I volunteered with the Good Neighbor Club while studying Chinese in Kunming during the academic year 2008-2009.  As is widely known, English is now the international language of choice worldwide, including in China where knowledge of English is an essential skill to many young Chinese entering the workforce.  Unfortunately, English training in the Chinese public school system is of a very low quality, so to really learn the language, a Chinese student often must go to extracurricular tutoring.  This tutoring, especially if taught by a foreigner, can be very expensive and is by no means affordable to everyone.  The Good Neighbor Club gave me an opportunity to really give back to the community, to help underprivileged kids improve their English and give them a chance to really succeed in life.  Walking into the campus, I was treated with celebrity status; the kids would run up to me smiling and saying a million "hellos".  It was obvious that they were really excited to have me there, and this excitement spilled over to the classroom, where the kids would participate with gusto in all the activities I gave to them.  At the beginning I was a little bit shocked at the lack of English skill even at the fifth grade, a failure I attribute to the Chinese education system, but the kids were motivated and little by little I began to see progress.  In the end, I hope that I taught those kids not just a bit of English, but also instilled in them confidence and motivation to continue in their studies with the next round of volunteers.