<A 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!