Three Year 11 students become mentors during the pandemic

This English article was originally published by Camberwell Grammar School through Spectemur Issue 2 2021. This article is currently available in English and Chinese (translated by 3H). The original publication can be found through Camberwell Grammar School’s digital Spectemur publication or through their news link here.

Screenshot of original article on Camberwell Grammar School’s website, featuring (left to right) mentors Je-Rard Cheong, Jerry Lu and Jerry Ji.

When lockdown took hold of Victoria last year, three CGS students, Jerry Lu, Jerry Ji and Je-Rard Cheong, joined a wonderful local initiative called the 3H Program as mentors and found a way to give back to the community whilst learning new skills themselves and fostering a love for sharing knowledge and education.

去年维多利亚州实施封城时，三名 CGS 学生 Jerry Lu、Jerry Ji 和 Je-Rard Cheong 被聘为义工小老师加入了一个名为 3H Program. 3H Program, 中文称为“大孩子帮助小孩子”的活动是由一群热爱教育，热衷于分享知识的中学生自发组织的。他们三位在3H小团队中在学习新技能的同时设法将自己的爱心回馈于社区。

‘In 2020 students were forced to stay at home and proceed with online learning due to the Covid-19 pandemic, ’ says Jerry Lu.‘There was this news story one day that caught my attention, it was something along the lines of a parent struggling to balance working from home, whilst looking after their kids with remote learning. I felt so sorry for children whose learning was taking a step back because of the pandemic, and I wanted to do something for the kids who were missing out on the opportunity to learn.’

Jerry Lu 说：“由于 Covid-19 大流行，2020 年所有的学生被迫呆在家里在线学习。” “有一天，一则新闻引起了我的注意，故事讲的是一位家长在努力在线工作的同时试图照顾好也在在线学习的孩子。我为因为大流行而学习退步的孩子们感到非常伤心，那时我在想自己能为那些错失正常学习机会的小朋友们做点什么。”

我为因为大流行而学习退步的孩子们感到非常伤心，那时我在想自己能为那些错失正常学习机会的小朋友们做点什么。”

‘Through my parents, I was introduced to the 3H Program and was given the opportunity to be interviewed by the founders of the program.’ As Jerry explains, the 3H Program is a not-for-profit community organisation that aims to provide extra learning activities for students in Victoria in Years 3-6, supplementing what they are already doing at school with the standard Australian curriculum. The program offers a free experience for primary school students to engage in a series of classes from academic subjects, such as English, STEM and Humanities. Classes are taught by mentors from Years 7-11 who have been recruited through a rigorous selection process. The mentors are all very competent and talented, receiving many significant awards in ICAS, AMC etc., but most importantly, they are all volunteers and very eager to teach and mentor younger students.

“通过我父母的介绍，我了解到3H 的工作计划，接着我把自己希望参与3H ‘大孩子帮助小孩子’组织的申请邮件发了出去。我有幸获得了该计划三位创始人的面试。”正如 Jerry 解释的那样，3H 是一个非营利性的社区组织，旨在为维多利亚州（后延伸到全澳洲）3-6 年级学生提供些学习帮助。他们在参考澳大利亚教育大纲的基础上，对学校正常的课程学习做些延伸和补充。该计划为小学生们提供免费的学习体验，小朋友们可以参加一系列学术科目的课程，例如英语、STEM和人文学科等。课程由 7-11 年级的小老师师授课。这些小老师都是通过严格的选拔程序而招募进来的。每个人都充满热情和才华横溢，有的人在ICAS、AMC等获得了许多重要奖项，有的人在写作比赛中获得大奖，但最重要的是，他们都是志愿者，都非常渴望指导和帮助小朋友们。

Although I was nervous, I was accepted and was put into the role of Subject Administrator for Science (I was effectively the person in charge of science).’

The challenge then came for Jerry to actually begin teaching sessions with his new students and, although his experience with teaching primary school kids was limited, Jerry took on the role with passion and enthusiasm and gave it his all to make the online lessons fun and interesting. ‘Whenever I received feedback such as “I loved the lesson” or “I love 3H”, a sense of fulfilment and accomplishment filled my heart,’ says Jerry.

“虽然我很紧张，但我还是被录取了，并被任命为科学学科管理员（科学科目教学的负责人）。”

高兴过后，Jerry发现自己面临着如何教好学生的挑战。尽管他在教小学生方面的经验有限，但 Jerry 凭着一股热情承担了这个角色，并竭尽全力使在线课程的教与学变得好玩和有趣。“每当我收到诸如‘我喜欢这堂课’或‘我喜欢 3H’之类的反馈时，我就会充满成就感和自豪感，”Jerry说。

‘I continued participating and was given the chance to become a General Administrator, or Mentor Leader,’ adds Jerry. ‘Alongside the founder of the program, I was extensively involved in planning for future sessions of the program while creating the best environment for mentors to work together. We came up with the idea of a small project and group task for science, and the students had to form groups and create a mini presentation about an animal that would be suitable for a particular type of biome. While assisting the students in their team and with the detail of the project, I was fascinated by the creativity of the kids. It was a spark during the boring, long, tedious lockdown.’

“我继续参与，并有机会成为管理总监或小老师队伍的总管，”杰瑞补充道。“与该项目的创始人一起，我广泛地参与了该项目未来课程的规划，同时为小老师们无间的合作创造出最佳的环境。我们设计了小项目，科学小专题等。让学生们组成小组并创建了一个关于适合特定类型生物群落动物的迷你演示。在协助学生团队实施项目细节的同时，我也被小朋友们的创造力所吸引。在无聊、漫长、乏味的封城期间，创造出愉快生活的小火花。”

‘In 2021, we agreed to start planning for face-to-face sessions with the students and it put even more pressure on the mentors to deliver the same quality lesson. For the STEM activity, where I was involved, we set up three different activities in the local library, including a team contest, code breaking and engineering. The kids absolutely loved it. The 3H Program is still growing, and the goals have not changed at all – to always provide kids with an amazing experience.’

“2021年开始，我们觉得有必要开展与小朋友面对面互动的课程。如何提供跟线上类似质量的课程，小老师产生了更大的压力。在我参与的STEM 活动中，我们在当地 Kew图书馆开展了三项不同的活动，团队竞赛、代码破解和工程设计。孩子们非常喜欢这些活动。3H 小团队还在不断地创新和发展中，我们的目标没有改变— 一如既往地设法为孩子们提供与正常课程学习不同的体验。”

Jerry Lu presenting to a group of students at a workshop.

Jerry Ji, who joined Jerry Lu as a mentor with 3H, said that ‘I always wanted to do some volunteer work, give back to the community in a way that mattered, but I could never find the right opportunity to do so. 3H helped me achieve this goal, allowing me to help others by doing something I enjoy: teaching.

My time at 3H has been brief, but in this short amount of time I felt that I was part of something that really changed the world for the better, even if it was only by a tiny amount. The people here really believe in their cause, and I think that is very inspiring.’

跟随Jerry Lu而担任3H小老师的Jerry Ji说：“我一直想做一些志愿者工作，以一种认真而且有意义的方式来回馈社区，但我一直找不到合适的机会去这样做。3H 帮助我实现了这个愿望，她让我可以通过做些我喜欢的事情来帮助他人：教学。

我参与 3H活动 的时间虽然很短，但在这么短的时间里，我体会到了自己可以成为改变世界的一分子，即使能改变的还只是很小的一部分。3H团队中的小老师们真的坚信他们的事业会对社会产生些积极的影响。他们的信念非常激励我。”

Similarly, Je-Rard Cheong found himself looking for an opportunity to volunteer this year. ‘I had several ideas at the time: Salvation Army, food bank, maybe the RSPCA. Jerry Lu, learning about this, introduced me to 3H and the work they do. After being interviewed and accepted into the organisation, I was welcomed by a crowd of friendly, hard-working students eager to impart their knowledge, ’explains Je-Rard. ‘They showed such passion for the work they did, and I felt inspired to do the same. It was a pleasure to work with great people striving for a great purpose. I was given History and Geography to teach, areas I myself enjoy learning about. When preparing to deliver my first lesson, I was given support at every turn; materials, advice and encouragement flowed freely. Working with another mentor, we delivered our lesson. To see that our actions had such a positive impact, is something I will always cherish. I look forward to continuing my involvement with 3H into the future, with physical workshops and more lessons.’

同样，Je-Rard Cheong 自己今年也在寻找些当志愿者的机会。“当时我有几个想法：救世军、食品银行，也许是RSPCA。Jerry Lu 知道我的想法后，向我介绍了3H 及他们正在做的工作。Je-Rard 解释说，在面试并通过之后，我受到了一群渴望传授知识，友好的、勤奋工作的同龄人的欢迎。“他们对自己所做的工作表现出如此高昂的热情，我深受鼓舞，也非常渴望去做同样的事情。很高兴与有志向，有目标，有执行力的人们一起工作。

我被安排教历史和地理课，这是我个人很喜欢而且擅长的领域。在准备上第一堂课时，我自始至终都得到小团队的支持；无论是教学的材料、互动的建议还是自主的发挥。我与另一位小老师合作讲授课程。看到我们的行动产生了如此积极的影响，我会永远珍惜！我非常渴望未来能跟3H小团队一起开展更多的面对面互动课程，跟大家一起走向未来。”

Jerry, Je-Rard and Jerry encourage everyone to join a volunteer service and to use their skills and strengths to help improve the lives of others. ‘We would love to have more Camberwell boys join us in this meaningful opportunity.’

Jerry Lu、Je-Rard 和 Jerry Ji鼓励每个人想参与公益活动的朋友们，利用他们的技能和优势去帮助改善他人的生活。“我们希望有更多的Camberwell Grammar的男孩加入我们这个非常有意义的3H小团队。”