Claire, Volunteer

“It took quite a bit of encouragement from friends to get me to the volunteer orientation session at Stepping Stones two years ago. I do not have children, it has been a long time since I was in a classroom and I was terrified of the mischief that 50 children might get up to. […] The orientation session convinced me that there is an urgent need for English speakers in migrant schools and that I could positively impact the children’s results at school. Stepping Stones provide a lot of very practical resources to develop a lesson plan and prepare for the classes. I have been very impressed with the quality of support and professionalism of all the staff at Stepping Stones. The children were in fact very well behaved, they were very excited to see us each week and I saw improvements in all their abilities over the course of each term. I usually left class smiling and made lots of new friends with co-teachers from many different countries. […] Most importantly I felt like I was actually making a contribution to local peoples lives. It is easy to get caught up in an expat bubble in Shanghai. Stepping Stones provided a link for me to understand a little more about what life is really like for many local people.”