明日之光Building Bridges團隊：建一座連接你我之橋

前言

2020年11月，美中下一代基金會明日之光公益獎平台正式成立並得到華人社區的積極響應和參與。平台的職責之一是傳播各個團隊的事迹和經驗，共大家學習，交流和參考。明日之光Building Bridge是一個今年由幾個高中生成立的團隊，目的在於幫助國內中小學生學習英語口語，促進美中學生之間的交流。這篇介紹他們團隊的文章是由團隊的發起和組織者Estelle Shen執筆，好友及合作發起者Stephanie Sun潤色而成。希望給其他想成立義工團隊的學生和家長一些啟發，有心加入團隊的學生也可以聯繫他們。

Building Bridges 建一座連接你我之橋

Written by: Estelle Shen

Revised by: Stephanie Sun

Translated by: Helen Chen

At the start of the 2021-2022 school year, a fascination about English-based opportunities available to children living in China stirred in me. Most Chinese schools already provide students with a basic understanding of the English language. However, these classes are limited in allowing students to develop their skills, get real-life practice, and learn about American culture. English is a lingua franca; the ability to speak and understand English is crucial in an international work setting. Chinese students realize the importance of English and yearn to take initiative and get as much experience in English as possible.

今年暑假的時候，我對為生活在中國的孩子提供英語學習機會產生了濃厚的興趣。我知道大多數中國學校已經讓學生對英語有了基本的了解, 但是更多的小朋友有著極大的熱忱想深入學習英語以及更多地練習日常口語。英語是一種通用語言，在如今的國際環境中能夠理解和說英語是極為重要的。中國的小朋友們意識到了這一點，他們渴望主動獲得更多的英語體驗。

From this realization, I thought to myself: wouldn』t it be amazing if Chinese students could receive English lessons from a primary English speaker? What if these lessons could be taught by youth, whom children relate to more and are more comfortable around? Better yet, could these said lessons be taught by youth in the United States, whom Chinese students rarely experience speaking to?

想到這些，我不禁問自己：如果中國的小朋友能跟母語是英語的人學習英語，難道不是一件很美妙的事情嗎？如果老師都是年輕人，學生跟老師的關係會不會更親近？如果老師是美籍華裔的年輕人，會不會更是難得的經歷？

As I started to envision Building Bridges as an organization, I reached out to potential team members. Stephanie was the first person I contacted. When I explained my proposal about Building Bridges to her, she was extremely enthusiastic about the idea. She quickly understood the impact we could make by using our education to help out others who lack the same opportunities we do. Stephanie was just as dedicated to the cause as I was, and together, we took the steps to make Building Bridges a reality.

在我將Building Bridges做為一個組織來構想之後，我開始物色小老師的人選。我首先聯繫了我的同學Stephanie。當我告訴她我的計劃後，她看起來對這個主意非常熱心。她很快就明白了利用我們的教育來幫助別人的重要性。Stephanie和我一樣很投入，我們一起逐步將計劃變為現實。

With an idea in mind of providing a learning experience where Chinese youth were taught directly by native English-speaking youth, Stephanie and I co-founded Building Bridges. ​​Building Bridges is a non-profit organization that establishes and stimulates a connection between Chinese youth in China and Chinese youth in America. Our mission is to create bridges of connection between youth in China and youth in America using unique learning opportunities. Building Bridges aims its efforts towards children in a disadvantaged situation, such as children with a low socioeconomic status.

基於以上想法，我和Stephanie一起創建了Building Bridges公益英語學習組織，旨在建立和加強中美兩國青少年之間的友誼。我們希望能通過教授英語來認識更多的中國小朋友，和他們一起學習，一起成長。我們特別希望能幫助到家庭條件不是很好的小朋友。

Building Bridges launched its first class on September 4th, 2021. Since then, we have held consistent weekly classes. Each class is one hour long and has a 2:7 teacher-to-student ratio, which allows teachers to frequently interact with every one of the students during class. For teachers, there is a rotating schedule of when each teacher teaches. This not only ensures that classes are not overwhelming for teachers but also allows the students to experience different teaching styles.

2021年9月4號，Building Bridges推出了它的第一節課，自此，從最開始的一周一節課到現在的一周兩節課，每節課一個小時，師生比例是2：7。這樣的比例保證了每位學生課堂上都有充分的發言練習機會。對小老師，我們有輪換的上課時間表，這樣不僅對小老師壓力不會太大，而且也讓我們的教學風格更多樣化。

Our classes are made up of a few general aspects. First, we start each class with a conversation topic. Topics can range from specific questions, such as 「what is everyone』s favorite food?」 to broad subjects, such as what everyone did this week. Each student talks for about 1-2 minutes before moving on. Next, we continue the lesson. Typical lessons include reading stories, role-playing real-life scenarios, or learning about American culture. We select stories that are challenging and represent the students’ reading abilities. With the students, we examine the elements of each story, such as the plot, characters, or conflict, in addition to providing new vocabulary words mentioned in the story that enhance the students’ understanding and usage of English. Meanwhile, our lessons on American culture encompass a variety of topics, such as holidays or common daily routines. After the lesson, we have a quiz or discussion on material presented in the class. To wrap up, we play a game that is fun and intriguing. It is also educational in the aspect that we explain and play the game in English. We encourage every student to actively participate in the game. At the end of the lesson, we leave the students a small homework assignment, allowing them to review what they learned and continue practicing their English outside of class. The goal of all activities completed in Building Bridges classes is to enable students to practice holding meaningful conversations in English and apply what they have learned to real-life situations. All classes are recorded and are uploaded to our Youtube channel so that others interested in our classes can watch to see what it is like. Check out our Youtube channel, Building Bridges, at this link.

我們的課程由幾個方面組成。每節課都以一個對話主題開始，這個話題可能是特指的，比如你最喜歡的食物是什麼，也可能是泛指的，這周你做了些什麼，我們會讓每位學生講1-2分鐘然後再繼續上課。通常課程內容包括講故事，角色模擬現實生活場景，了解美國文化。我們會根據學生的閱讀能力來選擇要讀的故事，我們通過對故事的情節，人物，衝突等元素的分析和學習單詞來提高學生的閱讀理解能力。我們對美國文化也有著多方面的介紹，比如對節假日和日常生活的介紹。在這之後會有一個針對當天內容的小測驗。課程結束前我們通常會和學生一起玩一個有趣的小遊戲，我們用英語解釋和玩這個遊戲，所以這部分也很有教育意義。課堂上我們隨時都有和學生的問答和互動，並且都是在英語對話中完成的。每周都根據課堂內容布置作業。我們所有的課程設置都是為了讓學生練習英語並在實際生活中能學以致用。我們所有的課程都有錄像並且上傳到了Youtube頻道以便有興趣了解的朋友能上Youtube觀看。這是課程錄像的鏈接：https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCP6hc94kawbrwJrAUlqSCmg?sub_confirmation=1。

Our current team of teachers From left to right: Estelle, Stephanie Kaden, Ivy, Kaelyn

The Building Bridges team of teachers currently consists of five Chinese-American volunteers who excel in both English and Chinese. We have both male and female teachers who are in their freshman and sophomore years of high school. Each of our team members showcases qualities of initiative, leadership, empathy, and patience. Every teacher is passionate about interacting with younger students and genuinely enjoys teaching class; they regularly dedicate time to prepare material for class and find ways to improve their teaching methods. Before each lesson, teachers take around two hours to create each lesson. Lessons are completely original content made by our teachers, with the exception of stories. Through the teachers’ passion and empathy, they maintain a learning environment that is comfortable and engaging for the students. Building Bridges has received lots of positive feedback from parents saying that our teachers are very patient and that they whole-heartedly care about students.

我們目前的5位小老師有男有女，都是精心挑選出來的不同年級的雙語華裔高中生志願者。每位老師在教課過程中都充分展示了他們的主動性、領導力、同理心和耐心的品質。我們所有的老師都熱衷於與比他們小的孩子互動，並真正享受課堂教學。他們定期花時間準備課件，並尋找改進教學的方法。每次課前小老師們都要花至少兩個小時準備課件，除繪本外，所有的課程內容都完全是小老師們的原創作品。通過這樣的投入，小老師們營造了一個舒適並且引人入勝的學習環境。我們已經收到了許多積極的家長反饋，稱讚我們的小老師有愛心有耐心，真正地關心學生。

In one class, we talked about different aspects of winter.
我們有一節課討論了冬天的各個方面，包括冬天的動物。

In the future, Building Bridges plans to expand our program to benefit more people, such as youth in China with strong English abilities. We have started to advertise our program to parents and high schoolers in both China and the United States to recruit more students and qualified teachers. After we accumulate a significant number of students and teachers, we will create an additional, higher-level class. The creation of different classes allows the students to have more specialized instruction suitable for their current level. We are also in the process of building our own website and social media accounts to provide a location for information and to document our successes. As a program that is just starting out, we have many plans and ambitions to reach even more people and create a larger impact on society.

將來，我們打算擴大規模讓更多的人受益。我們已經在各種平台上招募更多的優秀的小老師和中國的學生。等小老師人數達到一定數量後，我們將開設更多的班。這樣就可以針對不同水平的學生提供不同的課程。我們的網站和社交平台賬號也正在搭建中，建好後大家就可以更好地交流和記錄我們的成長了。作為一個剛起步的行動，我們有著許多計劃和抱負來影響更多人並對社會產生更大的影響。

In another class, we talked about elements of a story, such as characters.
另一節課我們討論了組成故事的元素，例如人物。

Building Bridges is an organization that not only connects high schoolers with children living in China but also improves the students』 understanding of the English language. The teachers leave a positive impact on every child they work with by giving them new opportunities and perspectives of learning English that they may not have had before. With each class, youth from both the United States and China are able to interact and learn from each other, building a bridge and maintaining a positive relationship between two countries on opposite sides of the globe.

Building Bridges是一個不僅將中美兩國孩子聯繫起來的組織，而且還提高了中國學生對英語的理解。小老師們通過為中國小朋友們提供他們以前可能沒有過的學習英語的新的機會，對來上課的每個孩子產生了積極的影響。每堂課上，兩國的青少年都互相交流和學習。在地球兩端的兩個國家之間架起一座橋樑，保持積極友好的關係是我們的心愿。

If you are interested in becoming a teacher or student for Building Bridges, do not hesitate to reach out to us! Building Bridges always welcomes new members. Our WeChat ID is @buildingbridgesorg, our Instagram is @buildingbridgesorg, and our email is buildingbridgesteam2021@gmail.com. Our Youtube channel is called Building Bridges and here is the link. Thank you!

如果你有興趣加入我們的小老師團隊，或是想成為學生，歡迎聯繫我們！Building Bridges隨時歡迎新朋友。我們的微信號是buildingbridgesorg，Instagram賬號是buildingbridgesorg，email是buildingbridgesteam2021@gmail.com。我們的youtube頻道叫Building Bridges，歡迎點擊觀看。謝謝！