Report from Hainan - Team 169

United Nations Millennium Goals Addressed by our Team: (Ensure that, by 2015, children everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling.) During Feb 21- Mar. 7, 2009, 17 volunteers on the team provided 613 hours of conversational English language instruction to 69 local English teachers and about 3100 students.

First Week:

Welcome to the 17 members of the 5th team on Hainan Island.

Our first school day was better than I expected. We started this morning with our ample delicious breakfast, some words of encouragement from Bao Li and into a bus headed for school.

We were welcomed by school officials in an auditorium filled with the smiling, anxious faces of our soon to be students. What a treat they turned out to be.

On the bus ride back to the hotel, we were all chatting about our experiences and, after lunch, one of each pair of volunteers reported on how things went and what new ideas we could try to enrich the lesson plans for future days.

At 6 pm we climbed back into the bus heading for a dinner as guests of our hosts in China. We again fed on exotic foods, only this time, the wine flowed and the conversation in both Chinese and English consisted of toasting one another to friendship between individuals and between our nations.

On Tuesday, after breakfast, Baoli shared Chinese cultural customs with us, such as traditions surrounding marriage and toasting one another.

It appears many of us are getting serious about teaching because, as time goes by, more and more baggage with school supplies and equipment is being loaded onto the bus each morning! I believe this is an exceptional team, in that, there is so much friendliness, helpfulness and openness among the members. We continue to share helpful hints to compliment our class projects.

After lunch, Baoli and the team started working on and putting together the assignments for Haikou High School and the Experimental Foreign Languages School. This effort was finalized after dinner.

Another full and fulfilling day.

Wednesday morning, Baoli gave us a talk about China's one-child per family system at breakfast meeting. The day’s activities included teaching at the English Academy in the morning and at Haikou Sr. HS in the afternoon.

Carole and Don's students/teachers turned a simple discussion on prepositions into a full period creative imagination adventure, which concluded with singing "Mairzy Doats". Cindie and Kim introduced their students to the advantages of catalog shopping. Eleanor worked 1 on 1 with a student who wanted to study Chimpanzee control in Stamford, CT.

The afternoon gave us in intro to China's future movers and shakers. The Haikou School is private, boarding and K - 12, supported entirely by tuition. Students are from affluent families all over Hainan. The buildings are large and impressive.

Donald lectured on the US educational system and Dick on the Chinese immigration experience in the US. After the lectures to teachers we broke into teams of two for conversation with classes of 22-25 students at the high school level. Five classes remained in the auditorium. It was noisy. At times the decibel level was so high that five Global Volun

teers were simply unable to continue interacting with their students. For most of the two hours we volunteers only had real contact with about half of the students present.

At 5:30 Haikou School hosted us to a fabulous meal at the One on One Dumpling Plaza.They serve the best dumplings in Hainan, as we learned by sampling all three varieties: fried, boiled and steamed.

Thursday was another sunny day. All classes convened in Room 701 to watch “Mr. Holland’s Opus”, an interesting, moving story about a musician thrust into a high school as a music teacher, and his subsequent experiences over 30 years, starting in the 60’s. The individual classes then reconvened for the last half hour in their own classrooms and discussed the movie and some of the unfamiliar words and phrases used in the movie. In line with the musical theme of the movie, Don (Maher) played a fast paced, old time American tune and a Mexican love song on his harmonica in his and Carole’s class.

In the afternoon, Bao Li accompanied 12 volunteers who taught at the Haizhinan Experimental Foreign Language School which includes grades K through 7. Each class was scheduled to have about 40 students. The school staff invited the volunteers to dinner.

At the invitation of some of Marilyn’s last year’s students, four other GV’s went out to Wanshee, a small village outside Haikou. Because of heavy traffic, the one hour trip took almost two hours. They visited one of the former student teacher’s home, which is modern and comfortable. They also visited the local village school. There, the volunteers were surrounded by over 200 excited, clamoring kids who apparently had never before seen non-Asian foreigners, especially from America. While there, they made a very interesting visit down an old, unpaved alley to a temple to celebrate the birth of one of the Buddhist gods, GongQi , and had their fortunes told.

Friday: Carol and Baoli presented our weekend options; one being, a one day ecological tour of Hainan, and the other an overnight trip to a village and a beach.

In the Academy. Several teams discussed the final celebration, as well as the movie “Mr. Holland’s Opus”. Some special things that GVs did in class were:

Glenda & Phil took a field trip to a public primary school where one of their student’s teaches and Glenda lead the class in “Head shoulders, knees and toes”.

Ed & Phyllis had their class tell about their own personal Mr. Holland. Then Phyllis talked about personal hygiene and the benefits of hand washing.

Gail & Nancye’s class played 20 questions about the movie characters and then about their classmates. They also did a listening exercise with follow-up questions. Then they split their class and half discussed what they saw in magazines and the other discussed the Academy Awards.

Judy & Eleanor gave each of their students a word and asked them to make a sentence out of it. They also discussed a Chinese Opera about a girl, who dressed up as a boy to go to school. It was titled Liang and Zhu.

Don & Carole used flip charts with character, setting, and plot choices to have their students to create stories.

Donald took his students to the University of Haikou Park and sampled Dim Sum and listened to some traditional Chinese music.

Thelma & Dick’s class sang songs, did word bingo and some oral reading.

Roy & Marilyn discussed marriage relationships with their students, as well as wedding planning in China.

Cindie & Kim also planned the lesson around relationships. They discussed all types, including grand-parents and grand-children and a woman’s many roles as a wife, mother, daughter-in-law, & sister-in-law often under the same roof in China.

Lunch was back at the hotel. Afterwards, Carole told the group about the wonderful school presentation we witnessed Thursday. Including 3 different dance/martial arts performances and a moving traditional song with gestures done by the children. Marilyn informed us about her group’s trip to a former student’s home and village. I am not sure which group had the better experience.

In the afternoon a few GVs worked with some of the hotel staff on English appropriate for their positions. They thanked them by inviting them to the hotel bar for karaoke later that night.

Baoli lead our troupe on a pleasant 20 minute walk to a lovely dinner at a “hot-pot” restaurant. Carol and I saw some cloth napkins on a lower shelf on a coffee table, so we thought we would help ourselves. They turned out to be stapled together in their fan or duck shapes and were just for decoration. As usual, we just got tissues for napkins. It was another delightful cultural dining experience.

Ahh, the weekend is here.

Second Week:

We started the second week of teaching in Haikou greeted by cooler weather.

In Gail and Nancye's class there was a discussion about what everyone did over the weekend. Since one of the students went to a wedding that led to a discussion of Chinese and American wedding customs. The class also worked in groups planning trips and presenting them to the class. The trips planned were to Sanya, Tibet, Beijing, and Egypt. In Phyllis and Ed's class students made dried flower cards. In Don's class students wrote stories and read them aloud. Eleanor and Judy went out with their class to Haikou Golden Blue Ridge Zoo. They went to the Pearl Plaza and ate lunch at a Chinese fast food restaurant. The students then took them to a supermarket and showed them food not found in the US. and bought them chrysanthemum tea and dragon fruit.

In the afternoon Cindy, Kim, Carole and Gail took "the taxi to nowhere". Arriving at the Hainan Museum, they found it closed. They had to go out on the street and hail a taxi back to the hotel. Thank goodness for those name tags with the name of the hotel written in Chinese. Marilyn and Roy went to the spa where they had their hair washed and Marilyn had a facial and reflexology.

At dinner we were treated to macadamia nut chocolates by Phyllis, California dark chocolate almonds by Don, and dragon fruit by the students of Eleanor and Judy. After a spirited discussion of what songs to sing at the closing program, it was decided to go with "America the Beautiful", It's a Small World", and "Make New Friends and Keep the Old".

Tuesday started with the usual buffet and the reading of the journal. The bus took us to the school where our enthusiastic students waited. Phil and Glenda went out to breakfast with their students followed by a tour of Hainan University. And, Kim and Cindie did American holidays and Phyllis and Ed took a walk through old Haikou. At the request of my students, Dick gave a very informative talk on the construction and history of the Christian Bible. I followed his talk with idioms and general discussion of magazine articles. Nancy and Gail toured Hainan University and shopped with the students. Eleanor and Judy did a vocabulary lesson and Roy and Marilyn went shopping with their students. Donald and Carole also took an extensive city walk.

In the afternoon, five of us went to Hainan Middle School and visited with a large group of English students who were full of questions about life in American and what we thought of China. Following the visit, the teachers treated us to a dinner at a local restaurant.

On Wednesday, our small class of 5, consisting of 1 man 27 years old and 4 women, the oldest being 40 years old, decided on 3/3/09 they wanted to take Eleanor and Judy to a strawberry farm. They were to leave at 8:30 am for the farm this morning to pick strawberries. However, Judy didn’t feel well so they decided to take us to the 40 year old teacher’s school and watch her teach 4th graders. Her name means Muong Sunflower, Kei Huan. She was very dynamic, I thought that did a good job, even though she is a match teacher.

At 4 pm, we boarded a brand new bus that was A/C and had comfortable seats. The bus belongs to the Hainan Overseas Chinese School. We each spoke to a calss with a class of 66-68 students. We spoke to them and they spoke to us very little for 15 minutes. Roy and Eleanor had a class in the 8th grade. They split the class in half, Roy had half and Eleanor had the other half. While we waited for the bus to take us to dinner, many girls and one boy asked us to write my name on their uniform.

Then the volunteers were taken along with teachers in the fancy bus to a

restaurant at the Hainan Yacht Club. The food was abundant and more than anyone could eat. The variety was so much and so good. The seafood was special and so were the meats, lamb, beef, pork, chicken, etc. barbecued. We left the club and beautiful beach about 6:40 pm and headed back to Hainan Overseas Chinese School. The students were waiting anxiously for us seated in chairs they carried from the classroom to the sports area. They had been waiting about an hour for us. They were the brightest selected by their teachers; spoke English well. I had 13 boys and girls. The girls were very aggressive and asked many questions. We sang a couple of songs and they sang one for me and presented me with 3 gifts. They wanted me to stay longer and told me they would miss me, wanted me to come back, etc. They waved continually until the bus pulled away; they boarded the bus and gave me an Orion Pie plus other students gave others on the bus gifts.

Thursday day began splendidly! I was greeted by the biggest, orange disk in the sky! The sun was brilliant and looked stunning over the buildings and harbor! What a way to begin second to last day teaching our students with Global Volunteers.

We boarded the bus, each eager to see our ‘now friends’, our students, and what the morning would bring. In our class, we began by rehearsing the program our students planned to perform at the closing ceremony on Friday. Following the rehearsal, we divided our students in 2 groups and took them out on the street to shop. We went to a large supermarket, with escalators, and while on the 2nd floor, ran into Roy and his students. The students explained all the different foods to us, which was interesting. It was apparent, that the program for Friday was practiced in all the classrooms.

Each set of teachers was asked to sign certificates for the students.

Don and Carol talked about floor plans in homes in the

states and had photos of living rooms, kitchens, etc. Glenda and Phil used Carol’s I-Pod and speakers and had their class sing and read Oklahoma to the music playing on the I-Pod.

Ed and Phyllis divided up their class into ‘tour guides’ and ‘tourists’ – I gather a lively session took place.

In the afternoon, we went to Haikou Middle School #4. Teams were sent to various rooms for questions and answers. I had 200 students view my PowerPoint presentation on Global Volunteers and our travels through China over the past four years. Once we worked out the initial glitch of connecting my computer to their equipment, the presentation went well and questions and answers followed. After a harrowing taxi ride, we arrived back to our hotel, safely –

After another delicious dinner, we briefly went over our program for Fri. closing ceremony – ‘AMERICA THE BEATIFUL’, ‘ITS A SMALL WORLD’ & closing with ‘MAKE NEW FRIENDS, BUT KEEP THE OLD’, many adjourned to their rooms to pack. Several stayed behind to view my PowerPoint presentation, which I felt honored to give.

A very good day indeed! Tomorrow, last teaching day with G.V.

Friday, the last active day

of team 169 commenced with breakfast at 7 am on a rainy-foggy day. At 8:30, teaching in small classes, were interrupted by gifts from our students, English teachers, & exchanging farewells. The remainder of the morning

was a grand closing celebration. There were speeches by the Academy’s leaders. Then the English teachers’ put on a terrific show with songs, dancing & costumes. Each of the 8 classes were very competitive. We all ended, sadly, as the program came to an end.

Our students, class 5, treated us to a sumptuous luncheon at Qiong Gai Wang restaurant. They ordered oysters, shrimp, calamari, Hainan noodles, just to name of few of the delicious foods.

The afternoon was used to prepare departure, after many went & got massages, facials, hair treatments, etc!!!!!!

The grand finale was a dinner hosted by the Academy and all the officials of the school attended. It was a delicious meal, while we were entertained by traditional Chinese dancing & music.

So ended a great two week experience for team 169.

We are One Family in Love---La La Shou New Year Party

On Jan. 16, all the La La Shou children, teachers, office staff, parents celebrated the start of the Year of Ox together. The theme is “We are One Family in Love”.

Together, they presented us a perfectly imperfect performance show. Not every moment was completely in order. Not every performance went as planned. Not every sound was articulated clearly and correctly. Not every applaud happened when it was supposed. I could count tens of places for improvements, but none of them mattered because:

“Every life deserves respect and love. Some even more…Nothing in the world is difficult if you set your mind to it… There are some moments when we doubted the value of our child, but there are also others when we feel we can never love them enough…We can not forget the support we have received from local and overseas organizations either. And all the volunteers, Chinese and American, are the dearest to us….” (Quoted from La La Shou New Year Party)

To all the Global Volunteers who have worked at La La Shou, we want to thank you again for having helped the children, teachers and parents in so many ways, teaching, assisting, playing, feeding and loving. I hope the pictures will help me to share with you the happy moments and pass you the lasting gratitude from La La Shou. They miss you and hope you will come back.

1. Five boys reciting Tang Dynasty Poetry

2. A basketball player acted by Du Jialin

3. Cheerleaders: Gao Xing and his teacher

4. A Xinjiang Ethinic Dance by teachers

Wish you a Happy New Year!!!

A Chinese English Teachers's Thank-you Speech

It’s my great honor to stand here and make this thank-you speech.

First of all, I would like to take this chance to express our heart-felt appreciation to all of you, members of Global Volunteers. Thank you for your hard work, thank you for what you have brought us from far end of the ocean.

We especially want to express our thankfulness to the instructors of our class. There are 12 members in our class. Before we met here, none of us knew each other. With your help, we’ve made great improvement in our English level, especially in listening and speaking. With your patience, carefulness and kindness, you quickly built and created for us a free and enjoyable language learning atmosphere. You noticed each of our problems and provided the necessary help. You could see the doubts in our minds from our blank eyes and confused expressions, and then you gave us a full explanation. Eventually, with you hard work, we overcame our fears and gradually began comfortable telling our own ideas. That was a great step forward for us.

Also, we learned so much information which we cannot get from newspapers, magazines or TV. Now we know more about your society and culture.

Most importantly, all of us felt your friendliness, warmth and politeness. We have become more like a big family. Maybe we won’t meet again, but I think if we are willing, we always have other ways to keep in touch. For I am sure there is no distance between our hearts.

This has been a wonderful English learning and cultural exchange experience. I will keep it in my heart forever.

- Wu Haiyan, Chinese English teacher

Report from Hainan - Team 168

United Nations Millennium Goals Addressed by this Team: (Ensure that, by 2015, children everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling.) Seven volunteers provided 227 hours of conversational English language instruction to 46 teachers and 475 primary and secondary school students.


Reflections On Week One:
The fourth Global Volunteers group to come to Hainan Island, a.k.a. “The Hawaii of China” officially coalesced as a team during breakfast on Sunday. We are a small group but hope to leave a big impression on the local teachers.

At 8 a.m. on Monday, we were driven to the Haikou Educational Research and Training Academy where we attended an opening ceremony with a welcome address by Ms. Lin Jue, the president. Afterwards, we started teaching our first class with our assigned groups.

This is work. But it seems like everyone is enjoying the challenge, is effectively teaching, and is happy to be here. We began the day working at breakfast. During the teaching morning the dynamic duo – Leo and Jim – had their students answer various questions they put in “the hat”. The questions must have been powerful since the activity seemed to keep the students interested most of the morning. Victoria’s themes of dating and winter solstice with singing and story reading engaged her students. Albert and Cathy used a number system to keep things rolling and get students talking. Jim and Carolyn’s students wrote and told stories from pictures, watched home movies about Thanksgiving, and played bingo.

Thursday was a very special day. After teaching for the first half of the morning everyone assembled in the main lecture hall for a holiday celebration. We had the students make and hang paper chains and snow flakes. The program began with Leo as the M.C. He told students about a typical family Christmas at his parent’s house – a combination of Polish, Italian, and German traditions. He also told about Posadas, a typical holiday tradition celebrated by many Latinos in the USA. We then sang some Christmas songs, followed by Victoria’s students who shone as they sang several rounds of “Deck the Halls”. The celebration cumulated with a conga line to the beat of Gloria Estafan’s “Conga” which Albert had downloaded. Afterwards the students each received a gift bag with a miniature Santa and candy.Then everyone was treated by their students to lunch at a local restaurant. I am sure that this was a Christmas day that none of us will ever forget.

Friday morning Drill Sergeant Wang Bao Li had reviewed with us our team goals and the characteristics of an effective team. Most of us gave ourselves a 4.8 out of 5 for meeting our team goals.

We have listed 16 team characteristics. But as with any team, on any given day none of us will ever have all 16 characteristics. That is why the team as a whole is so important to our success here in Haikou, and to the Global Volunteers programs. Every day and night each of us will be either be less flexible, less friendly, less respectful, less punctual and so one down the list.

Each day/night some of us will feel less motivated, and so the rest of the team must become more motivated. Each day/night some of us will feel less creative, that’s why we share our ideas and teaching methods.

Over the past week we have transformed from complete strangers to a well oiled teaching machine. A team. And at the end of each day as we lay down upon our cotton wrapped plywood mattress, we know that we as a team have reached our goals together. For sure there will be bumps in the road again next week, but week two will be just as successful.

Reflections On Week Two:
We are in the swing of it now. We can teach just about any level of conversational English for a short period of time at any given moment. The mornings were filled teaching our classes at the teacher’s Academy.

Qiongshan No. 2 Middle School invited us to meet with 8th graders and 9th graders in the afternoon on Monday. We were given a warmly welcome by Principle Fu, staff and students, who presented us with Chinese Calligraphy by the teachers and crafts by the students. Then we chatted with the students who were very curious about life in the U.S. and asked many questions. We were treated like celebrities, with students asking for autographs, photos, emails, etc.
Principle Fu hosted an appreciation dinner for us at the “Best” seafood restaurant in town. A highlight of the evening was Leo’s rendition of a Tony Bennett song.

Tuesday was a good day too. In the afternoon, we taught grade 2 high school students at No. 1 Haikou Middle School. Each of us had 10-20 very bright, articulate English speaking high school students. After one hour of teaching, answering questions, and enjoying the students, we had an evening meal in the school cafeteria.

Wednesday was the last day of class and the last day of 2008, and we finished both with a flourish. In the closing ceremonies, we had warm speeches by the academy, Bao Li, and each of the volunteers followed by some of the students. Then Albert and Cathy’s group performed the rabbit dance and sang “The more we get together”. Jim and Carolyn’s group sang a beautiful rendition of “Edelweiss” and Victoria’s group sang “If I had a hammer” and recited Robert Frost’s poem “Stopping by the woods on a snowy evening” Leo’s group recited the lyrics of “Fragile” by Sting and sang “That’s life” by Frank Sinatra. We finished by singing “Auld Lang Syne” together. It was a touching and moving experience with tears flowing all around.

On the last two days of the program, we worked with about 30 hotel staff from various departments of the hotel. They work at the Front Desk, Sales, H-R, House-keeping and other departments. The groups were small and intimate.

BaoLi surprised us on Thursday with our own copies of the daily local newspaper which had printed our photo and story. We also received 2 DVDs of our activities at the Teaching Academy. Famous at last!!!

Team 168 was indeed a great success!

Host Partner Plea for 2009

On behalf of all the teachers and students in Xi'an Biomedical Technical College, we wish to express both our sincere appreciation for Global Volunteers' generous contributions and sincere wish for volunteers' continuous service to our college in the future.

When we heard the bad economy may affect future numbers of volunteers, we feel sad, disappointed. We want to shout loud to the other side of the world “please help us”, but we know our voice can not reach that far. Would you please help to tell all the volunteers we need them here?

We can still remember how excited the students and the teachers were when the news came that Global Volunteers would come back to teach again. Till now, we both have spent some time with volunteers. We know the real reason why there are so many unforgettable stories about them. For many students, their coming has become their first time to talk to teachers from the other side of the Pacific Ocean, who have different colored skin, eyes and hair. Before they came, it was common that many students feared English, because for them, the study of English meant endless and tedious vocabularies, grammar and tests.

However, the volunteer teachers are like a fresh spring stream, giving the students enthusiasm to learn English well. Not merely because of their fresh appearance and their interactive way of teaching. Their patience, patience and encouragement also gave the students courage, which is likely to influence not only their English learning but even their whole life. Moreover, their sincerity, respect, frankness, honesty, dedication and good sense of humor are all life lessons for us.

The most valuable gaining for both the volunteers and us is the same... the love. The seed of love has been sowed by volunteers here, and also been brought back to the U.S. It’s hard for me to make a long list to measure how much the volunteers warm our hearts. It is also love to make us sad when farewell time comes. I cried bitterly when Jim, a nice teacher who has been remembered by many people, left. It's love that binds us and makes us want to see each other again. We cannot imagine how we can get through the next year without volunteers coming to help! Sincerely,
-Sunshine (English teacher) and Julia Dong (Director of Foreign Affairs Office)

Report from Kunming - Team 162

United Nations Millennium Goals Addressed by this Team: (Ensure that, by 2015, children everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling.) Eight volunteers provided 210 hours of conversational English language instruction to 45 teachers and 72 secondary school students.

Reflections On Week One:
The teachers whom we are teaching begin gestures of respect and friendship. Several stop us in the hallways or stairways to thank us for our comments in Tuesday’s afternoon’s lecture. Others ask if we could go get a bowl of noodles with them for lunch. Still others invite us to come to their home villages. We learn much more of the challenges they face in their packed classrooms, of the disparate salaries and working conditions for the private school teachers Kerri and Natalie talked to on Tuesday afternoon. One asked, “Can you tell me how to get the government to change things?” Across town at Kunming Teacher’s Training College, another wrote to us “How do we change the world?” We stand in awe. We are humbled.

Since we have all been having great English classes, let me share with you some English we have encountered in Kunming thus far…

• Hi! Just for You! Do you like it?


• No Smoking –for your safety, please do not smoke on the bed


• Lanky Nursing (cosmetic product)


• I’m a Love - Aholic


• Please You Go Out (exit sign)


• Be Pleasing Wait for a While in the Pure Field


• So Sweet – make yourself at home, cut and come again.


• Please help yourself suiting your own taste.


• In Case of Emergency, Use Fugitive Route (hotel map)


• Shoplifting is a Crime, Cherish Your Future, Don’t Do It
  Am I Cute? Please Remember Me (sign in taxi)


• Drifting Fragrance Chicken


• Passengers: Get on or Get off


• Be a Party Hottie


• Care Land Slip

These phrases remind each of us how much we have to learn and explore in Kunming and really shows how Chinese culture has evolved and developed. These new experiences remind us to always strive for the extraordinary.

Reflections On Week Two:
At lunch, we discussed the difficulties that China has faced this year and it is important to remember and respect the sacrifices of our hardy host nation. Understanding these tragedies brings me closer to one of my personal goals of being humbled—my troubles at home are almost meaningless when compared to the struggles the people of China have faced this year—to think that I thought I was having a rough year. We must remember that we are part of something called “Project Peace,” and that matters now more than ever. (journal entry by James)

Both Kerri and Natalie take on class assignments single-handed. Rob, Sue, James and Sabrina work in two-person teams, although it falls chiefly to Sabrina to acquaint Chinese students with American music, including that inscrutable product of the Occident—the heavy metal band.

All of us note a change in our classes. Students are more verbal, more assertive, and much more at ease. There is a growing focus on the demands of the upcoming speech festival. Students also want to share what they know about yesterday’s bus bombings. To their credit, both Hu Di and Chris share information readily: this is what happened. This is how it happened. This is the unhappy result. Their candor is the best possible antidote to any anxiety we may feel as strangers in this strange land.

Following morning classes on Wednesday, the volunteer teachers had lunch and spent time with their classes in a friendship activity. Some enjoyed Across the Bridge Noodles, others Dai cuisine. Green Lack was a popular spot for walking, enjoying the views and the lotus blossoms at their peak, even seeing an impromptu concert of traditional folk dance and songs by a group of retired dancers, singers and musicians who meet each Wednesday at the park to make music.

Finally, a night of karaoke that we will never forget. Philip and Hu Di put the westerners to shame with their Chinese songs. None of us will ever forget Sue rocking out to the Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy, Rob and his Blue Suede Shoes, Sabrina and Natalie as Barbie Girls, James trying to sing like a Chinese woman or Kerri playing the tambourine. All in all, fun was had by everyone. As we have spent the past two weeks teaching our students American says and idioms it seems only fitting that I end this journal with an American saying which sums up our karaoke performance ~ “Don’t quit your day jobs!”

I know that we have accomplished a great deal and we should be proud and honored that we all had this opportunity. I cannot wait for yet another new teaching experience on Monday with the “fantastic four” Kerri, Natalie, James and I. I will hesitantly call us that, with Hu Di as the real power behind us all, as we cruise – albeit cautiously- into our third and last week in Kunming! (journal reflection by Sabrina)

Reflections On Week Three:
We all swap tales of naughty primary school students and time-outs in our new teaching assignment, but more importantly, Kerri and Natalie mention that they see real progress in their kids’ English, especially in understanding what we are saying! I find that my kids’ English is very low, but then that allows me to do fun activities with them, such as singing “Old McDonald” and teaching them animal names, and never forget, the old stand-by of doing the hokey pokey.

We all had a fun time wit h our classes and in our discussion it seems we are making progress. What a shame it’s only 1 week! Imagine the development if this program was longer. I have been able to introduce movement and learning away from the tables to my classes and the students like to play games and join in the fun. They are doing so well!

Our last action packed day was a catch-up day, different from our other teaching days, it was very moving, sometimes difficult. Every student, it seems, gave us a huge variety of gifts. It was very touching and we knew how much the students appreciated us through their kind words, beautiful drawings and thoughtful gifts. It was very emotional and sad to say goodbye. I know we have made even the smallest, significant difference. So safe journey, happy hearts and keep in touch as we scatter to the world – But our hearts are in Kunming.