{"id":2678,"date":"2017-09-07T11:22:26","date_gmt":"2017-09-07T15:22:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/company\/stories\/stepping-stones-partnership-make-education-virtually-accessible-children-asia\/"},"modified":"2023-03-09T09:13:48","modified_gmt":"2023-03-09T14:13:48","slug":"stepping-stones-partnership-make-education-virtually-accessible-children-asia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/company\/stories\/stepping-stones-partnership-make-education-virtually-accessible-children-asia\/","title":{"rendered":"Stepping Stones \u2013 A partnership to make education virtually accessible for children in Asia"},"content":{"rendered":"
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It\u2019s 8 am in Henan province, China. Twelve fifth-grade students at Guogou Primary School arrange themselves in front of a screen to greet their teacher, Wei Dai.<\/p>\n

Wei is an engineer at Bloomberg, and is dialed in via video-conference across the globe in Princeton, New Jersey where it\u2019s 8 pm. Over the next forty minutes, Wei teaches an English lesson with his 11-year-old students as if the thousands of miles separating them were just a few feet.<\/p>\n

These students are participating in a new Bloomberg Startup initiative with long-time Bloomberg charity partner, Stepping Stones<\/a>, a Shanghai-based organization that matches English-speaking volunteer teachers with schools in rural China. Bloomberg has been a supporter of Stepping Stones since 2013.<\/p>\n

This Bloomberg Startup initiative wrapped up its first semester of video-teaching in June, which leveraged the expertise of 53 Bloomberg volunteers from Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Singapore, as well as an additional ten volunteers from Princeton, New Jersey. The project began after a Princeton-based employee Liangyou Chen interacted with Stepping Stones students for an afternoon in Bloomberg\u2019s Shanghai office. Liangyou worked with the Philanthropy & Engagement team to brainstorm ways for Bloomberg employees to support the children Stepping Stones was helping, even if the individuals were on other sides of the globe.<\/p>\n

Though English is one of three core subjects in China\u2019s school curriculum, it poses a considerable challenge to rural students. Access to native-speaking English teachers can be difficult \u2013 even in major Chinese cities. Knowing English can help significantly boost educational and employment opportunities for those in rural areas.<\/p>\n

For Bo Zhang, a fourth grade student at Sun Ji Yuan Hong Bo school in Henan province, the biggest benefit of participating in the course was developing his confidence in speaking English. \u201cI had always tried to avoid speaking English in front of others. In the first class with my Bloomberg teacher, the big smile on the teacher\u2019s face comforted me. By the end of my course, I had learned more than I expected. Not only did my communication skills improve dramatically, but also my courage to try new things.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Bloomberg and Stepping Stones collaboration supports students in rural China with English-speaking teachers, but it also speaks to the volunteers. Wei is a programmer at Bloomberg\u2019s Princeton office who grew up in Wuhan, China. He actually began learning English at roughly the same age as these students.<\/p>\n

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Bloomberg has supported Stepping Stones since 2013, first through in-office mentoring activities. The video-teaching initiative further extends our engagement and reach with children in China\u2019s rural schools.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

A new way to teach <\/strong>
\nWhile technology delivers some much-needed resources to students in rural China, it can also take time to master. That said, Stepping Stones helps to train volunteers for effective teaching and mentoring, providing tips such as speaking slower and allowing time for regular practice. This enables the volunteers to feel prepared and many report an experience that, while challenging, is also enjoyable and fulfilling.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou are not physically there with the kids, so you need to make full use of technology while interacting with them through limited facial expressions and body language,\u201d said Shusi He, a volunteer from Bloomberg\u2019s Hong Kong office.<\/p>\n

Shusi said she got plenty of help from the classroom teacher, Fanny, who stayed in the classroom to facilitate the lesson in-person while Shusi interacted with the students from the video screen. \u201cOur goal is to create a full English-speaking environment and encourage them to actually use the language to speak,\u201d Shusi said.<\/p>\n

A third grade student from Sun Ji Yuan Hong Bo school, Keke Wang, attested to the value of this unique teaching approach. \u201cThe teachers would use interesting stories to teach us English words that are hard to remember. The teachers also help correct our pronunciation and accent, which helped improve our oral ability.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bloomberg volunteers sign up to rotate teaching a weekly class for 12 weeks at a time. Because of the time difference, volunteers in Asia generally teach from Bloomberg offices in the afternoon while those in North America teach in the evenings from home.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis teaching experience is truly the best feeling I\u2019ve ever had,\u201d said Lisawaty Indayang, a volunteer who taught from Bloomberg\u2019s Singapore office. Despite some initial trepidation, Lisawaty found ways to engage the kids with games and songs, teaching them words for time, animals and places. \u201cBeing perfect wasn\u2019t the goal \u2013 it\u2019s all about having a fun lesson and being happy to see all the kids\u2019 English improve greatly over time.\u201d<\/p>\n

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With the help of Stepping Stones staff and the classroom teacher guiding her volunteer journey, Lisawaty teaches from the Bloomberg Singapore Office.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Giving back and opening doors <\/strong>
\nSo far dozens of Bloomberg employees have donated their time to students in China, teaching basic English lessons to more than 200 primary school children across three schools in Henan and Anhui. Millions of students \u2013 known as \u201cleft-behind children\u201d \u2013 in rural China lack sufficient educational and mentoring support as their parents migrate from the countryside to work long-term in urban manufacturing hubs in China.<\/p>\n

This project is a part of Bloomberg Startup, which is the company\u2019s signature educational initiative to help develop the future generation no matter their socio-economic status. The video-teaching program with Stepping Stones has proven especially impactful for the students and Bloomberg employees.<\/p>\n

\u201cJoining this program to give my skills to the kids in small towns back in my motherland just feels right,\u201d said Shusi, who is originally from mainland China but now lives and works in Hong Kong.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they can get resources sooner, their horizons will be broader. Instead of learning English simply as a way to pass an exam to get into college, it\u2019s all about opening another window to learn about the world,\u201d said Wei, adding, \u201cI like that technology can help improve the connection between people and help us make the world better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Today, Stepping Stones\u2019 300 volunteer teachers provide English lessons \u2013 either virtually through video-conference or in-person \u2013 to 5,000 students a week.<\/p>\n

Read more about our education partnerships in our Bloomberg 35 series, here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Bloomberg Startup is the company\u2019s global education engagement program offering year-round mentoring and a series of technical and leadership workshops to support academic achievement and college and career readiness for the next generation of leaders. Startup also provides internship and scholarship opportunities for high-achieving high school and college students from our non-profit education partners around the world.<\/em><\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\t\t\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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