Keats School’s Chinese Language Course Plus Volunteer Work has been a popular program since 2011. Students learn Chinese in China at Keats for 4 hours in the morning and do the volunteer work in the afternoon. Bridie from Australia is one of them. The place where Bridie worked at was Kunming Autism Center for Children. Many students who chose the Chinese Language Course Plus Volunteer Work program have worked here.
On the road when we took Bridie to the Autism Center for the first time, the teacher asked her why she chose this program. Bridie said that she wanted to make the most out of her time when studying Chinese at Keats, and volunteer work could be a great choice. It was very convenient from Keats to the Autism Center. There are many interesting places to visit along the way to the center. The teacher suggested a few places for Bridie to visit after she finished her work at the center.
Once Bridie arrived at the Autism Center, she was soon attracted by the environment and the special decoration. The most important was she saw many cute children. The director at the center warmly introduced the center to Bridie while giving Bridie a tour of the center. Bridie was placed in one of the advanced classes and sat in class as a listener to learn how to help the children. Bridie became more and more interested in the class when she saw the special teaching methods used to teach the children. She can’t wait to get started to work with the lovely children. After class, the teacher gave Bridie a class schedule and asked her to come to the center to help with the children according to the class schedule. In the following weeks, Bridie studied Chinese for 4 hours in morning at Keats, and worked at the Autism Center in the afternoon.
After three weeks of intensive Chinese learning at Keats, Bridie achieved great improvement in her Chinese language. What made her most proud of was her working experience at the Autism Center. Bridie told us that she was happy to choose this program. Bridie liked working with children a lot and she enjoyed the time spending with the children, especially when Bridien could use the Chinese she learned at Keats to communicate with the children.
In the last week of the volunteer work, Bridie was lucky enough to attend the Autism Center’s annual big event for all the teachers and the students. The big event was held in the suburban area of Kunming with beautiful scenery. Bridie came here with her colleagues by car. There were many exciting activities held during the daytime. During the night, Bridie and other teachers and students enjoyed a tasty barbecue and wonderful group dancing. The event made the children feel that they were in a big family, not alone by themselves.
When Bridie left Kunming, she told us she hopes to be back again. We hope Bridie had a great time in Kunming and enjoyed her time working as volunteer at the Autism Center. We welcome more students to choose the volunteer program to contribute their efforts to the people in need.
