Today was one of my favorite days so far. We visited the Pang Liu Village and got to teach a class of fifth graders. We drove to the village in the morning, which was about 40 minutes from our hotel in Xi’an. Our guide, Richard, grew up in Pang Liu Village. He is now a successful business man and is very active in his efforts to help further develop the village. One of his projects is the school (grades 1-6).
First we met the school principal and the school’s English teacher. We had tea and got to ask questions about the school, education, teaching, etc. It was nice to have the warm tea since they do not have heat in the school.
The kids were on lunch break when we got there. It was their first day back at school after the New Years vacation. Lots of children were playing in the courtyard and they all stopped to stare at us with smiles and giggles when we walked in. The school had put up a big red banner that said ‘Welcome Teacher and Students from Dover-Sherborn High School to Our School’ so we felt very honored and appreciated! The children absolutely LOVED having their pictures taken and were even more excited when we showed them the pictures with the digital camera. They just laughed and laughed. Then I would enlarge it for them and they would laugh even more! When we walked away, some of the kids followed us as far as they could, so that we would take more pictures and pay more attention to them!
Before we got to teach we went to lunch at one of the villagers homes. There was so much good food. Once again, too much food and lots left over. After lunch we went back to the school and saw the library that was founded from donations from people from New England. We also saw the computer lab. They have 28 computers. It is sad that they just had to get all new computers because the old ones (which were new to them) got stolen. They plan on getting internet service in the computer lab in the next week. I bet the kids (and teachers) are very excited!
After that it was time to teach! We split up in two groups. Candice and I went to teach the 5th grade class and Molly and Steve taught the 6th graders. Molly and Steve were fortunate in that the English teacher was with them, so she could interpret for them! We did not have anyone to interpret. Their fifth grade teacher stayed in the classroom with us, but she only knows a few words of English. So it was a challenge, but it was so much fun! First the children sang us the only song in English they know how to sing. It was “BINGO” (hopefully you won’t get that stuck in your head like I did) and it was so cute. I videotaped them singing with my camera. Some of the words didn’t really sound like English, but it was still fabulous. Candice and I taught them the Hokey Pokey. It’s kind of hard to teach things when they can’t receive instructions in their native language, but I think we did okay, considering. First we clarified right hand and left hand and they all had that down. Then we went to it. They put their right hand in. They put their right hand…. Well you know the rest of it. It was a very enthusiastic Hokey Pokey I must say. It was a riot! The kids were having so much fun - they were smiling, twirling and laughing hysterically. We couldn’t get a video though, because we were hokey pokeying too! After that we settled things down and asked them questions from their English textbook. I also put up pictures on the chalkboard asking them to tell me in English what I drew. They got prizes if they were right. Of course, everyone got one right and they all got prizes. One little boy in the back caught my attention because he knew the answer to every single question - even the hard ones that nobody else knew. I guess there’s one of those in every class! Anyhow, do you know what the prizes were? E-patches of course (e-patches are special stickers that DS Middle School teachers give out to students who exhibit “excellence”). Mr. Moran gave me a pile of them when I left and luckily there were just enough for all of the students in the 5th grade class (about 45). They also got Dover Sherborn Middle School Pencils (thanks Mr. Estabrook) and more stickers that Candice brought. Candice went around and put the e-patches on their shirts and let them pick their favorite fruit “scratch n’ sniff” stickers. They would recite to her the English words for all the different fruits. Some of them pulled off their stickers hoping Candice would go back and give them another one!
Before we left the village we visited a health clinic they are opening in the village. They need doctors to come to the village and provide vaccines, etc.
Today was without any hesitation a highlight of the trip for me. Despite having a cold and an earache and the weather being gray, cold and rainy, the trip to the school was one of the most enlightening and worthwhile experiences I have had so far.
