Every Friday, I go to an elementary school in Yokohama as a volunteer. I spend the whole day in the elementary school during classes, recreation hour, lunch time, and cleaning. Every day, I have found out some new thing and I developed an ability to have a variety of views of the students and teachers. I started to try to have one student who was not used to multiplying recite the multiplication tables during the recreation hour and in March he was finally able to recite the multiplication table very smoothly.
I thought strongly that I could do something for kids, even I'm just a common student, by looking at the child solving the multiplication problems with a self-satisfied glint in his eye.
The student office of the non-profit organization "Renaissance Of Japanese Education" (known as ROJE) started an activity of volunteers in April of last year. The concept is "making schools that link everyone." If not only students and teachers, but also parents, people from the local community and students from the university are linked together through the school, I believe we can make a vital school with a lot of chances to have new encounters.
From such a thought, we started school volunteer. From various universities, 28 students have gathered in one year and started the activity of volunteer in 3 elementary schools. The volunteer students go to elementary school on weekdays in Yokohama and Taito-ku, and on Saturday to a junior high school in Adachi-ku to support the students learning.
The characteristic of school volunteers in ROJE is the deepness of links between volunteers. Through the notes in each schools and meeting each month, also the workshops of the three schools, we have a lot of occasions to exchange opinions with members who work together. We also had a meeting at the end of this March, where we met and talked passionately about the function of volunteers and how to have communication with teachers I could really feel the field of education and have an experience that I cannot have in the university in this year. I recommend not only to those who are aiming to become teachers and those who are taking the teacher-training course but to others to commit to this program.
If you have an interest in education, please come and join us regardless of your major! Schools also want students now. In this year, I will appeal to more students in the university and popularize our activity.