Students help each other to learn self-esteem

Tue, Feb 28th 2012, 08:38 AM

It's never to early to learn the life-changing effects community service can have on both the giver and receiver.  Now entering its fourth year, the Stephen Dillet Community Service Program at the Lyford Cay International School (LCIS) has been teaching its students the value of being the change they wish to see in the world.
Once a month, a group of LCIS students from grades 7 through 12 visit an eager group of fourth to sixth graders at Stephen Dillet Primary School in order to supplement their learning curriculum.  One of the program's advisors, LCIS teacher Helen De Jong, said the idea came from the students themselves as they toured the Stephen Dillet school grounds.
"I took my grade nine students to visit the school and we found they didn't have an art program, a music program, a language program, and the kids said well, they could do it," said De Jong.  "It was their idea to go into the school and supplement the programs."
What started as a group of roughly ten volunteers from LCIS has now more than doubled to 25 students eager to work together to build innovative and engaging lesson plans for the primary school students.
After three years of academic lesson plans for maths, languages, drama, and science, the program has decided to shift into a more arts-based focus, to encourage self expression and a tangible performance goal at the end of the school year.
With input from Stephen Dillet Principal Wently Fowler, the focus has been on building self-esteem, and allowing the LCIS students to produce lesson plans that help students work towards an end-of-year musical production "Proud" by Teresa Jennings, that explores themes celebrating individuality.
No matter what the subject is, however, the students on either side are deeply committed to attending.  With classes that incorporate discussions, role playing, skits, song writing, and game activities, not only do the LCIS students hardly miss a lesson, but they find the primary school students waiting in the parking lot, eager to spend their Saturdays with them.  It's no surprise, since such lessons are vital to the positive development of the youngsters, said the program's second advisor, Lyford Cay School instructor Dorenda Davis.
"I have taught in schools like Stephen Dillet and there are so many challenges with self-esteem," she said.  "Every month we go there, there is something different to help and encourage the students to excel, but in that school, for young people to be encouraged by kids their age to be proud of who they are and what they do, is a strong motivator.  There has to be a need to constantly enforce that you are more than what you're surrounded by."
But it's not only the primary school students who have benefitted from empathy, pride and confidence.  The program's great success is also measured by the important leadership experience it has given the LCIS students, and more importantly, the value of working together to improve and uplift a community.
"Seeing our seventh through twelfth graders work together as a team and communicate to execute these lesson plans has been amazing, and it gives our students a lot of leadership experience," said De Jong.
"I think it's good for our students also to see they can make a difference.  There is a Chinese proverb that says it's better to light a candle than to curse the darkness, and I want our students to see that at their young age they have something to offer."
Indeed for LCIS senior Bernard Farquharson, who was part of the core group of volunteer students that launched the community service program years ago, teaching has been an eye-opening experience that he hopes to carry on in his college studies next year.
"I've never had trouble with any students and I think they've all enjoyed me as a teacher," he said.  "When I'm teaching I try to keep them engaged and I try to learn everyone's names and interact with everyone, not just a few."
"I always try to make sure that they know that we're all equals here.  We're teaching and we're older, but we all want to take something away from this, we're all friends," he continued.
"They look forward to it, they always come.  Even though it's educational, they also just want to hang out.  If we don't come, they'll know.  It's a good outlet for them. Otherwise, where would they be?"

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