| Actually I think if the program sends out multiple groups to the places to teach English it could be quite effective. The role of the American kid or parent is to make the class interesting. English is taught in a very rote form here - often by teachers who barely even speak English themselves. At our international HS here in Shanghai there are large groups of kids who go teach English at the migrant schools - the program goes throughout the year but the kids vary week to week. Often the lesson plan is simply to teach 10 words - for example 10 animal names. The Chinese way to teach is to just say the words over and over while the American kids will bring pictures or get the kids to act like the animals. Consequently the kids remember more, remember it with a more correct pronunciation AND line up to take the English classes after school.
I also love the idea of volunteering as a family - though agree that there is always need right in your own backyard and we often tend to want to travel to volunteer when we don't need to. Creating a family ethic of volunteering together is a life long bond - my husbands parents join our family in annual Christmas trips to a Thailand orphanage. While I like to think we make an impact in the lives of the kids there the reality is that they like the gifts we bring and forget about us after we go! But the joy on their faces and watching my kids interact with them is worth every penny and every minute of our trip.
The boost on college admissions from a program like this one in China might not be great but I bet that it would make an interesting essay topic. My daughter who has traveled all over the world was greatly impacted by a habitat trip she took to Bangladesh her senior year. The kids she saw there haunted her so much that it came through in her essays and gave her a purposeful goal in life to make a difference. Without that trip her essay would have lacked that level of passion. |