I was in the local paper….Take a look! Well at least a photo of me and my group of kids. I am standing up in the orange T-shirt. If you could read Chinese it would tell you all of the basics about 400 children from this area are in the summer camp with teachers from famous Universities in America. (Not quite sure which famous Universities…) and then it talks about the curriculum and the cool stuff we will be doing with students. Nothing about any specific teachers at all. But, cool, how about a clipping from China? Yah!
All of our Chinese students have English names, and we have also been given Chinese names. (This is how my name looks in Chinese characters.)
Today we really got down to business with what our performance will be on Friday. It is coming together (more or less).
The kids that I am in charge of (100 3rd-5th graders) will be marching in saying “Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!” Then on to several little animal poems. We’ll end with a great version of The Lion Sleeps tonight….from South Africa to America to China. The kids LOVE to sing that. They are great singers. They are also going to have water bottles made into maraca shakers to talk about conservation.
Sounds good, but trying to give solid stage directions in a second language to children who are tired and hot is a challenge. We decided in our production meeting today, that this all looks good on paper, and we’ll see how it actually comes together on Friday. Our team has some really great stuff going on.
One thing that I found highly interesting is that in China the schools do not have lunchrooms. Instead, lunch ladies bring a cart of food to the individual classrooms and the students eat there.
The same staff also brings a hot red sweetened tea drink around the classes mid-afternoon. The Chinese believe that this really helps you to cool down, by drinking a hot liquid. I had the chance tot try it for the first time today. Students were very interested if I liked it. Luckily, I did. I tasted sweet (although I don’t know if it really helped me to cool down.).
A very beautiful thing happened with a couple of our reading teachers today. They helped the younger children to do their own small books. Just two sheets of blank paper stapled together. The Chinese had never seen anything like this. It took a long time to explain to the students (and the teachers) what they were talking about, and then to allow the students to just use their own spelling and grammar and do illustrations. The books the students created a FABULOUS. These students at 7-12 years old had never done this before. One girl began to cry that she wanted to write a book about art rather than about the ocean, which was the assignment. When she was told she could do both, it was a very happy moment. They are thinking for the third week, maybe to make “pop-up” books. Being able to bring our methods of teaching is really different for everyone, and has caused some serious confusion and at times struggle, but it is really satisfying.
Then after school today, we set up 3 drum sets in the courtyard and three of our music guys in their twenties got in the drums and the kids loved it. It was so much fun. Then a couple of people started doing break dancing. I got in the action with doing some non-break dancing, as well as playing a tiny bit on the drum set. I am not where in their league, but how much fun it was!
It rained pretty hard over lunch today, which gave us a LITTLE break in the weather, but then the floors in the outdoor hallways of these four story buildings were super wet. I nearly slipped several times. Staff came out with mops and brooms to clear the water out. Unfortunately, they pushed some off the balcony right unto my roommate Jenny where she was resting before the final class of the day. So she had to teach soaking wet. This is so different that what any of us are used to.
Tonight, another massage seemed in order. We love the hour and a half-long full body massages for $13.00. Yes! We went back to the very classy place, which is why the cost was “so high”. Tonight we got the massage with oil instead of the usual Chinese way where you keep you clothes on or put on light pajamas and they massage you through a sheet. I had LOT of really tight places. Imagine that! After the massage, a musician was playing a traditional Chinese stringed instrument. Very cool!
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