Time has been fleeting
since the first day working at Link Education and today marks the end of my
two-month practicum. I would like to express my gratitude for all opportunities
for they have nurtured me with much self-growth throughout the journey.
There were multiple
tasks I was responsible for, ranging from administrative work to hands-on
experience as a teaching assistant for different SEN students. The major
administrative work was updating Facebook page by posting latest SEN news and
development. Boring as it may sound, but indeed it was fundamentally vital for
me as it greatly deepened my knowledge regarding various therapies, symptoms
and daily exercises to help SEN kids. Some tactics were quite effective when I
interacted with them in class.
The most profound and
highlight of the whole internship in Link Education definitely goes to be a
teaching assistant for Chinese Reading and Writing Class and Concentration
Class for Primary Four SEN kids. As a teaching assistant, my role was to ensure
lessons can be run smoothly by handling the classroom management and students’
discipline. It was particularly difficult for the Concentration Class as almost
half of the class have Attention Deficit and/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).
Sometimes, the situation could vary a lot so every time it was a
trial-and-error process. Every time, I had to come up with new strategy in hope
of getting kids involved in class by using different snacks as rewards and actively
looking for their interests to drag them out from their own world. Undoubtedly,
the situation could go beyond control that I alone could not manage so I had to
leave it to my tutor and I observed all the way through. All these experiences
were so precious that could not be learnt directly from textbook.
While the Concentration
Class focused on discipline, the Chinese Class was another story that stressed
on enhancing students’ learning motivation since most of them were very
attentive and well-behaved. As a result, I was trying to understand more each
student’s learning difficulty and see if how I could help accordingly. During
the sessions, I have collected opinion from my supervisor, Jacky, to introduce
interactive games so they can get involved in learning Chinese as some of them
told me they felt neglected in normal classes and hence being so lag-behind
than other students. So, here my role was designing and modifying the course
materials in light of bringing more fun to class. I felt so content and gained
a great sense of satisfaction when I saw them actively engaged in class!
All in all, thank you
Link Education for giving me chances and so much autonomy to interact with SEN
students. Colleagues were nice who were willing to teach compromising a very
friendly working environment. It was no doubt one of the most worthwhile
internships I have ever finished!