Inha University has created a program called 'Inha Mentoring' to conduct volunteer activities. Inha University cooperates with nearby elementary, middle, and high schools to provide college student mentors and educational support to applicants. Let’s find out about ‘Inha Mentoring’.

Introduction of 'Inha Mentoring'

 ‘Inha Mentoring’ started in 2016 and has continued. ’Inha Mentoring’ is a volunteer activity service that provides educational assistance with Inha University students becoming mentors and elementary, middle, and high school students being mentored. Incheon Metropolitan City and Inha University created 'Inha Mentoring' to provide veducational opportunities to elementary, middle and high school students in the Incheon area through knowledge sharing and talent donation of university students, and to boost Inha University students volunteer activities. In connection with the city of Incheon, this project is for Inha university student mentors to meet students for two hours a week to provide volunteer knowledge sharing and talent donation of learning, reading guidance, and career exploration.

Characteristics of 'Inha Mentoring'

Requirements

 In order to apply for 'Inha Mentoring', you must have four qualifications. First, you must be undergraduate students enrolled in the current semester. Students on leave of absence or graduates cannot participate. Second, you must have a strong sense of service to society and a willing motivation for learning and career guidance. Thirdly , you must not have a record of sexual offenses or of crimes related to child abuse. Fourth, if you have experience mentoring, and if you have no mentoring experienced you can apply.

Activity

 Activities suggested by the school in conducting ‘Inha Mentoring’ include learning guidance, reading guidance, career exploration, and support for arts or sports activities. Learning guidance selects required subjects from elementary, middle, and high school curricula and tutors mentees by assigning mentors who want to teach. Reading guidance is an activity in which a mentor selects a book, reads a book with the mentee and discusses their feelings. Career exploration is the activity of explaining various departments of the school to mentees who have not yet decided on their career and explaining the areas of study or exploring the areas of interest to their mentees. Finally, the arts and sports activities are energetic activities to inspire a brief moment of vitality for mentees who are tired of studying.

 In addition, mentoring activities must be performed for at least 20 hours per semester, and mentoring fees will not be paid if this minimum is not met. This is the minimum educational opportunity that mentors and mentees must have for effective mentoring. The period of these activities is defined as a maximum of one semester.

Conditions

 After receiving applications, a maximum of 114 students were selected in the first semester of 2021 through the qualification review, and if the number of applicants is insufficient, additional recruitment may be made. There are a total of 27 schools (8 elementary, 9 middle, and 10 high schools), including Haneul Elementary School, Songdo Middle School, and Inseong Girls' High School, and the number of mentors required by each school varies from two to twenty. There are requests from each school, such as "Mentor who can supply basic education" and "Mentor who can tutor science and mathematics," but as a mentor, a school that matches you has to be found. Also, each school has designated mentoring hours such as ‘Monday~Friday 13:00-15:00’, so you need to check the times you are available. Therefore, a mentor can apply by providing a rank of up to three schools they are interested in.

 After the application is completed, if the number of applicants for the same institution exceeds the number of requests, they will be selected in the order of application. This means that applicants may not be assigned to their desired schools. When the school and mentee assigned through this selection are confirmed, Inha University will notify the mentors of the selection by e-mail.

Benefits of Activities

 These participation in this 'Inha mentoring' can bring various benefits. Inha university and Incheon cty provide financial support for students who participate in this mentoring program. First of all, mentors can receive 100,000 won from the school under the name of ‘Inha Program Scholarship,’ and among them, there is an additional 50,000 won for ‘Inha Program Scholarship’ to SNS review publishers. Also, Incheon city will pay an additional activity fee of 60,000 won to 120,000 won according to the order of distance to the mentor. This financial support will be paid through judgment after mentoring is complete, and students can conduct mentoring activities without financial burden.

 In addition to financial support, various supports are provided for mentoring students. The Incheon city provides a mentoring activity certificate in the name of the mayor of Incheon Metropolitan City, and a certificate is issued to outstanding mentors. Also, Inha University grants voluntary service as grade, which are limited to students who are majoring in education and completing a course in education, and 1 grade (credit hour) per 30 hours.

Notes before application

 There are several things to check before applying for mentoring. You must be careful not to overlap the mentoring time and your course schedule. It is necessary to check the mentoring time and the student's own timetable because if you don’t participate in the ‘Inha Mentoring’, it can damage many people, including students who participate, so you need to check the mentoring process time and the your own timetable.

 Also, there may be disadvantages in selecting the next mentoring participant if they give up without a clear reason. This is because the mentees who applied for the ‘Inha Mentoring’ are the most affected and opportunities will not be provided to those who wanted to be selected for the ‘Inha Mentoring’ but who failed.

 Students who are majoring in education and completing a course in education must take educational service class when they first started their educational service and in order to be recognized as grade, an educational service report must be submitted to the relevant department separately.

Reporter’s current ‘Inha Mentoring’

 This reporter has been conducting English mentoring at Songdo Middle School for senior students since April 2021. In the case of Songdo Middle School, mentoring is provided for students who are achievement is below the basic level.

 Currently, because of Corona, classes are conducted in a blended format, combining non-face-to-face classes using ZOOM with face-to-face classes in school. When using ZOOM, in order to transparently conduct the mentoring process between Inha University and partner schools, the start and end must be captured with the time, and the class content for the date must be written. Face-to-face classes are held one to one with mentees in the Songdo Middle School classroom.

 First, the name of the matching student, the grades of mentoring subject, and class materials are delivered from a teacher of Songdo Middle School. Class preparation is done by the student’s grade, provided by the teacher, and the student’s learning ability through OT in the first class. The matched mentees had difficulty in interpreting words and sentences. In order to compensate for these shortcomings, specific methods of teaching was conducted using a custom made PPT, and encouraging students’ active participation. The prepared PPT is for studying words and grammar. In this way, mentee gets practice in memorizing words and analyzing syntax of simple sentences.  

 Songdo Middle School asked for help, saying that the student needs to practice developing the habit of voluntary study. So, when the class is in progress, the lessons from the previous class are reviewed and the class is conducted on that day. At the end of class, as mentor, I give students time to voluntarily learn vocabulary memorization assignments and reading assignments.

 For extra-class activities, I talk with the mentee about career-related stories, or listen to the mentee's concerns. I also give advice on middle school study, such as strategies for studying English. With this kind of assistance, the mentee has difficulty interpreting sentences, explaining that words are the most important factor in interpreting sentences and giving advice that emphasizes the importance of words.

Reporter's Mentee Student Interview

 The following is an interview with a student at Songdo Middle School, a student currently being mentored in English.

The Inha Times(IT): Why did you apply for mentoring?

Mentee: “My English grades weren't good, and I wanted to improve my English, so I applied for mentoring at the recommendation of my English teacher.”

IT: What did you gain from the mentoring you are currently doing?

Mentee: “It helped me a lot when I was in class, showing and reviewing what I learned in the last class. I think I've learned how to review.”

IT: Do you think your English have improved compared to before?

Mentee: "I don't know yet. But there were a lot of words that I didn't know how to read them properly or what they meant, but I think I'm getting better as I memorized them with my mentor."

IT: Is there anything you want from the mentoring class?

Mentee: “I'm not good at writing, so I'd like to do that as well.”

IT: What do you want to say to the mentee who will participate in mentoring in the future?

Mentee: “It's hard to stay and study after school, but I think it helps a lot if you do it, so I recommend it.

Another mentor’s review of ‘Inha Mentoring’

 According to another mentor's mentoring reviews, a mentor conducted 'Inha Mentoring' during the second semester of 2020. The mentor carried out mentoring every Tuesday during the second semester. The subject was mathematics and the mentee was a freshman in middle school.

 Since the mentee is in the first grade of middle school, the basic textbook centered on concepts that were selected and taught. The class is about 2 hours, 40 minutes of preparation and 40 minutes of review. The Mentor spent 10 to 15 minutes talking to the mentee students and the rest of the time reviewing what I learned. Preparation study content is to lay the foundation for figures and take time to solve math problems. The reason I reviewed the content was because the mentee asked me to review the concept of the last class. Other activities were not face-to-face, so there are many restrictions on activities, so I had time to listen to the mentors' recent interest or concerns.

 While conducting non-face-to-face mentoring, I learned that preparation is more important than face-to-face interaction. First of all, since I was a mathematics mentor, problem-solving and conceptual explanation were important. In order to conduct the non-face-to-face sessions, my iPad was actively used and both problem solving and conceptual explanations are taken as pictures and saved. Then we use ZOOM's screen sharing function to teach the class. In addition, It is recommended that I prepare about one more chapter of progress, especially for non-face-to-face sessions as progress may go quickly.

 If you are interested in 'Inha Mentoring', I recommend trying it. It would be better if it was face-to-face, but it was good in that it was possible to communicate with students through various online programs even in non-face-to-face classes. It's awkward at first with the mentee, but you can get close quickly, so I recommend it.

 'Inha Mentoring' is a program in which both mentees and mentors can grow. Mentors can develop communication skills and volunteerism in teaching mentees, and, in mentoring classes,  mentees can study subjects in which their learning is lacking. Inha Mentoring, a mentoring program hosted by Inha University, is an interesting volunteer program that anyone can participate in, at least once, and it gives various benefits. If you are a student who want to participate, why don't you apply to this 'Inha Mentoring'?

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