Teaching English

Discussing our skit

On the Saturday of November 30, 2013, I participated in a teaching service. There were seven students, including me, that taught mothers English. We met at the number 1 platform at Hang On station at 2:00. When everyone arrived, we walked to this community service building. We helped carry cups to the meeting room for the "tea time" that would occur later in the day. We went into a small side room and went over what we would teach to the mothers. I was expecting to teach kids, but mothers were good too. We split into two groups. The girls were in one group and they guys were in another group. Both groups had a little skit to perform to the mothers. The guys performed their skit first. Their skit was more like a brief conversation about their daughter's dance rehearsal. After presenting their skit, they taught them new vocabulary. 

Presenting our skit

After the guys, it was my group's turn to teach the mothers English. Our little skit was about eating at a restaurant. There are three roles: Amy (the daughter), mother, and the waitress. I was Amy. I started the skit off by saying, "Mom, I'm hungry." Then, the mother (Rachel Mok) called for the waiter. I told the waiter (Jenny Cheung) what I wanted to eat, then the mother told the waiter what she wanted to eat. The waiter asked the mother if she wanted dessert. The mother replied by saying what dessert she would like. After we presented our skit, we taught them vocabulary from the skit. Most of the vocabulary are related to food. It included these words: hungry, spaghetti bolognese, Russian vegetable soup, soup of the day, banana split, and soft-hearted chocolate pudding. Some of the mothers knew already knew a lot of the words we taught them, but most of the vocabulary was new. 

"Tea time"

After we taught them the vocabulary, we had "tea time". The seven of us split up each went to a table. We ate cheese buns, some kind of pudding, and glutinous rice balls. I really liked the cheese buns. When I first saw the cheese buns, I thought they were cookies. Anyways, as we were eating, the mothers asked us questions about English. One of the mothers that I was in a table with asked Kevin and I about her son's homework and exam. She was confused when to use "st", "nd", and "rd" when writing dates. I told her that first is always 1st, second is always 2nd, and third and onward is "__rd". I think that cleared up for her. She also wondered whether or not you say "get on the bus" or "get in the bus". I have always thought that it was "get in the bus". But, I learned from another ICS student that it was actually "get on the bus". I hope we were able to clarify things for the mothers. At 4:30, we left the community service building and departed for home. This was a pretty fun service. I hope there is another opportunity for me to go again in the future.