“What should I do in this long summer vacation?” I believe many university students have thought of this question when it comes to summer. Our semester ends in late April or early May and so our summer holiday approximately lasts for four months. Plenty of things can be done in these four months, like travelling around, summer exchange, volunteer work or even internship. In order to “enrich” our CV and make ourselves more competitive,however, in most cases we will choose internship, and so did I in the last summer.
Talking about internship, words like “boredom”, “admin work”, “dull” etc. will always come to our minds together. Although we may gain work experience related to the field of work we want to engage in, we have expected that most of our work is not that related and very much boring. For instance, admin work is something that we want to avoid but we can’t. And at the same time, we may hope for meeting some great friends in the workplace but we understand that it is not easy. To me, internship is not that attractive at all. Forgetting about the CV or competitiveness, I would prefer other stuff for my summer.
It was what I thought before I came to Link Education.
An ordinary university student like me is difficult to get a good internship of psychology. With a fair GPA and not much experience, the number of jobs that I could select is small, let alone the chance of being selected. Yet, Link Education still gave me a chance to work for.
Without a doubt, admin work is included in my duty. The content of my work, however, allowed me to learn more. I was responsible for updating the Facebook page of Link Education from time to time. The posts we shared or created are all related to SEN students. By pushing me to find more news or information about SEN, I knew more and more about those students and their situations in Hong Kong which it is seldom mentioned by the society. Gradually, I did the work from my bottom of my heart. It was no longer boring anymore because I felt like I had to help them and let more people know. The work’s nature is meaningful to me then.
Apart from admin work, to my surprise, was give many chances during my internship. My colleagues invited us to hold lessons in school for SEN students with them from time to time. Once we committed to attending a course, we had many things to do. Before lessons, we had to prepare teaching materials. My colleagues would never order me to make any. Instead, they would discuss with me, brainstorming new ideas, and then decide what to do in the coming lessons. During the discussions, I could absorb more ideas and knowledge. For example, I would know what kinds of games are suitable under what circumstances. And I felt that I was included in the process.
In the class, we mainly observed and assisted our colleagues. I could learn how they managed a class of SEN students and at the same time developed some relationships with those students to smoothen the class. In many cases, however, they would offer chances to me to hold the lesson or lead a game and feedbacks and suggestions were always given for me to improve. They were really trying to make me grow and do better and better in the future. Apart from that, they would discuss the situations of some students with me as well, giving me some directions of how to communicate with and teach those students. I have really learned a lot from them.
Again, different from what I had expected, I met great people and friends during internship as well. Colleagues in Link Education are all friendly and nice. They were willing to include every interns in their workplace and talk to them. Despite the fact that they are superb busy, they would still spare time with the interns and chat with them. They cared about me wholeheartedly. When I was disappointed or frustrated, they would always give me a helping hand and listen to me. Although there were some times they played tricks on me, they were true and considerate.
I have never expected that my internship will be that fruitful and happy. The work is great and the people are great too! They give me directions of my future, giving me more courage and making me more determined for my future. I would say I was glad to have this job and them in this summer because to me, this summer is very decisive and inspiring.
Kelly Chau from CUHK (Psychology)
