited to write answers directly in the books
and to use those stickers that come with the books as well. Since a lot of
Korean children buy a lot of textbooks and exercise books and do not really
value them that much, I at first could not understand the enthusiasm that our
Rainbow Dream children showed towards their own textbooks. But as time passed,
I could see that more and more children were becoming interested in owning
their individual textbooks, which cost only about ten thousand won (per book).
So starting from this year, we decided to provide children who show a rate of
80% attendance with their own textbooks and for those who do not participate very
often or have just recently started to attend our Saturday School, we let two
students use one text book together. Since we have made this decision, there
has been a lot of change.
Yoori, who moved to Mok-dong with her mother, takes the subway for
more than an hour to come to our Saturday School every week. Yoori also studies
at home during the week with the exercise book we have provided her. Soobin,
who is in her third grade, now gets a perfect score in her school exams and
this semester, she has even become class president.
Young-ee, who has just started coming to our Saturday School,
seems to really want to get her own exercise book and so she works very hard
every week to solve as many questions as possible with her tutor. It seems as
if she is showing us her will that she will be the first to solve all the
questions in the exercise book before the student whom she is sharing her book
with.
Seul-ee and her younger sister, each in sixth and fifth grade
respectively, have been studying with their own textbooks for three years. They
have become confident not only in their school work but also in their general
attitude.
A new child named Dae-Hee (six years old) who has recently signed
up for Saturday School finished a whole Korean exercise book in one session and
startled one of our high school volunteer teachers. As such, that our children
can have their own books and that our children have tutors to teach them are
enough t make remarkable changes in their lives.
Unfortunately, multicultural families and foreign mothers have a
hard time selecting and buying their children’s textbooks. And it is difficult for them to
teach their children themselves. In such a situation, they need private
education such as academies or institutes, but mothers say that these
institutions are too expensive for them to afford.
So in these circumstances, a ten thousand won textbook and
studying for thirty to sixty minutes with high school or university volunteer
teachers at Saturday School can act as an effective substitute for private
education. But of course, it is the children who make all the difference. Only
when children show passion and enthusiasm can our program and volunteers help
them improve.
But we assure you that once you come and visit our Saturday
School, you will all be surprised to see our children’s passion for studying.
Our children are serious about their school work and this phenomenon is very unique.
We do not necessarily want to bring up the word ‘deficiency,’ but our Rainbow Dream children lack the means and opportunity of
beneficial private education. Most Korean children and students are overwhelmed
by too much to study and too much private education, but most Rainbow Dream
children have never experienced this kind of overflow of private education. And
here, a ‘ten thousand won donation’ that can buy our children their own individual textbooks and ‘volunteer tutors’ who teach each of our children
one to one are precious and valuable resources. We, therefore, would like to
give out a big thank to all of our sponsors and volunteers!
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