Last Day

This is the last day of journal writing – so sad!  In the morning, all three of us gave English lessons to the hotel restaurant staff.

 

In the afternoon we taught 6^th grade, 6^th grade, and 8^th grade.  The last 8^th grade class was cancelled.  We were then invited to eat out with the English teachers and visiting teachers.  We went to a very nice “hot pot” restaurant.  Many toasts were given.

 

I was impressed by our Chinese hosts and hope we were good ambassadors. 

 

Don

The Students

At breakfast, Baoli handed out the three assignments for teaching English to the hotel staff.  Larkin got the front desk people, Mickey got the maids, and I got the restaurant personnel. 

 

Lunch was at the first floor of the hotel.  We taught Grade 2, Grade 2, Grade 3, and Grade 7.  My students were not as good as some of the earlier ones.  Dinner was at the hotel, second floor.

 

Don

 

Classes

This morning we taught the hotel staff again.  We worked mostly on vocabulary.  At lunch we discussed our final plans, sightseeing Friday with two teachers from the school, then final shopping and packing.

 

Coco met us and stayed with me for all four classes.  She enjoyed doing all the things the students did.  I started feeling sick at the end of the third class.  Luckily, I made it back to the hotel, but couldn’t keep it off for much longer.  I can’t wait until tomorrow when I’ll be feeling better.

 

Mickey

What Fun!

Friday we had a chance to teach 7^th graders.  What fun!  For the most part they were very responsive and caught on quickly to what I wanted them to do.  Two of my classes got far enough to describe what I was wearing with good detail. The third class struggled with spelling “jacket” and saying “ten” instead of “tongue”.

 

Saturday the three of us took a trip to the Stone Forest.  Frank met us at the hotel and we went in the school van along a smooth expressway into the mountains.  The Stone Forest National Park was beautiful.  We rode the trolley ¾ way around the park then got off and hiked through the rock formations, up and down, in and out for about two hours.  We left the park and ate at a small restaurant where Larkin, having become fond of fried bee larvae, ordered a plateful for lunch.

 

After lunch we drove through the countryside, seeing small towns and farms.  Frank was looking for a stone village for us to visit.  We didn’t quite find it and headed back for Kunming, this time not on the lovely expressway, but up hill and down valley and the closer we got to Kunming the thicker the dust and truck traffic.  The driver passed often and we didn’t have any head-on collisions, but we were sure glad to get back to the hotel.

 

Sunday we all went to the Flower and Bird market to do some shopping.  We enjoyed all the birds in the elaborate cages and tried to get the mynahs to say hello—in vain.  Lunch was at a new restaurant in the shopping mall.  Don got quite sick again and this time the swimming pool is suspect.

 

Mickey

Dumplings

Don was a little sick today but he bravely went with us to teach. Otherwise we would have had 24 students in a class instead of the usual 16. The dreaded 7^th graders were scheduled for the last period but didn’t materialize. Instead we had two first grade classes and a 4^th grade class. After class I was swamped with kids wanting my autograph. Gee, I didn’t know my teaching was that good!

 

After class we made dumplings with the teachers and then back to the hotel.

 

Larkin

Martial Arts Day

After our morning of preparation, we went to lunch and found out that some or all of the classes were to be cancelled.  After a 27 minute ride across the city where a horn is essential and staying in a lane is totally optional, we arrived at the school.  The students did martial arts, exercise, and games.  The middle school went first followed by the primary students.  Our teaching schedule was shortened because of the program but we only missed grade two. We had two classes of grade three.  

 

All the elementary and middle school students participated together this afternoon.  Too bad the United States doesn’t have a regular P.E. event like this..

 

 We went out to a nearby restaurant for another great meal.  Surprise!  It was Chinese food!

 

Don

Noodles

We are getting in to the routine of life in Kunming.  We had breakfast, spent the morning preparing, and then went out to lunch for “Crossing the Bridge” noodles.  Baoli told us the legend of the dish and we all enjoyed making and eating our soup.  In the afternoon we went to class and taught 1^st and 2^nd graders.  The children are delightful and generally behave quite well.  They are attentive and try hard to make the sounds that I teach them.

 

After another excellent meal, it’s off to bed.  The maid just dropped off the nightly snack.  It’s a banana this time.

 

Mickey

 

A Little Nervous

Everyone was a little nervous this morning. First day of teaching! Baoli, as usual, was calm and reassuring and the kids were great and it was fun teaching them. I wish I had brought more stickers. They were a hit. We went to a welcoming dinner with the teachers after school where one of the dishes was fried locusts and grubs. They were delicious and probably healthier than potato chips.

 

Interesting fact about China learned so far: No toilet paper is to be flushed down. It goes in a little waste basket and the maids have the task of taking it away.

 

- Larkin

Orientation

Today we met for an early breakfast at the hotel and then met with Baoli for our Global Volunteers orientation.  After more self introductions we learned about the G.V. China program, the philosophy of G.V., the 12 essential services, team building, policies and guidelines, health and safety, and then our work assignment.  After lunch we had free time for a few hours and then before dinner we had Chinese language lessons.  Baoli gave a very educational introduction to the Chinese language.

 

- Don

Saying Goodbye

Woke up singing songs to the kids about their last day in Xian. We practiced our "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" song for the final celebration and I made cold medicine for Cormac and I, and we all headed down to breakfast.

 

For this last breakfast, we all ate our most comforting foods. I had potatoes, Cassidy had a stack of probably 12 banana bread, Cormac had bacon among his other foods, Cindy had her usual fruit and pastry, while Tarik had sausage, hard-boiled egg, and yogurt with cereal, while Tanya's meal was well-rounded with veggies and fruits. In conversation we caught up on the previous day and prepared for the last day, ahead.

 

On the last ride to the school, with Baoli along, we noticed the Toyota dealership was now covered in Chinese flags. The driver was playing the radio, and as we got close to the school, the radio segment gave an English lesson. Yesterday's lesson was "promise" and "disagree", but today's lesson was "I see" and "count me on", which Tanya and I laughed at because count me on isn't something we'd ever say. We talked with Baoli about "count on me", "count me in" and "count me out."

 

We went to teach our last class of second year nursing students. Tanya covered vital signs while I chose Unit 11 from their book: Working with the Dying Patient, and I was able to talk with them about my work with hospice, caring for family, and working with the bereaved. We covered dying with dignity, the stages of grief, and the role of the nurse in caring for the dying. Julia stayed in my classroom most of the time, and provided translation of concepts so class went really well sharing stories, although Cormac felt the discussion was morbid and he didn't like the last class as much as basic English lessons where we would play games.

 

With the last part of class, I spoke about nursing as a noble profession, a service profession, and the students spoke about why they wanted to become nurses. I shared quotes with them, like "What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us, what we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal", and we talked about their meaning.

 

We had a group photo and class was over. Immediately following class we went across the hall to Tanya's room for the final celebration. Mr. Robinson/Liu Yuanzhang was there, as were several classes of students.

 

Della, the student group leader, and others made some speeches. Tanya and I were called on to talk about our time in Xian, and we thanked our hosts for all they did for us. Cormac also briefly spoke, but he became shy and was feeling low blood sugar, so only spoke a little. Cassidy managed a thank-you and basic answers to questions like "Did you like Xian" and "Did you like the students?" President Liu spoke about the value of Global Volunteers' relationship with the school, and how he is the head of the school and students are growing in the garden under the care of the teachers. The volunteers are like angels helping the school. He presented us with parting gifts: a scroll with 5 monkeys in the shape of the character for longevity, and we were photographed with him holding up the scroll.

 

Then students began some farewell performances, including Kazakh or Uyghur dancing by my students, singing, kungfu, and they did a group dance to the song Cassidy was practicing in the field yesterday, so she tried to dance along, and soon the celebration was over and we didn't have to perform our song and the students were dismissed for their lunch break.

 

We gathered our things and went outside to have a group photo with the English teachers and Baoli. We walked to a picturesque locale by the roses, and were singing "Make New Friends" as we posed.

 

Everyone at the school had been so warm and friendly it was hard to say goodbye. Della gave parting pictures to each of the children, and we climbed into the school van for the last time, waving goodbye.

 

We returned to the hotel to drop off things and went to Yong Ming Mountain Noodle for a quick lunch. It was a style of noodle Baoli admitted enjoying, and that she eats most days, and it was delicious and spicy, and came either dry or as a soup. Baoli ordered some of both, as well as round bread sandwiches stuffed with spicy meat, and rice in honey. She even brought a bottle of Sprite to the table.

 

After lunch we took bus #29 to the city wall, and got off to walk in the park along the wall. The kids ran from exercise equipment to exercise equipment, and as the kids were playing tag and running around the rocks I said a classic quote "don't go anywhere that might be a toilet."

 

We made our way to the South Gate, precariously crossing the street to reach the entrance to the City Wall, and paid 40 yuan/adult, 20 yuan/child to enter. On the wall, Cormac rented a bike for another 40 yuan, and we strolled along admiring the view and the scenery. We spent about 2 hours at the wall.

 

On exiting, we rented motorized pedicabs to take us to the Beijing Kao Ya (Peking Roast Duck) restaurant, where we met up with Baoli and Cindy for the last meal. We had a nice final get-together, and especially Cassidy enjoyed the meal even though there was no rice!! There were green beans, dragon's mustache (long xu cai), and fried bread pastry that was proclaimed Cindy's favorite food in China, cilantro with wheat flour, and Peking Duck, with scallions and pancakes and hoisin, which all the kids loved. Everyone ate until very full, and the meal together was a fun final bonding and reflection time, which was photographed.

 

Baoli said we were a fun, unusual group, not only the first with children but the first to want to ride the city bus. So we enjoyed a final bus ride back to the hotel together, and even walked past the noodle shop where we'd eaten earlier.

 

Back in the room, I borrowed Cindy's hairdryer to blow-dry clothes, and it felt good to think that might be the last time doing that. I said final good-byes to Cindy and Baoli. I would love for Baoli to visit MN and have her visit Yinghua.

 

 

Lights, Camera, Action!

We are entering our final days as we prepared for two of our three final classes. Using some of the activities, I had used with previous classes this week, I was met with blank stares. As a result, I quickly changed my tactic and used the work making game, Around the World and Pronunciation Word slap. At least everyone was moving with those games. 

 

Immediately after class we were to join the rest of the school outside on the field where they were making a documentary/film about the school. Apparently Robinson is taking advantage of a local TV stations interest in making a film to also try to create a school promotional video. As we were the volunteer English teachers, we were led over to two double circles of students and asked to teach to them for the cameras. Unfortunately I cannot think so quickly, so my group ended up playing Duck Duck, Grey Duck with the variation of adding different colors in front of the word duck such as yellow duck, red duck orange duck, blue duck, grey duck. We then played baseball for a little bit while we wanted to see if they wanted to film us some more. When the filming was over, we returned to the same restaurant we ate at the first day with the teachers and cleared almost every plate. Robinson, the school president joined us to express his gratitude and he even introduced us to the restaurant owner who was his friend. A round of photos ensued before we headed back to the university.

 

There was no rest for the weary after lunch as classes had already begun. Since Comac was not feeling well, he rested in the office. The lunch break events were felt by all as many of the students left after the break and the lack of an afternoon nap could be seen on the students’ faces.

 

We arrived at the hotel at 6pm, just in time to go to dinner. Cindy was not joining us for dinner since one of the teachers from La La Shoua had invited her to dinner at her home. It will be fun to hear her report on the evening tomorrow. 

 

The kids had a long day, so they were rewarded with a short Donald Duck episode in Chinese. Then it was off to bed for all of us.

 

Origami and Performances

This morning I got waked up by my Mom. I was very tired then because I didn't have much sleep. And then we had breakfast. At breakfast I was having a hard time getting the plate out. The bad thing is the coffee spilled on my food, so I didn't want my food, and I only had coffee for breakfast. And apple juice.

 

Then I was worried about being late because of the clock Tarik's Mom had.  But then we went to another school. We came to a performance at that school. When we went there they gave us oranges, bananas, and grapes. I didn't like the grapes, though, they had weird seeds. We went to a Chinese class. I learned some Chinese about swans. The class was weird and random but the teacher was very nice, good and awesome. Then we went upstairs to the art class. We made a lot of origami, like swans, and I was allowed to get a cat drawing which reminded me of my pet Kai my parents gave to a barn. Cormac got a picture of two fish trying to kiss each other with bubbles.

 

Then we went to the performances, which were very big and a hundred times better than ours. We did a couple songs, "Liang Zhi Laohu" and "Make New Friends." They did huge performances which were very awesome: they swayed their beautiful dresses and kicked their legs and I am so jealous it was amazing. I wanted to jump rope a lot but I was nervous and messed up like 300 times.

 

And then we went to lunch, it was very good. I had pretty much a whole bucket of food.

 

After lunch, we went back to the old school. We taught as usual but the girls chased me more. For the 10 minutes break I pretty much hid in the bathroom the whole time so no one would take pictures of me.

 

So we went to dinner. But back to dinner, we ate rice and my favorite food in China, green beans. You should have seen me use chopsticks with baby, teeny, not even an inch size little shrimps that were so good. Then the team got ice cream. After my ice cream we went to a big movie camera outside, so if you were on the street it showed on the building.

 

When we were back at the hotel after the TV, I demanded a picture of the hotel. It was actually 11 and up to come here, but I was lucky to come here at this hotel, and also Tarik was lucky.

 

 

Big Class

Today Cassidy and Karen were sick, so Cormac has to go with me (Tarik) and Tanya.  We had a big class with Cormac. When we were done teaching we went back to the hotel and checked on Karen and Cassidy.

 

Cassidy was feeling much better but Karen was still sick, so Karen skipped lunch and dinner, but not breakfast.

 

Then we came back and I looked at Cormac playing his DS and we practiced a song for tomorrow and that was all for today.

Dumpling Party

After breakfast we went to teach the class from last Monday. For some reason, the class was smaller than I remembered it. Mostly because it was a club, and also, they didn’t have to go. So we taught them a lot about Yinghua, and the school lunch, and then, at the ten minute break, I had a conversation with the class about how my class at Yinghua was like. Then, they had to say what English phrase they liked the most, and someone said “to be or not to be” which was pretty cool. After that, we had some down time, and I wanted to play with my 3DS, but my Mom demanded homework. Then, after that we were headed to the dumpling party for all the teachers. Obviously the little ones loved it (including me!) I ate so many dumplings that now I feel like one! Oh, but it was totally worth it! There were two types: meat and spinach. I mostly ate the meat ones, but both were good. Also, there was a cucumber dish that was my favorite! To gain some weight, we had fruits in yogurt dip.

 

Afterwards, we had a little down time to play games, do homework, etc. Then we headed toward dinner, and met up with the gang to do our entries and all.  For dinner, there was thousand layer bread with chili to put in it, and kiwi from Baoli’s brother-in-law. Then, for dessert, we had lemon filled custards that were warm and tasty. I’d say this was a good full day.

At La La Shou

Today started as usual with the team (minus Baoli) eating breakfast at the hotel. Everyone enjoys the large breakfast buffet with its combination of Chinese and Western style breakfast foods. 

 

After breakfast, I was off to La La Shou and luckily got a cab right away (which doesn't usually happen).

 

Today was a good day with my "pre-school" class. The class is made up of 9 children ages 6-8.  There are 2 girls and 7 boys with a variety of special needs including developmental retardation and autism. All of the students are quite low functioning. The students are mostly non-verbal and all have severe behavioral issues. There are 3 teachers in the class and a variety of volunteers. In addition to me, there is a young American woman from another volunteer organization and there have been 2 Chinese university students. Today, I was the only volunteer there. 

 

The daily routine is made up of morning exercise, morning activity, exercise and game time, unit study, lunch and nap, hands-on project, snack and talk, music or art and several trips to the bathroom and breaks for water. On Friday afternoons the children watch cartoon movies at the end of the day.  

 

My role as a classroom aide is to help the kids stay on track (and in the room). This includes getting them to stay in their seats and to follow along with the activities and to participate in the hands-on activity. The kids spend long periods of time sitting in their seats listening to lessons, which is very difficult for them to do. They are not as actively involved as children in American classrooms. Some of the children can follow the lessons but several of them are not really paying attention. They get out of their seats, wander around, pick at papers taped to the floor and have been known to hit, pinch, scratch, bite, pull hair, and even go to the bathroom on the floor.

 

I am amazed and embarrassed that I have been in the class for 5 days now and still don't know the children's names. The sounds of their names (and the language in general) are so foreign to me that I don't even recognize them when the teachers use their names.

 

The teachers are young and energetic and very loving with the children. They have a long day and a very difficult job. Even with a ratio of 1 teacher to 3 students, it is impossible to keep all of the students on task most of the time. 

 

I was very tired after a full week and glad that it was Friday. 

 

Tonight we had "dinner" at a Chinese tea house.  We had coffee, tea or hot chocolate and popcorn, nuts and fruit.  (Actually, very much like the kind of dinner I would have at home.)  Cassidy and Tarik sat by themselves, did their own ordering and entertained the waitresses. Very grown up. Cormac, as always, was an invaluable help with his excellent Chinese language skills.

Tai Chi

It is now harder and harder to be up that early in the morning but the great spread at breakfast makes it easier. Armed with our beginners’ English textbook, we are better prepared to teach our students. Searching the flashcards box and the resource room shelves we were able to add some interesting activities to our lessons.

 

The morning class went well with a nice question and answer session with Julia’s help. It also gave me a chance to show off some Latin dance moves. Cormac and Cassidy joined the I Spy game in our classroom and added some pep to my game of bingo.

 

Before lunch we had a back finger and neck bending session of Tai Chi with one of the chiropractic instructors and his students. After learning many exercises for losing weight, we were off to lunch to gain some more. Since the electricity and water were out at the school we could not eat noodles in the cafeteria, so we were off to a very crowded nearby restaurant where we discussed the children’s Chinese Immersion school as we were serenaded by baby shower karaoke singers next door.

The afternoon classes went much smoother as we are getting the hang of the students’ level and can plan more appropriate activities.

 

We gathered in the lobby to meet for dinner walking to a restaurant near the Tang Dynasty Market and learned about the one child policy from Baoli.

 

After dinner the Calcaterras and Crespos went on a Dairy Queen hunt as Baoli and Cindy had a leisurely walk to the hotel.

Lots of Teaching

Today， I remember I had breakfast and we waited like for one whole hour for the taxi.  Even one taxi stopped and didn’t pick us up.  He wouldn’t take us there.  And then this guy on a motorcycle helped us on a bus that goes to the museum.

 

At the museum I saw lots of very long, long, long time ago, even before the zeros kinds of art that still China made.  I saw ancient kinds of art like old cauldrons and dead horses and things made out of bronze and clay.

 

After the museum we went to a water fountain and I had ice cream and it was nice there.  The water was dancing like people to the music, but it was like spraying.

 

We went back home for a little break and we had lunch downstairs at the hotel.

 

Then we went to teach and that is a long story.  We taught for a long, long time but then we had a break and people took thousands and thousands of pictures.  Pretty much the whole class took pictures.

 

 

Off to the Races

Today we are starting to adjust our bodies to China time a little bit more even though we are a bit jetlagged still. Breakfast was at a more leisurely pace today. As we returned to the Biomedical Technical College for our second day of teaching, we come prepared with a variety of activities to do with our students. Yesterday’s brainstorming session helped a lot when coming up with ideas for our morning classes. 

 

Tarik and I had a successful morning with our students and continue to make improvements to our lesson plans as we learn what works well and what does not work well for the students. Lunch was across the street at a Muslim restaurant where we ate soaked bread soup. Tarik was in heaven to be able to eat a big bowl of soup. Then it was off to the races, at least for the kids. We went to check out the new Astroturf track at the school only to find out that  the test of athletic ability for entrance to the field was your ability to jump the fence. Nevertheless, the kids were still able to run off their energy running around the Confucius statue in front of the school and did some homework before teaching again. 

 

In the afternoon we were a hit by playing “I Spy” and the Calcaterras also had a more successful afternoon. As we were leaving the school, we were met by Robinson, the President of the college who wanted a picture with us in front of the huge electronic “Welcome, Global Volunteers” sign in front of the school. Despite our efforts to eat dinner early, it seems that dinnertime will remain at 6pm. Mushroom soup filled a variety of stomachs as we learned about Cindy’s day at La La Shou. Then it was off to bed.

First Day of Teaching

Today was the first day of teaching.   First, the school assigned for us to do an introduction and explain ourselves.  Once it came to me, I didn’t know what to say.  But I kept calm, spoke my name, etc., and it all ended out well.  After that, everybody came up to me, took shots of me, wanted me to sign their notebooks, and even my email!  Oh, don’t forget about Cassidy.  She also has been loved by many.

 

After that, me, my Mom, and Cassidy taught the class, and we played a few fun games.  Then, after that, they were dismissed, and we went to have lunch.  There, we were singing various songs. I sang Blackbird, and everyone was impressed.  So far, the job is  well done. (at least I think so!) 

 

Back at the hotel, we did homework, and met up with the gang at dinner, and told each other how our days went.  Hope tomorrow is as good as today.

 

Team #203

Today was orientation day and the 1st day for the full group of China's Team # 203. This team is made up of 6 members and our team leader Wang Baoli. The team members are Tanya (a Global Volunteers employee) and her 8 year old son Tarik and Karen and her 2 children, 8 year old Cassidy and 11 year old Cormac (all from MN), and Cindy from RI. 

 

The 5 team members from MN all have some degree of familiarity with Chinese. Karen's family lived in China for 10 months and all 3 of the children in the group attend a Chinese immersion school. Cindy, on the other hand, spent $179 on the Rosetta Stone Mandarin program and learned 5 words. 

 

The orientation was held at the bio-technical college where Karen, Cassidy, Cormac, Tania and Tarik will teach conversational English. Cindy will be working at the La La Shou Special Education Center. Baoli went over the GV Philosophy, Procedures and Guidelines and the program in China. The team came up with team goals and discussed the characteristics of an effective team. Baoli reviewed some Health and Safety Procedures. Robinson, the president of the college, came to introduce himself and to meets us.

 

After the orientation we returned to the hotel for a traditional Chinese dinner and to discuss the logistics for the first day of work tomorrow and some team work assignments. Cindy will be the Journal Manager, Tania and Cormac will be the Farewell Program Manager and Karen will be the Free Time Planner Manager.

 

Tomorrow the adventure continues.....

Routine as Usual

We began the day with the usual routine: breakfast on the second floor with Baoli. The only unusual thing about breakfast was that Tom wasn’t with us, so we weren’t able to enjoy his idle prattle. Following breakfast, we headed to school. Today, Nora and Geni’s class performed skits from old fairy tale books and learned about American currency. Dia and Fran’s class had a heated debate about gender roles and also practiced their songs for the closing ceremony. Tom’s class read newspaper articles, practiced pronunciation, and sang songs.

After class, each of the three classes took their teachers to lunch. Nora and Geni went to a restaurant that served several dishes, including fish, duck, chicken, soup, and rice. Dia and Fran went to a restaurant that served mostly spicy food, and Tom went to lunch with his class and ate very exotic food.

Dinner was fabulous, as always.  When dinner was over, the Gualtieris returned back to their rooms for a peaceful evening.

- Geni

"The end of one day is the beginning of another."

 Team 203 started the day with a nourishing, healthy breakfast at the Golden Spring Hotel. Lots of coffee for Fran and everyone but Baoli, late as usual. Off to teach class at 8:00 am as usual today.

Tom's class read and discussed newspaper articles today. They also worked on tongue twisters and played pronunciation games. Geni and Nora's class read stories from children's books and acted the plots out after discussing the meanings. There were some real actors and hams in the class. Their day was completed with games and songs. Dia and Fran's class wrote and read compositions that started with a phrase given to them by Fran. The class was very creative and these resulted in a number of new vocabulary words. The class then worked on new songs and games which were brought to the class by the teachers from their personal experience.

Afternoon classes were given in lecture form to the three individual classes. Tom discussed learning disabilities with each class for 40 min and then took individual questions. Geni and Nora discussed life of the American middle school student, high school student and details on university admission and life. They followed up each class with songs and chants. Fran discussed her personal Chinese adoption process for her three daughters and her personal experience owning and operating a small restaurant business.

Everyone went back to the hotel tired but satisfied from a long day. The girls went shopping and Tom and Fran rested till dinner. Another fine dinner was had at the hotel and everyone retired early to work on Thursday lesson plans.

- Fran

Field Trip!

The health and safety report was given at breakfast, and then the journal for yesterday was read by Fran. We planned our day and were told more about the field trip we took this afternoon.

Geni and I taught Geni’s class while Tom taught my class yesterday.  We switched classes today and Geni and I were going to teach the same thing today. The only thing we planned differently was the song we were going to teach them. It ended up taking my class longer to learn the song. My class is louder and more open then yesterday’s class so we played the fly swatter game longer. We ended class with a few rounds of “Ride that Pony”. The game and song took so much longer we didn’t have a chance to teach them cards or look at a few books we brought. Fran and Dia’s class learned about money and pretended to order from restaurants. Dia led some songs and dances. At the end, they talked about Friday’s closing ceremony. Tom was serious today because Geni and my class were very loud. His class read newspapers and discussed them. Not to mention the tongue twisters they practiced.

This afternoon, instead of the usual lectures, we went on a field trip to the Hump Memorial Park. This was the memorial for the “Flying Tigers”. We took many pictures and climbed many stairs. At the end, we all played “Ride that Pony” and a rigorous game of Simon Says.

After resting for a bit, we went to a restaurant across the street for dinner. It was nice to eat in a different place once in a while. I like the second noodle dish and I liked the dumplings the best.

Monday

It’s Monday and Team 203 had its usual breakfast and lunch meeting to plan for the upcoming week. No class was held in the morning so the team was able to spend extra time on lesson plans after their weekend away in Lijiang.

Nora gave the weekly journal assignments while Geni reviewed current health and safety issues during lunch. The team is happy to be back in Kunming eating our usual healthy Chinese diet with lots of vegetables and fruit.

Geni and Nora will lead Ali and Nora’s secondary school teacher’s group this week. Today they quizzed students on pronunciation issues and engaged students in a fun game of identifying and naming animals - a version of the Fly Swatter game. Teachers were rewarded with emory boards, combs, shower caps and other hotel room give-aways. Games and chants followed in a rowdy and fun manner.

Tom led his group in pronunciation exercises, vocabulary games and common expressions and phrases. The class was visited by Nora who reviewed games and chants with the group. Dia and Fran’s group spent the majority of the class time identifying their hometowns on the Yunnan Province map and their favorite vacation sites on the China map. Next the class worked on idioms and Dia led the class in songs and chants. “I’m a little teapot” was a big hit.

At dinner the group listened to Baoli’s review of the Flying Tiger’s history and the importance of the field trip on Tuesday afternoon to the site of the Flying Tigers Memorial. We also discussed other class ideas for Tuesday afternoon.

- Fran

Interviews, Games and Goodbyes

Today was Ali's last day.  So, after lessons, reading passages, and defining words that the class didn't understand and writing teaching goals, Nora and Ali engaged in a dolorous version of the Hokey Pokey, took class photos and said goodbyes.   At lunch, Ali showed us her fabulous scarf, and Baoli decided she wanted one too. Everyone gave Ali a big hug, and then she flew off to face the floods in Beijing.

In Frances and Dia's class, they discussed class goals, and Dia was interviewed about what primary school is like in the US. Of course, Dia’s vision of primary school may or may not resemble what grammar schools really like, but the class enjoyed her answers anyway. Then the teams divided up and answered questions. Dia led a session of Simon Says, and Heads Up, Seven Up. Then they discussed next week's goals and Friday's closing ceremony.

Tom and Geni asked their class what they wanted to do, and they asked for ways to study vocabulary. So we divided up into the usual two teams, and played some different word games. The first was the fluency game, naming as many words as one could that began with a certain letter. The second was jeopardy, and the teams would fill the letters to make words from a common phrase. We were able to do idioms again, like "jump down your throat," and "out of your mind."  We also did a spirited version of the Hokey Pokey.

School was out at noontime, and after lunch the Gualtieri's got ready for their fabulous trip. It was definitely a last-minute affair, but at 830 we finally left the hotel to go to the train station.  We were off to LiJiang.  Baoli decided to stay in Kunming and work.

-Tom