“Am I making a difference?”
“How do I engage with the child I’m mentoring?”
“How do I teach phonics/mathematics?”
“How do other volunteers keep their passion?”
We recently explored these questions with 33 mentors of GG’s Community Learning Programmes (CLP) during our Mentors Mid-Year Recharge get-together. Our CLP mentors volunteer on Saturdays to mentor our students in English (KidzREAD) and Mathematics (LIT Mathematics).
It was a day filled with fun activities and great bonding opportunities. We learned ways to engage with our students, methods to make learning phonics and mathematical concepts fun, and listened to stories of lives transformed because of our mentors’ dedication.
We started the morning with our GG team encouraging the mentors with stories of how each of them played a significant part in their students’ lives. We have stories of several former CLP students who returned to mentor younger KidzREAD and LIT Mathematics students because their own mentors inspired them and they wanted to give back to the community. It was a great sharing that ignited something special within all of us.
Bernice sharing about our students who graduated and returned to be junior mentors in KidzREAD and LIT Mathematics
A fun and educational Kids Engagement Workshop
After the sharing, we continued with the Kids Engagement Workshop. Joy, our trainer, shared with us the basics of building rapport with our students and taught us practical tips on engaging our students in meaningful conversation and building their confidence.
Mentors then brainstormed and shared ideas on how to engage with students who may be introverted, talkative, reserved and other personalities or behaviours.
A sneak peek at some of the techniques we learned
Next, a very key segment in any workshop – having lunch together! We bond over stories of our students and their growth over a scrumptious meal! Mentors don’t usually get to chill and chit-chat much with each other outside of KidzREAD and LIT Mathematics, so it was a great time of letting our hair down and connect with each other.
Before we ended the day, we split into two groups to learn about specific teaching methods related to KidzREAD and LIT Mathematics respectively. KidzREAD mentors learned about tips on teaching phonics, while LIT Mathematics mentors learned how to convey mathematical concepts to their students clearly.
Teaching students may sound like a scary endeavour for many of us who aren’t trained teachers, but it needn’t be that way! With some practice, we can be wonderful educators and effective mentors!
Mentors practicing what they learned by role-playing with each other
The Mentors Mid-Year Recharge get-together ended on a high note, with everyone feeling refreshed, recharged, and more confident in engaging and inspiring our students! Looking forward to applying what we learned in our sessions!
Hey, you! Did you miss our Mentors Mid-Year Recharge? Join us next time!
If you haven’t volunteered with GG before, why wait? Sign up now and be part of a great community of passionate mentors!
