New friends, relationships, and wonderful memories of a lifetime . . .

Reflections

Although I have been home for more than a week, I still find myself thinking of my China experience several times a day. I receive and send several emails a day to China to teachers and students. The sentiments of these communications from China express a comfortable connection to a new friend in America. I pray that the excitement of the program continues through the year and this opportunity for UBIEP and HU can continue. Here are a few more photos.



Happy Grads!



Self-portrait



Sam is very happy . . .



Buddies!

Friends Forever

One of the songs we sang at camp was "Friends Forever". It seems crazy to think that deep friendships could be built in only three short weeks, but I am convinced that the relationships begun this summer in Zhuhai will continue to grow as we nurture the seeds planted. Meet three of my new friends.

Canaan is one of the education leaders in Zhuhai City. When I told her I would miss her, she responded, "Yes, we have much in common." We both train educators and share a passion for helping children build strong life foundations, but we share a deeper bond as well. My heart and Canaan's were attracted because of a stronger connection which transcends time and distance. I believe our friendship will continue to grow and we will be friends forever.

Alice is Jumbo's daughter. She is a beautiful and articulate young woman who has a wonderful future before her. I'm sure she will become a leader in whatever field she enters. She is the future of China! Alice has begun an email friendship with my daughters, Ashley and Lindsey, who are near her age. It is my hope that this friendship will also grow and that perhaps Alice will visit us in America some day.

Finally, there is Frank. He was one of the first faces I saw each morning as we each awaited our rides to camp at the bus stop near our homes. He always shared a smile and got my day off to a great start. Now, Frank and Ryan (my son) are email pals who have written one another several times. Both are 13 years old and have much in common. He continues to make me smile as he shares his joy of life with my son. I hope they will remain friends, as well.

Our team went to China to lead professional development seminars and an English camp for kids, but I think maybe more was accomplished. Perhaps we have made friends that will last a lifetime. I hope so.

Anna's Essay

My Valuable Experience

Anna(周立晖)

Being an English teacher for 14 years, I have got my opportunity to participate in the English Teachers Class and Students Summer Camp. When I was told that I should come to the training class, I felt I was lucky but not so happy. Because I should spend 1/3 of my summer holiday on it. I wouldn’t have as much time for relaxation and travels like my colleagues. However, when I am being in the training class, I enjoy it so much that I really don’t want it to come to an end. It is really valuable for my teaching as well as for my life. I have learned a lot from the training class.

In the first week, I had some lectures given by the American teachers from Huntington University. First, Jeff’s lecture “English Communication Competency in the 21st Century” made me realize how important English is . He used a lot of data and important facts which I would like to use to make my students clearly understand that English is becoming the most widely used language in the world. I’m sure they will pay great attention to English study and do better in it . And we teachers need to improve our teaching abilities to be great helpers of the students.

And then from Luke’s performence, I not only learned how the students could achieve success in English, but also the key aspects of Chinese /American cultural differences. And from Valerie, I learned many new ideas about how to teach oral English lessons in the communicative approach, and how to make a lesson plan which should include 8 elements, i.e., objectives, materials needed , warm-up, presentation, 3 practices and closure. Susie gave us some wonderful lessons about Multiple Intelligence Theory. She demonstrated her skills by making the classroom full of laughters.

During the 2nd and 3rd weeks, the American teachers demonstrated how they interacted with students by getting them to dance, sing English songs, play games, etc, like they do in their own classrooms, which enabled our students to practise speaking English all the time. Their smiles, encouragement, enthusiasm greatly impressed both us teachers and the students. Here in the camp, we found major differences between American way of teaching and traditional schooling in China . In our classroom, it is teachers-centred, while the American way of teaching is students-centred. To meet the new standard curriculum, we have found communicative approach is more and more popular with and practical to the students. Here, the Americans vividly showed us how they teach, which is very useful and helpful to my teaching, I think.

Actually, in the two lessons I taught in the camp, I used what I had learned from the American teachers to design my lesson plans. I found my lessons were better than before. My instructor, Errin’s advice and observation notes helpd a lot for my teaching improvement.

For three weeks, I have been cherishing every opportunity to learn from the American teachers. I enjoyed every free talk with special themes to talk about. In fact, in the free talk, both we Chinese teachers and the Americans learned a lot from each other. It’s a good chance to practise my oral English and to know about American culture. After 4:00pm every day, when most of the Chinese teachers had gone home, I stayed to have another talk with one or two American teachers about the essays given to us before hand. We talked about essays. We talked about life. We talked about poems. I really felt grateful to them.

What impressed me most was their teamwork and hard work. They worked very hard together to make everything wonderful and successful.

The 3-week training class and summer camp is very valuable to me, I think. I enjoyed every moment. I enjoyed every lecture. I enjoyed every game. I enjoyed every talk. I enjoyed every song, except “A Goodbye Song”. You know, guys, I really don’t want to say goodbye to the American teachers and to the training class. If I have to, I would love to sing “Friends Forever” to them. Just as Luke said, “Allow me to be friends with you, forever”. I will keep all of you in my mind. I will sow the seeds of love, friendship, and culture, which I think is the most important in my camp experience ,to my colleagues and students.

Another Perspective (from Jim)

My Experience in the English Summer Camp

Jim（朱文靖）

It is my first time I am in the summer camp. I think the experience is valuable both to my oral English and my teaching way in the future.

More than two decades ago, I began the study of English in junior middle school. As a matter of fact, what I had at that time was, apart from a textbook, a respectable English teacher, who made her classes attractive and lively and interesting enough to make me listen to her classes attentively. With my interest in English increasing, I learned more and more English, which was my strongest subject during my six middle school years. Only after I went to the college did I begin to learn to speak English. You might think it is ridiculous, but it’s true. In fact ,many of us began to learn to speak English as well as Mandarin at college. I now often think that today people who really want to study English well are a lot luckier than we were 20 years ago. They have more English magazines and newspapers. They can watch English programmes on TV or listen to English on the radio. They can read essays on the Internet with the help of an e-dictionary. They can listen to the downloaded MP3 files in their easily-carried MP3 or MP4 players. They can even participate in the English summer camp, where they can practise speaking English with native speakers of English. How fortunate they are!

But now today, I am fortunate as well. I came. I studied. I tried my best. For three weeks , I have been cherishing every opportunity to talk to and learn from the American teachers, who are kind and active and responsible and enthusiastic…

Here in the camp I have learned a lot which is brand new to me, and to my colleagues, I think. It is known that Chinese teachers put more emphasis on grammatical competence rather than communicative competence because of the traditional way of teaching and the old curriculum. But now, with the new standard curriculum being implemented, communicative approach, with its emphasis on interactive use of English for meaningful communication, is being more and more popular. And so in the English Teachers Training Class as well as the Students English Summer Camp, we learn how American teachers use the communicative approach in the classroom, which is useful and helpful to my future teaching, I am sure.

Here in the camp , I think students can also develop their communicative competence, i.e. the ability to use English to communicate appropriately in a variety of contexts. In regard to spoken language, communicative competence involves knowing what and how to say what to whom. Communicative classrooms are learner-centered and characterized by an emphasis on language use, fluency, authentic language and contexts, and negotiation of meaning, which is new to our students, while the English classes in China have historically been conducted using the Grammar-Translation Method, a teacher-centered methodology that is known for producing excellent grammarians and high scores, with limited abilities in speaking and listening. Now here in the camp, students are highly motivated to speak English. They interact with native speakes. They like the relaxed, casual and enjoyable way of teaching and talking. They have the opportunity to get to know Americans and American culture. They get the American teachers’ attention and encouragement. They actively participate in games, singing, dancing, sports, etc. And just the experiece in the summer camp , I think , will make them more interested in the study of English, which, I am sure, is vital to their English improvement!

In a word, a beneficial aspect of the English camp is that it complements in a limited but distinctly different way the formalized school experience by affording teachers and students the opportunity to focus almost exclusively on interactive use of English.

I value my experience in the camp.

FINAL THOUGHTS

It is always hard to know how to wrap up my thoughts on a trip like this. I find myself sitting and thinking about the different people we encountered. We spoke a different language, we’ve had vastly different life experiences, we have different belief systems – but there is a common bond that brings us together and helps us to realize that we have much in common.

During our next-to-last free talk, I shared a poem I had written. The poem did not so much reflect my own search for meaning as it articulated the search of a person who senses a greater meaning in life – but isn’t quite sure where to find it. I share it here because some asked me about it – not because I think it is a literary masterpiece (no literary critique, please!).

I Wonder
Jeff Sherlock

I walk outside under the stars and the moonlit night sky and I wonder…

I hold my newborn son in my arms, see that he has all his fingers and toes in the right places and I wonder …

I see an old man and an old woman walking in the park holding arms supporting one another in their old age and I wonder …

I watch a teacher with a rowdy bunch of students patiently and lovingly instructing them to become productive citizens and I wonder …

I look at the crops growing in the fields, the snow on distant mountains, the sea crashing against the rocks and I wonder …

Is it really likely that all this is just an accident, just random molecules joining and separating without any plan?

Are children just the visible product of a chemical process that began when two masses of matter experienced a chemical attraction toward one another?

Are the feelings of love that people experience no more than a programmed instinct for survival of the species?

Do teachers love their students merely out of duty – and what is duty anyway
without meaning?

Are the green crops, white snow, and blue sea just there?

I doubt it.

If so, why does my heart yearn for peace, for a more thorough explanation, for a deeper meaning?

I wonder.

Reading Luke’s blog (below), I find myself wrestling with many of the same questions. It is impossible to know the impact that our three-week presence in China will have.

Certainly there was a lot of enthusiasm from both teachers and students, an expressed commitment to do something different in the classroom. Absolutely there were important discussions that took place that may lead to further seeking later on. And definitely there emerged from our time together a deeper understanding of one another.

Never again will members of our team think of “the Chinese” as a 1.2 billion nameless, faceless mass of humanity; rather, we will remember Anna, Jim, Ray, Bonnie, Jenny ….

Never again will our Chinese friends think of “the Americans” as we are defined by the media – violent, hedonistic and spoiled; rather, they will remember Valerie, Gil, Susie, Charlie, Bridger …(One young Chinese girl wrote on her blog site of how much she missed us.)

We appreciate the continued thoughts of people who followed this trip. Please continue to be concerned about the long-term impact of the relationships that were built. Thanks so much.

Home . . . and reflecting!

We're back. We're safe and well. We're tired. I am proud of the team - they worked hard and did a terrific job!

So, what difference does it make that a team of Americans travels to China to lead an English Camp? How do you measure the impact of such an experience? We could read the reflection essays written by each teacher - which were really positive - but that doesn't mean they'll change the way they approach teaching when they face huge challenges back in their classrooms this fall. We could average the satisfaction numbers on the exit surveys - again very positive - but does that tell us anything about the depth of relationships which were established? We could look at pictures of our new friends in China and hold the many gifts and mementos we were given, but that doesn't really tell us if our new friends are looking at life any differently as a result of our presence. And now we're back home, and we wonder whether we made a difference.

In one of my free talk sessions last week, I was asked, "If God would grant you three wishes, what would you ask for?" Wow! What a question! I tried to think carefully, and came up with the following three honest requests:

1) Health for my family.
2) That my soul would live forever.
3) That I could exist in China and the USA at the same time.

Each of these answers allowed the opportunity to talk at some length about my foundational ideas of reality, meaning, and purpose in life. As we went around the group asking the same question, one of the teachers simply said, "There is no god, so I don't think about such things. I just work hard each day."

Later in the conversation, they told me about a recent situation in China. Some time ago, a university student rescued a farmer from an attack. In the process, the university student was killed. It seems that this prompted a national conversation about whether the university student was a hero or a fool. Some thought that the student's life was more valuable than the life of the farmer for whom he died. They asked me what I thought. Again, I tried to think carefully. I said that this story was parallel in some ways to the definitive feature of Christianity - God sending His Son to die for humanity. I was able to talk about a famous saying, "There is no greater love than this, that a man would lay down his life for a friend."

At the end of the free talk session, they asked me if I really believed in God. I said that I did. To this, the one teacher said, "I believe in myself." Having heard this before, I have a standard reply, which is, "You must be a very strong person and be able to control many things to only believe in yourself. There is so much outside of my control that I've found I need to trust someone else." He laughed out loud and looked at the others in the group and said, "He believes in someone other than himself." It was a poignant moment.

So, how does one measure the impact of a team of English teachers in China? I think we won't really know for quite some time.

Note: more blogs will follow after our travel home . . .

A quick note about the last day. This was a very emotional day for everyone. Words cannot express the joy of our experience combined with the sadness of its conclusion and our departure. Here the American present Chinese teachers with their certificates of completion of the program.



The trip home begins. After a night in Macau it was off to Hong Kong for one day of sightseeing and souvenir shopping. Sunday is our long flight home. AND PLEASE do not stop visiting the blog. More postings will follow after we return to the states.

A different perspective from Jenny.

Our comments and photos have come from various members of our team. Here is an essay written by a Chinese teacher on Thursday following three weeks of the program.

The USA teachers taught me how to teach English
Jenny ( Li Xiaoju from Nan Shui Middle school)

Being one of the middle school teachers I’m very lucky to take part in the three- week Summer Camp which is organized by Zhuhai City Education Department and we are trained by American teachers. On the first day in the Summer Camp, I was amazing to find that there were many American teachers who came to train us. There were eight altogether! And it was said that there were five more who were coming the next week. I thought I could hear different accents and I could have more opportunity to practice spoken English with the American teachers. I felt both excited and a little anxious because I was worried that I was very poor in listening and speaking so I couldn’t understand them when they speak English.

I’ve kept on learning English and kept on seeking good ways to teach my students English since I became an English teacher many years ago. I have read many books on English teaching and I have listened to many lectures, too. When I came back to teach my students, I was still not sure whether I gave the Students good lessons or bad lessons.

The American teachers eagerly look forward to teaching us. They started their work right away as soon as they arrived in Zhuhai. They demonstrated many lessons on how to teach students English and they asked us to do the practice teaching. They not only wrote a book for us but they also taught us how to make lessons plan in class. They made every teaching step very clearly and gave a minute description. Every one of us got a tutor teacher. The tutors gave us very precious advice after they listened to our lessons and we improved our lessons the next time when we teach. The American teachers are very different from Chinese professors. When Chinese professors teach us how to teach English, they only speak a lot of on the theoretical plane.

Now I know how to teach English and I know how to help my students to learn English with the help of America teachers. As a teacher, I know a good English lesson should be composed of at least five important parts. They are Warm up, Presentation, Practice1, Practice2 and Practice3. Warming up means that teachers introduce the topic in a creative or engaging way. Presentation means which forms will be used to accomplish the language function. The three practices are not the simple repeated but they are joined in logic. Practice1 is teacher-guided activity; Practice2 is less teacher- guided activity; Practice3 is independent practice activity. Language is used for communication. Communicative functions mean to use the language appropriate to a given social context, as well as linguistic forms, means and functions. So when we practice English in class, we must try to put the language into social context.

The ways that the American teachers showed me to teach English will change my teaching concept in my life. Though I’m not to able to teach English like the American teachers do, I will try my best to do as they have taught me to do. That’s the most important thing I learned from the American teachers.

Another very important thing I learned from the American teachers is that: Doing is Learning, while we are practicing, we are learning; while we are doing activities, we are learning English.

The third one I learned from the American teachers is that: Students are the main bodies of the class not teachers. A good English class isn’t judged by how teachers act, but how Students act.

I want to say some other fine qualities I learned from the America teachers. They treat everyone equally, no mater whom you are. They always praise everyone, but not criticize anyone. They make us confident. So I think I will more patient and more respected to my students from now on.

The America teachers often ask us to do activity with our students. When I do activity together with my students I feel my students and I are equal and I could realize the degree of difficulty of the activity and understand my students more and make friends with my students.

The America teachers never show they are tired. I’m sure their bodies must be really tired after the long flight from America to China, but they never say they’re tired, they sing a song and move about instead of having a rest. They never waste food. They eat up all the food on their plate but I sometimes throw away food. They spend their precious time staying with us so that we can improve our spoken English. I learned a lot from them and I appreciate them.

Things are starting to wrap up.

All the teachers will receive a certificate of completion for the English Camp. Val and Luke sign certificates for the eighty teachers attending this year’s program.



Everyday I see four groups of middle school students for about 20 minutes for English building activities. There are about 12 students in each group and at the end of today’s class several of the groups wanted to have pictures taken with me.



Everyday some of our group piles into this mini van for our trip to school. From the left: Molly, (Erinn’s host), Phil, Erinn, Tracy (the daughter of Phil's host Sabrinna) and me.

Jeff Sherlock's Post!

FREE TALK

Many of the Chinese teachers, particularly the older ones, have NEVER had the opportunity to talk face to face with an American. They learned their English in schools from other Chinese who had limited (at best) experience really speaking English. So one of the benefits our team brought to China was the opportunity to talk.

Every morning, we have two free talk times. While half of the teachers are teaching, the other half are divided into eight groups of about 5 people to talk with one of the NESTers (Native English Speaker Team members). Prior to coming to China, the NESTers “designed” twenty conversations. The conversations are not exactly scripted, but they have some suggested questions to get us started.

The first week, we talked about things like travel, family relationships, ordering in a restaurant, entertainment, and technology. The idea was to get people talking about fairly “light” topics for which people already have a lot of vocabulary.

This second week, we are delving into deeper waters. On Monday, we talked about parenting – a topic of intense interest in a country where only one child is permitted per family. Yesterday, we talked about holidays and traditions. We learned a lot about how Chinese people celebrate major festivals – Spring Festival, Ching Ming, Mid Autumn Festival. In turn, we were able to share how (and why) we celebrate American holidays. I especially appreciated the opportunity to discuss how my family celebrates Christmas morning and why it is important to remember the true meaning of that holiday. That sparked some interesting discussion. Today, we talked about emotions. My group didn't go especially deep, but another team member said that his discussion led to some important issues.

Especially motivating to us has been the afternoon “free talk.” We began by sharing essays from NPR’s “This I Believe" radio series. For today, I wrote a poem, probably the first poem I ever wrote entitled, “I Wonder.” In the poem, I reflected on the many mysteries of life and how these mysteries were not adequately explained by science or by chance. The resulting discussion (about 6 people were present plus three Americans) was both interesting and encouraging.

Tomorrow will be our final afternoon free talk time. For that, we have asked any interested teacher to read his/her own essay. There may only be a couple who have both time and inclination to write, but it will be interesting to see what they have to say.

In many ways, it is hard to believe that our time here is almost finished. We trust that some of what has been done here will remain. Thank you for your thoughts toward us.

Talking at every opportunity . . .

Jenaya and Kim talk with a couple of students at breakfast.  These times have provided wonderful opportunities for the students to practice their English and learn about us.



On Tuesday evening we were invited to a Chinese cook-out for dinner. In the area we gathered were a group of high school students enjoying a cook-out.  They had never talked with a foreigner and Susie provided them with 
some conversation.  This situation happens to us everywhere we go. 



You have read about Jumbo and here he is cooking a hot dog with Charlie.

The start of another week!

On Sunday we met up with Jana Hobbler (an English teacher living in Macau) and she joined us for a day at the English Camp. Here, Luke introduces Jana to the students and teachers. They were very impressed with her Chinese.



Breakfast continues to be a great time to talk English. Jenaya enjoys a conversation with a couple of the middle school students.



No caption necessary here – just having fun learning in a different way. . .

Shopping for some - work for others

While most of the group was shopping, Luke met with Mr. Zhang to talk about the English Camp. Mr. Zhang is the senior most government official Luke works with regarding our project. Along with Jumbo (Sr. Adminstrator) and Lucy (a teacher in Zhuhai schools) they talked for several hours about the progress of the English Camp. It appears that all sides of the table are very happy about what is happening in Zhuhai and everyone’s goals are being met.



Sunday was a fun day at the underground mall in Zhuhai. We shopped and enjoyed some American food at KFC. I know we have all enjoyed the experience of genuine Chinese cuisine, but as you can tell by looking at Kim and Jenaya - fries have not looked so good! Not to worry, we’ll have another week of noodles and rice for breakfast starting Monday.





The underground mall is an interesting place. Hundreds and hundreds of shops with most having about a 20-foot storefront could be found in the mall. Aisle after aisle of shops and stores, on two floors, selling everything imaginable kept us busy for hours. Have I mentioned there are a lot of people in China:-)

It is the weekend!

On Saturday Jumbo and Adam, the Zhuhai Educational Bureau administrators who have coordinated this trip, hosted us on a trip to the Beifeng National Park to go rafting. Their families also joined us for the ride down the river. The ride in the two man raft was a lot of fun. As we put on our helmets and life preservers we were given a bucket with a short handle. I figured the bucket was for bailing out water as needed. I was wrong. The bucket is for soaking the other rafters! The Chinese rafters loved to toss water at the Americans but I think we held our ground - even though we were out numbered. My sides still hurt from laughing☺  Sorry, no pictures of the raft ride.

On the way back we stopped at a restaurant where the specialty was “mud chicken.” They cook the chicken whole in a pit using mud and wood. Shown above is the cook building up a pile of mud for cooking the chicken. To the left is his helper and in front of the helper is a pit that is ready to have the chicken removed for serving.

 

Here is Jumbo’s daughter, Alice, getting the chicken ready to serve. If you recall I noted the chicken was cooked whole. And served to the table whole. If you look carefully to the right of the scissors you can see the head of the chicken.  Mud Chicken is great!



Our ride to the mountain provided several hours to enjoy the rural Chinese countryside. The fields against the mountains are very beautiful. Here you can see a group of farmers planting rice.

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A NESTer

Here is a post that Jeff Sherlock wrote...I am simply putting it on the blog for him...

Our team has two parts with two different areas of focus. The Academic Team focuses on the professional development of the English teachers in the Zhuhai City school system. During the first week, they presented a variety of lectures and activities to help the teachers improve their teaching skills. During the second and third weeks, they observe the teachers in a classroom and give constructive feedback.

The other part of the team is known as the NESTers (Native English Speakers Team). Our focus is on helping the teachers and students engage in activities to increase their ability to speak and understand English.

Our day (for the entire team) begins when we arrive at the Doumen Number One Middle School at about 8:00am. We eat breakfast with the teachers and students before heading over to the classroom area. At 9:00am while all the students are in classrooms listening to lessons, half of the teachers come to the lecture hall. We have a short opening with a song, and then we break into 8 groups for about 1 hour of “free talk.” Over the past week, we’ve talked about travel, family relationships, technology, and other topics.

At 10:15am, the NESTers go to the classrooms to help the Academic Team lead the students in about 15 minutes of English “fun” activities. (The goal here isn’t to teach, but to use English in a fun and natural setting.) Then, at about 10:40am, we head back to the lecture hall. The teachers who were in the classroom the first half of the morning now come for their free-talk time. We again open in singing, and then break into groups for an hour of English conversation with this group of teachers. We wrap up the teacher-oriented conversation about 11:45am.

After lunch, the entire team meets in a small conference room at 1:00pm for rest and planning. We often find we need this rest time in an air conditioned room to regain our energy.

From 2:00pm till 4:00pm, we have activities for the students. The students are divided into primary students and middle school students, then into four groups of each level. Each group goes to four activities in two hours, each lasting 20 minutes. The NESTers plan activities that are both fun and English oriented. The teachers attend the afternoon activities with the students; this allows them to observe how the activities can be used in the classroom and, in many cases, participate in the activity. We hope that some teachers will begin moving away from lecture-oriented classes to a multiple-learning-styles approach.

The camp is over at 4:00pm, but interested teachers are invited to attend a special free-talk time that we call, “Important Life Issues.” Using essays from the NPR program, “This I Believe,” the teachers discuss issues that get below the surface to more universal, heart-level issues. We’ve been pleased that 12 teachers joined us the first day and 14 the second day. Next week, we are asking students to write and share their own essays.

By the time “Important Life Issues” is over, we’re all pretty bushed. But often the team’s day is far from over. Our hosts are consummate entertainers. They want to be sure that we are having a good time and they go to great lengths to ensure that we are well cared-for. Last evening, for example, we had a huge meal at a very nice restaurant and then were treated to the hot springs baths of a high end resort. It was something far beyond what is normally experienced on trips of this nature. Of course, we got home quite late and had a full day ahead of us today.

Don’t let this last paragraph with its description of our idyllic conditions deceive you into thinking we are not busy. In fact, we are all quite tired. It is challenging to live in another culture, particularly in another person’s home. We want to really make a difference, but it is hard to see where results might come. We truly need your ongoing thoughts as we try to serve faithfully. Thanks.

As they say, all work and no play . . .

Our group has participated in various cultural opportunities. At the gracious invitation of Mr. Zhu, a top official in the local Zhuahi government, we enjoyed a wonderful dinner before experiencing a local hot springs. The Imperial Hot Spring is a resort that features more than 40 various types of hot springs that are considered beneficial for good health and relaxation. From the left, Valerie Geer, Mr. Lee (an administrator for the Zhuahi Educational Bureau), an unidentified police official who accompanied Mr. Zhu, and Mr. Zhu.



Gil and Darlene Shideler “cut a rug” in a park along the river in Doumen. They received a standing ovation by the crowd for their efforts. The Chinese are a very active people. Along with dancing in the park, children were rollerblading, seniors were doing Tai Chi, and many (and I mean many, many, many) others were simply walking.

The days are long but rewarding.

Erinn watches as students play games that help them with their English skills. Chinese teachers are learning that education is more than memorizing from a book. Sometimes language skills are better exercised with activities.




Bridger, one of the youngest of our team, has made a unique connection with students and is popular at activity time and during lunch.

Sing a Song With Me

It is so easy to stereotype people of another culture – until we get to know them on a personal basis. When we get to know a person, however, the stereotypes begin to fall away and we realize that despite cultural differences, we share many of the same hopes, dreams, and fears.

My host family has several CDs as part of a “Country Tour” collection, songs from the 60’s through the 80’s. Several times they’ve played the CD in the evening. When “Edelweiss” comes on, the husband and I spontaneously begin singing together. This evening, he tried to get his wife to dance during the song but she, perhaps wisely, declined. It was very cute, and it made me realize what we have in common.

After our regular activities at the school today, we started a new “free talk” time called, “Important Values in my Life.” The time is voluntary for anyone willing to stay for an extra half hour to practice English further. Today we used an essay from the NPR program “This I Believe,” (www.thisibelive.org) in which a woman described how her marriage isn’t perfect – but it is good. Twelve students stayed behind and we broke into two groups to discuss the essay. Once again, I was reminded of our common hopes and dreams.

We hope that the important values discussions will allow us to deepen our friendships to a new level. After reading two or three essays this week, we will ask the people in the class to write essays about things in life that they value. This will give them the opportunity to write about heart-level issues and to discuss those issues with others.

A couple evenings this week, I took a walk in a local square. The square is a paved area – about as long and twice as wide as a football field – a few blocks from where I am staying. It was interesting to watch all the activities. Children were being coached in skating. Couples were walking hand in hand or with arms around one another. A group of women were being led in a Chinese slow-motion dance (sort of like taichi). A group of dancers was in a corner of the square. A guy was playing some kind of checkers-like game – while talking on a cell phone. It reminded me of the “community” focus of this society – the palpable sense that being together is an important value in life. For many people, life can be difficult, but they chose to take this time to walk around the square and be together with family and/or friends. It made me realize how much is lost in our society when we go home and spend the evening watching TV.

We all appreciate you on-going interest in this trip and hope that you will continue to keep us in your thoughts.

The free talk groups in the morning are going very well. Each of the eight members of the native English speaking team is having open conversations with two groups of five teachers. We each meet with both of our groups each morning for 75 minutes. It’s quite an opportunity to see life from their perspective. I’m learning so much listening to stories of their lives. Since they come from many different schools, they didn’t know each other before this training session. It is moving to see them genuinely care about each other as they hear each other’s stories. They are getting glimpses of who we are and what motivates us as well.

Picture caption – One of Luke’s free talk groups (May, Maggie, Sue, Shirley, Summer)

Students learn and have fun.

Susie Burson demonstrates an interactive teaching technique for Chinese teachers.  
This student has drawn a picture of what is in the bag from Susie's verbal description. This excercise helps students learn English vocabulary.





Gil Shideler talks with a student between activities.  These students have never talked with a native English speaker and members of the team take every opportunity to interact with students.

Teachers work hard to learn.

A group of Chinese teacher work a the day's lesson plan.




An important part of the English Camp is to work with teachers on their technique.  Valerie Geer talks with a teacher about her efforts in the classroom.

Day 3: Pushing Through

Jetlag is a funny thing. You wake up every morning feeling refreshed and ready to go, it’s great. That lasts for about two hours…then you’re tired the rest of the day.

There are some mental walls to break through, too. Two days of constantly focusing on changing your speech to help non-native English speakers can be pretty strenuous. It is amazing how tired you can get by simply focusing on every word that comes out of your mouth.

I think I am finally starting to break through both of these walls. I slept all the way to the alarm this morning, and I have had no trouble finding the motivation to engage today.

The conversations with the Chinese English teachers in the morning have been a lot of fun. The teachers are not afraid to speak English, so it is easier than past conversation practice I have been involved in. I have had several conversations go beyond the level of thought that I would have thought possible coming into the trip. Not only are the teachers getting some great English practice, they are learning to express some deeper feelings in another language. I have overheard several teachers having meaningful English conversations, sparked by our discussions, with little or no input from me.

Outside of camp, things have been amazing. Jumbo and his family have been extremely gracious hosts, treating us to wonderful Chinese meals and showing us around Daomen in the evenings.

It’s still hot, but we are all adjusting. The plans have not been finalized, but it looks like we are going to get the chance to go rafting (looks like it is a tame version of whitewater rafting) with Mr. Jiang, Canaan, Adam’s family (not THE Addams family), and Jumbo’s family. Hopefully that will be a good chance for us all to cool down a little bit.

Ok, time to get the afternoon camp underway…hope everything is going well for all of you back in America.

Bridger

Host family is fun!

My host family is a lot of fun, especially with an eight year old in the house. We’ve gone for walks through the market and to the park. These times together with Grace (the only one who speaks English) and her family are so wonderful. I feel very privileged to have the opportunity to view China in a way so few people can experience. Pictured is Grace's daughter Sally as she gets ready to play badminton.

the mystical unity that comes from perspiration, or lunchtime sweat

Really, I'm not a particularly sweaty person. I'm not even particularly active. I'm more of the picked-last-for-dodgeball type.

But let me tell you, sweat I do here, in all sorts of unsightly places.

The good news is, I think the group sweating thing has a lovely bonding side effect. We teachers sit in the sweltering cafeteria, furiously mopping at our brows with the same packs of tissues that will later serve as our toilet paper. We mop and lock eyes with junior high students over noodles or oddly gray duck eggs. They look over at us sympathetically, and we at them, as if to say, "We're in this together, we motley crew of hardened language lovers."

And then they reach across the cultural divide and pull off the chunk of toilet paper that's stuck to our (read: my) forehead.

The English Camp is in full swing!

Jeff makes a point to the students.





Luke addresses a combined assembly of students and teachers.




Phil talks with a student while in line for lunch.

Good Friends