In the afternoon of the 17th of December, 5 volunteers from the graduate Youth Branch of the International Business School of Beijing Foreign Studies University visited Zhichun Building to conduct the final volunteer service activity of the semester for the English class of “With Love We Create Happiness”, and gave an English class to the children on expressions of sports and animals.

The volunteers first reviewed the contents on “fruits” which the children had learned the week before. The children responded actively and were able to pronounce the corresponding words fluently. Next, expressions on sports were learned together. From football and basketball to swimming and running, favourite sports were shared in turn by volunteers and the children. In the game session of “You Do I Guess”, the 5 volunteers acted out the moves from various daily sports and engaged the children through interactive quizzes to enhance their recollection of these words.

In the second class, volunteers introduced students into the animal kingdom and introduced several animals through animation. In the “Who's Missing” game session, volunteers and children had to look at two pictures and imitate the noises made by animals that had disappeared from the second picture. Thereafter, the volunteers led the children to practise spelling of words used in the class, and conducted a review of the courses taught throughout the semester. From the 26 alphabets and numbers to the various English expressions of fruits, daily sports, and animals, most of the children were able to nicely demonstrate what they have learned.

Finally, Mr. Zhao, organizer of the "With Love We Create Happiness" English Class, made concluding remarks on the volunteer activities this semester and issued Certificates of Completion and Volunteer Certificates to the children and volunteers respectively. “Best Progress Award”, “Outstanding Performance Award”, “Excellent Student Award”, “Excellent Performance Award”, “English Star” were amongst the awards won by many of the children[E1].

Upon completion of the event, the participants and their parents expressed their gratitude to the volunteers for their enthusiastic and responsible teaching. Mr. Zhao thanked IBS for their support in the “With Love We Create Happiness” English classroom and praised the volunteers for their enthusiasm as well as their down-to-earth work ethics; and put forward suggestions and expectations for further improvements. The “With Love We Create Happiness” Support Centre shall deepen the cooperation with BFSU and strive to create a series of more distinctive courses in the new year to provide targeted assistance to more students. More BFSU student teachers shall be welcomed in the next semester, encouraging them to devote themselves to the volunteer work of the “With Love We Create Happiness” English classroom. It is hoped that we can “light up the children’s hearts and spread happiness, warmth and joy.”

The purpose of this volunteer activity is to cultivate independent thinking and communication skills of older children, and enrich their understanding of the world; simultaneously, it helps BFSU students to appreciate the notion of services and gratitude to society, and demonstrate putting into practice, social responsibilities as a new generation of graduate students. In the future, the graduate Youth branch of IBS shall continue to provide volunteer service for the “With Love We Create Happiness” Support Center, assist in social welfare projects, and bring more happiness and warmth to the mentally handicapped.

[E1]These can be omitted?