“Good Boy” “You Are Very Good” 

The soft yet determined voices of teachers’ encouragement continued to resonate from the room for the whole afternoon. This is not a tuition centre, but a Companionship Class. The teachers not only teach but also accompany, guiding the children step by step until they finish their homework. Most of the children in this group are from financially disadvantaged families, their parents are mostly not highly educated, and they can’t afford to pay tuition fees. Furthermore, they do not know how to guide their children in their academic and growth development. Henceforth, the 7979 Underprivileged Children’s Companionship Class was established to assist parents of underprivileged families by providing care for their children after school hours.

The Arrival of MCO

This Companionship Class is located in Penang Island at True Light Baptist Church’s 7979 Holistic Care Station. Currently, they have 6 teachers and 9 children. Every day, the teachers would accompany the children on a one-to-one or one-to-two basis. It had been running smoothly since the trial run. Before the Companionship was officially launched, Teacher Lim Bee Hoon (the Companionship Class’s main PIC) and 3 other teachers with teaching experience were invited to the organising committee. They decided to start the class first and handle any issues that arose accordingly. Unforeseen to everyone, before long, MCO was issued. This had disrupted their plans. MCO came like a tidal wave that hit the children’s school grades, and their performance went down tremendously due to lack of teacher guidance and supervision.     
​ 
During that period, the lives of many were like hitting the pause button, although the Companionship Class teachers missed the children, they were perplexed about what to do next. At this time, Teacher Bee Hoon suggested using Zoom, a remote meeting software or real time communication software, to maintain connections with the children so the Companionship Class continues as teachers could respond to any issues those children were facing. The ferocious pandemic did not strike down the teachers; instead, it stimulated them to strive forward, hence the Companionship Class was officially launched in 2020.     

Finally, the Companionship Class was able to get back on track, and the teachers were aware that the real challenges lay ahead. Teacher Bee Hoon, who was once a primary school teacher with years of experience, shared frankly that while school teachers can focus on teaching a class of the same age with the same progress on the syllabus. It is impossible with the Companionship Class, as its students come from diverse schools and age groups, and even the homework requirements vary. Oftentimes, the teachers need to spend time searching for answers before they can guide their students. For example, spelling, which was quite straightforward, has become complicated due to the methods each teacher uses. Let’s use the word “Train” as an example. Teacher A might read the English word “Train” directly, and students write down the word. On the other hand, Teacher B might read out the “Chinese word for train”, then the students are required to write down the English meaning of the word. The Companionship Class teachers have to fully grasp the requirements of each school to enable them to help the students excel.

She is Not a “Bad” Child

Unfortunately, the toughest issue is not difficulties in teaching.  Teachers gradually found out that the main issues affecting a child’s academic performance were not the student’s ability to learn, but their family environment and background. Teacher Bee Hoon shared that previously, they had a student by the name of Ke Xin (pseudonym). She was raised by her parents (Her father passed away) who spoiled her. She was always absent from school. If she did go to the school, her parents would complete her homework for her; we knew that because of the handwriting.  School teachers had spoken to her parents about this many times, and they refused to cooperate; they even scolded the teachers in return. As a result, Ke Xin refused to go to school, and she rejected school life.      

“She is not bad, she is just spoiled.” That was the comment that Teacher Bee Hoon gave about Ke Xin that she is not a “bad” child. Whenever Ke Xin attended the Companionship Class, she would follow the teachers’ instructions and complete her homework all by herself. Another experienced teacher, Teacher Pang Mei Hwa shared truthfully that she worried for this child’s future; however, she can’t do anything about it, and said: “I am not being sorrowful, but I feel helpless.”  

Accompanying Brings Transformation

Besides, Teacher Bee Hoon had been experimenting with different operation models for the Companionship Class. In the year 2023, she followed our 7979 Program Coordinator to Taiwan for a field trip to the 1919 Companionship Class together with other Companionship Class teachers. It was indeed an eye opening trip for her, she realised that running a Companionship Class cannot solely depend on teachers’ love and years of experience, it needs a good system to manage, such as effective management and distribution of donated items. 

While Teacher Bee Hoon is trying to improve the system, she also takes teamwork very seriously, emphasising close cooperation and mutual support. She is grateful to have a team of dedicated teachers to discuss matters regarding the Companionship Class. Every teacher believes that as long as they put their hearts into teaching and accompanying the children, plus parents’ supervision, every child can be transformed; for “Education could be in many forms”. Lora (pseudonym, Lori’s sister) is a good example. At the initial stage, Lora dared not take her homework out of her bag, fearing that she could not complete her homework. Later on, Lora showed obvious progress in her study because of Teacher Bee Hoon’s gentle pestering and her father’s constant reminding. Lora shared happily: “Now, I can write better in English and understand more English conversations.” She also learns how to use the dictionary to search for vocabulary.

Teacher Bee Hoon: “I hope our method is effective, and I want to see the children’s progress.”
Teacher Mei Hwa: “I hope I have more patience in teaching the children.” 

Teacher Bee Hoon and Teacher Mei Hwa’s wishes are the seed in the hearts of every Companionship Class’s teacher. It was this same desire that led them to commit their afternoons to accompany and protect every growing seedling.

1 As for Lori’s story, please read the article “Finally, Our Hard Work Paid Off” in this issue.
  
2 若琳的故事请参阅本期“我们的付出，有了果效”文章（页13）。