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Where: 9/F, Portwealth Centre, 83 Queen's Road East, Wan Chai

What: A non-profit, tuition-free summer and after-school enrichment programme, Summerbridge offers English-learning opportunities for financially disadvantaged students in Hong Kong. Services include intensive summer sessions and Saturday school-year   seminars.

How: Call Summerbridge on 2761 4444 or visit www.summerbridge.org.hk. Operating on the principle of 'students teaching students', the group recruits committed volunteer teachers (must have a good command of English) aged 15 to 22. Recruited volunteers are trained before they begin teaching.

Teen volunteer: Jason Ng Jark-lam, 18, is a seventh-former at KGV. He has been a volunteer teacher at Summerbridge for about two years.

'In our programme, we don't only teach people how to speak English. We teach them leadership skills, how to be confident and how to work with other people.

Lessons are not like regular classroom lessons, and we don't have handouts or textbooks. Instead, we have games and activities.

During four to five weeks of summer, we teach every weekday from 8am to 4pm. Everyone teaches a different subject. I know someone who teaches the human heart for the whole summer. You can teach biology, music, history, politics, psychology and  more.

I teach music and media. I teach students how to write their own songs. I give them instruments, and they  make up a tune. Then they choose a topic and we brainstorm words for lyrics.

My class performs their song in front of all the other students at the end of the school day. It's amazing because, when the  students  arrive, they  hardly ever speak. If you ask a question, no one will answer. But, by the end of the summer, they are dying to sing or write their own songs.

Every year, we have the Crazy Hair Twin Day.  Everyone  chooses a partner, dresses funkily and has crazy hairdos. Then we have a fashion show.

The most important thing [I have learnt] is to be able to accept diversity, especially  as I am an international student. I have never been in much contact with local school students. Spending so much time with them has  taught me a lot.

The students  work hard no matter what happens to them. They always put a lot of heart into the activities, into knowing each other and into being friends.

It is inspiring to see how happy   we make our students. We  create a mini-society and we become  good friends.'



Summerbridge Hong Kong