My background
My name is Fabian Spatz. I am 19 years old and graduated from high school in the summer of 2024. My family has a sponsored child at Bright Horizon Children's Home in Nepal and I wanted to work as a volunteer at BHCH for a few weeks between graduating from high school and starting my apprenticeship as an occupational therapist.
After my application documents were checked by the German and Nepalese board and I was accepted as a volunteer, the detailed planning began. I took care of my visa, vaccinations and flight and volunteered at Bright Horizon Children's Home from August 6 to September 20, 2024. In this report, you can find out what I was able to experience and how I liked it.
My activities at BHCH
During my time at Bright Horizon Children's Home, I substituted for teachers in the classroom. Most of the time I taught the children the German language and occasionally let them do sports or taught the subject they were studying. I also talked about Germany, German history and life in Germany. At the end of my stay, I gave a lecture on the aforementioned topics, the German education system and Germany as a country of study. I had learned that there are always students who consider going to Germany for further education or studies.
When I was not acting as a substitute teacher, I often attended classes to see how the children were taught at BHCH.
Before and after school hours, I spent time with the students, who welcomed me warmly and included me in their leisure activities. In the morning they played sports, in the afternoon they played games or did homework.
They also taught me a few Nepalese words and phrases and taught me the basics of playing the piano.
Shortly after my arrival at BHCH. Here the children show me around the school
Feedback and assessment
The students
The first thing I noticed about the students at Bright Horizon was how nice they were. They were always there for me when I needed something and spent a lot of time with me. This applies to both the time during lessons and their free time. They taught me the basics of playing basketball and the piano and always motivated me to take part in activities such as singing or dancing. In Germany, I would not have taken part in such activities. But with the students at BHCH, it was simply much more fun than I would have expected. Also they looked after me when I was ill for a few days. The students were also always careful not to disturb me too much when I was working and always respected my privacy. Some teachers had feared that this might This could possibly become a problem, as privacy is a relatively unknown topic for the children at BHCH. At BHCH, everyone lives very close to each other, but the students remained respectful. And not just towards me, but also towards each other. I was amazed that there were almost no conflicts between pupils during the time I was there.
In addition to the social aspects, the students were also highly motivated to learn. Outside of school hours, I often found students of all ages working late into the evening. They were very enthusiastic about what they were doing. Their grade point average also seemed to be in a very good range. However, they did not rest on their laurels, but continued to apply themselves. In class, they seemed to be very attentive and when I asked questions, most of the students answered eagerly, even though I was teaching a new language that is very different from both Nepali and English. The higher grade students in particular seemed very interested, and I often had to improvise because we could go over my
plan for the lesson and there was still a considerable amount of time left. I even managed to teach Year 10 the German words for objects they use at school and the number system for numbers up to 10,000 in one lesson.
From what I have observed in class with teachers present, this kind of motivation is also present there. I have also noticed that the students are very creative and good at arts and crafts.
At events like the art competition that took place during my time at BHCH, the students' paintings were all better than most of what I've seen in Germany.
Overall, the students are incredibly friendly, motivated, hardworking and creative.
Some of the pictures that took part in the art competition. Most of the pictures are already finished.
The teachers
The teachers at Bright Horizon, like the students, are very friendly and open-minded. They were happy to let me sit in on their classes and integrated me into the events that took place at the school. I particularly liked their teaching methods. They didn't just go through any old plan, but always made the lessons interesting and adapted their teaching style to the students. They also always went out of their way to answer questions when the students were curious and praised them, which boosted the students' motivation. The teachers were also praised by the students.
The staff
Some of the staff at Bright Horizon also spoke English, with others it was sometimes difficult to communicate. But on the whole, like everyone else, they were very friendly and eager to show me what they were doing and integrate me into Bright Horizons daily life. And for those who didn't speak English, there was always someone who could translate.
Me together with a teacher, kitchen staff and the gardener.
General
The organization at BHCH seemed to be very adaptable to the current needs or opportunities of the school. For example, when I brought the money that my grandpa had collected for the students from Germany, it was very easy to discuss what the money would be put to good use.
I also liked the fact that the school has a very familiar environment, where teachers, staff and students are very close, but still respect their superiors and each other. For this reason, I also think it's good that a few teachers stay at the school, as they are always there for the students. This leads to better supervision of the students, as there are always more people there than just the hostel fathers/hostel mothers.
And since the students naturally miss their families, they have the teachers as a “substitute” for their parents and family. Therefore, students not only have a professional interest in learning and improving themselves, but also a personal motivation as they want to show their achievements to the school they love and the teachers who are always there for them.
I am also in favor of the rule that students are not allowed to have personal smartphones, as they are very distracting and would not only have a negative impact on the lessons, but also on the interaction between students.
Suggestions
Personally, I think BHCH is a great school that produces very good students.
But there are a few things that I think could be improved. I think more effort should be made to educate the children about the dangers of the internet in their daily lives. I know they are learning about common attacks like phishing, but when they were surfing the internet they were very quick to allow cookies, notifications and whatever the website asked them to do and rarely read the pop-up windows, which means they usually didn't even know what they were agreeing to.
Feedback and assessment
I think that the Bright Horizon Children's Home is not only a very good humanitarian project, but also offers an excellent school education.
The students are friendly, helpful, hardworking and motivated. The same goes for the teachers and staff. They are also very creative and good at arts and crafts, sports and everything. And although there are of course some things that could be improved, there were surprisingly few of them.
Finally, I would like to say that I have great admiration for everyone involved in Bright Horizon. From the board members who make everything possible, to the teachers, staff and students. I am very grateful to have had the opportunity to spend these weeks at BHCH. It was a special time for me and I had a great experience. I hope that I was able to give everyone at Bright Horizon useful insights into German culture and education and that they also enjoyed their time with me.
Thank you for giving me this opportunity and all the best,
Fabian Spatz
October 2024
