Helen Boyle Won’t Stop Learning, Giving & Living Life To The Max
Our expat community thrives on connection, and here at Jingkids, we’re all about our readers, what they need and want in order to maximize their time here in Beijing. Every Monday, we’re going to feature a prominent member of our expat community and get to know them a little bit better.
What’s On Your Mind?
This is a really interesting question. We seldom stop to think because we’re constantly taking action. I’ve always agreed with Goethe who said that man has enough time to do everything he needs to do. [The original qoute by Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe is that “One always has time enough, if one will apply it well”]. With proper planning and organizing the resources we have, plus strong belief in yourself, we can achieve our goals. What’s important is to make sure you surround yourself with positive people who share your goal to make a difference.
Read the full interview on “Jing Kids” magazine, clicking on this link.
Make Beijing Better: The Migrant Children’s Foundation
We sat down with MCF founder, also occasionally known as nainai (grandma) Helen, to learn more about the foundation she had unintentionally started that has now helped thousands of migrant children around Beijing.
How exactly did you help these schools?
I started organizing health check-ups and eye check-ups. During the days when I was going to the schools myself to teach, I came across students who didn’t want to stand up and answer questions or activities at the board. One day, one of the children told me that the reason they didn’t want to write on the board was because they couldn’t see well; their eyesight wasn’t very clear. So this is how we started doing eyesight checkups and providing glasses.
Read the full interview on “Time Out Family” or clicking on this link.
Making Beijing Better – an Interview
Check the “Time Out Beijing” interview with MCF’s Founder Helen Boyle OBE. about how MCF is making Beijing better! Interviewed by Jackie Park from Time Out Beijing Family Summer 2019:
“…an NGO that helps the children of migrant workers in Beijing, focusing particularly on their educational needs. In an exclusive interview with Time Out Beijing Family’s Jackie Park, she tells us a bit about her organization and her motivations for starting MCF.”
Read the interview in “Time Out Beijing” in this link.
CRJENGLISH.com meets Helen Boyle
Continually seeking to serve the children of China through assisting with their English education needs, our press coverage provides a wonderful testimony to those who give of their time and energy to reach out where it can benefit our kids. Our most recent coverage is at the top, and you can scroll down for a growing history.
Working with the Migrant Children of Beijing – an Interview with Helen Boyle
Interviewed by Gabriel Corsetti from China Development Brief (2017)
Helen Boyle is the founder and director of the Migrant Children’s Foundation, an NGO that helps the children of migrant workers in Beijing, focusing particularly on their educational needs. Originally from the UK, Helen first came to Beijing in 2008. After visiting a school for the children of migrant workers and being struck by the lack of resources, but also by the children’s enthusiasm, she took the brave decision to stay and dedicate herself to working in this field. In an exclusive interview with CDB’s Gabriel Corsetti, she tells us a bit about her organization and the important work it carries out.
Community Stars at “Beijing Kids” (2017)
April 2017’s Beijing Kids celebrates community stars and features our very own Volunteer & Curriculum Coordinator, Lorna Snuggs. In addition to this, three of MCF’s international school volunteers are celebrated for their contributions to the community. Tony from Dulwich College Beijing (DCB), Colleen Usher from BSB Shunyi and Tamika Sankar, also from BSB Shunyi. Keep up the good work guys!
British lady dedicated to helping less fortunate children
MCF on Radio Beijing International, am774
There is much more to MCF including ‘Fun with Science’, school outings, health checks, eye checks and Secret Santa! The idea is to give migrant children the opportunity to experience people and ideas they would not necessarily find in their day-to-day environment.
Today Helen tells us more about this amazing organisation she founded and the wonderful work it has already achieved.
Helping to raise the quality and standards in schools for less advantaged students
MCF on Radio Beijing International, am774
Helen Boyle from the UK set up the ‘Migrant Children’s Foundation’ (MCF) five years ago to help raise awareness of these schools while generally assisting with improving teaching and conditions for the students.
Wonder Woman: Helen Boyle, MCF Founder
Article on City Weekend
On a Tuesday morning in mid-December, Helen Boyle was riding in a van with Santa Claus. They were driving to a migrant school in Daxing to give students more than 350 presents as part of the Secret Santa program of her charity organization, Migrant Children’s Foundation (MCF).
Tragic accidents just part of a hard life for China’s 60 million ‘left-behind children
Article by Wu Nan on South China Morning Post
When Du Juan, who is now 18, was abandoned by her solo father at the age of nine, she could scarcely imagine she would one day attend high school. After 18 months studying at Shangdong Tancheng Datang School, Du was selected as one of 10 national “role model abandoned children” by the Care for Abandoned Children Fund in Beijing last year.
Her headmaster, Wang Yiyong, said the honour had changed Du – making her “much happier” and more motivated as a student.
Read the full article here
Royal Society of Chemistry Annual review 2012
Migrant children in Beijing had a rare chance to experience hands-on chemistry during the weekend science workshops set up by the Beijing Local Section as part of the IYC challenge competition Royal Society of Chemistry Annual Review 2012.
The RSC’s Beijing Local Section was formed in 2008 and now has around 50 members. Employees in the Beijing office organise many academic lectures and symposia in China, so we decided that the Local Section should focus on outreach activities.
As part of our activities, I give demonstration lectures to audiences ranging from primary school pupils to non-chemistry undergraduates. I particularly enjoy giving lectures to students who are beginning to study science in depth. After a recent lecture as part of the Beijing Science Festival, year 8 student Zheng Yufeng wrote on his school’s website that “this unforgettable lecture really inspired our interest in science and left us longing to study more physics and chemistry”. Encouraging comments like this make me feel that even in the digital age, live science lectures really can make a difference.
It was thanks to the International Year of Chemistry Challenge (IYC) grant from the RSC that we were able to expand our outreach activities from one person (namely me, standing at the front of a lecture theatre) doing experiments to many. In collaboration with the Migrant Children’s Foundation (MCF) charity, we set up the Fun with Science programme for children of migrant workers from the Chinese countryside working in Beijing. Many of these children are unable to obtain a place in a state school and attend poorly-funded migrant schools that don’t offer the chance to study science.
Helen Boyle: Be Inspired by Chinese Migrant Children
Article by on Women of China
Helen Boyle came to China in 2008 but she never expected that her life would one day be closely linked to the lives of migrant children. Helen visited many schools in China and stumbled across a school for the children of migrant workers. She was appalled at the lack of educational resources available at the school but was inspired by the children’s enthusiasm to learn. Her desire and drive to help others motivated Helen to give up her job in the UK and start a new life by founding the non-profit Migrant Children Foundation in 2009.
Read the full article here
Buddying up with migrant children
Article by on Beijing Today
Every Saturday morning at 8:30, Helen Boyle waits outside the Guomao subway station for volunteers. Sometimes 50 people show up. Sometimes, only five or six. But regardless of the number, she’ll wait, because she knows that children in the outskirts of the city are also waiting for her. After the volunteers have gathered, Boyle leads the group to a migrant school to spend a day with children of various ages…..
Read the full article here
A Beijing state of mind
Article by Fergal Keane on BBC Travel
I am here on a Beijing Buddy visit, one of several programs run by the Migrant Children’s Foundation, which promotes cultural exchanges between foreigners and the schools. Helen Boyle, who runs the program, has watched children grow in confidence: “When we started teaching over a year ago, they weren’t able or very willing to speak at all and were quite shy. Now they can make sentences and are always very enthusiastic….
Read the full article linked here to the BBC.
Easy as ABC
Article by Innovation Earth
“Have you ever heard the saying “it’s as easy as ABC?” This is a common expression, but many small children struggle to learn to read at first. It takes a good teacher to support students through all new lessons, whether big or small. I was shocked to learn that something as simple as the ABC song is actually taught differently here in China. This blows my mind:”
Does good teaching look different in China? I don’t think so. Since I arrived here, I’ve met three inspirational women who have taught me a lot about what it means to be a great teacher. I will strive to….
Read the full article here
Interview with Helen
Article on Beijing Social Innovation Digest
“Many expatriates come to China and find themselves staying long after they originally planned. Few, however, are able to stay and make as big a difference to the lives of so many as Helen Boyle. Helen is the founder and director of the ‘Migrant Children’s Foundation’ – an organization which helps children of migrant workers in Beijing, and beyond, to improve their educational opportunities.”
Listen to the interview here
Giving migrant children a foundation in English
Article by gbtimes
The Migrant Children’s Foundation (MCF) in Beijing is dedicated to teaching its students in English because they believe that language skills offer an advantage in life and that education is also the key to success.
The initiative was launched a few years ago by Helen Boyle, a British woman, who decided to make a contribution to the migrant children of Beijing. However, she acknowledges that there is still a lot of work that needs to be done to give each child a sufficient level of education.
Radio86 recently visited one of the migrant schools with which the foundation works… …read more
MCF-Organized Dance Show
Article by CNTV
MCF organized a dance show for the school children of Beijing to take part in. Here’s the video report.