Zhuhai English Camp 2009

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2010-06-07T00:56:00.001+08:00

http://zhuhaienglishcamp2010.blogspot.com/

Back home again!

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Matt is greeted at the airport by a very happy family.

A last meal in China with our friends.

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The team was treated to a banquet before departing Zhuhai for home on Friday. Representing the Zhuhai Education Bureau, Mr. Huang talked about the success of the teacher training and English Camp. Luke presented Mr. Huang with a gift from Huntington University.

Final Day Fun and Goodbyes . . .

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Autographs and photos are everywhere.

Donna and Terry sign students’ autograph books.

Bronwen has her picture taken.

Luke opens the final days ceremonies. Team thanks, songs and teachers’ certificates fill the afternoon.

Luke talks with the group about his China experience and thanks everyone for their hospitality and help.

Darlene presents certificates to her teachers.

Proud teachers pose for pictures.

“Friends” and the “Goodbye Song” conclude the camp.

Host families are very important.

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Each team member had a host family to live with during the trip. These families were very gracious to open their homes. Their participating in our project is very significant.

All the families gathered for a “team” banquet Thursday night. Friday morning we said our goodbyes because we started our journey home immediately after school Friday afternoon.

Charlie poses with his host family, Sam, Jane and Shelly

Wow! The last day - almost!!!

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The autographs and photos started early. SMILE!

Free talk continues as John talks about dreams, goals and ambitions.

Terry working with primary students during the afternoon English camp.

Stephanie and Chinese university student helper Luisa leave the cafeteria.

Nancy reviews a teacher’s lesson plan.

Ruth talks with teachers about the morning’s class.

Susie leads a workshop on how to do a “flat Stanley.” Students in Huntington schools sent a flat Stanley to students in China last year and we hope this activity can grow to include more students.

The Camp News - Doumen

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The middle school students put together a camp newspaper. We did a mild edit but tried to keep the flavor of the students writing. Copies of the paper were made for all the teachers and students. Note: to view the paper, click on the page.

Xiangzhou: Having fun with puppets

2009-07-29T19:52:00.002+08:00

The puppet sessions are going really well. The middle school kids have been working hard at learning their scripts and creating the props for the four separate puppets shows they will perform on Friday afternoon. The primary students have been making "chop" stick.

Jeff Bleijerveld

A note from Luke Brenneman

2009-07-28T17:29:00.002+08:00

I went to a nearby beach with one of my free talk groups and some of their friends on Saturday. It was such an authentic experience! The water was kind of murky, but we had a really good time swimming, walking, talking, and eating fruit on the beach. Then we went out to eat at an open-air, seaside restaurant, where I think we ate every fish that ever lived in the ocean!

My host family took Ruth and I to their grandparents’ house in a rural village. We got to see the traditional side of China, which was great! We saw rice fields and farmers, an outdoor alligator enclosure with 200 gators (they raise them for restaurants), and picked dragon eyes for dinner. We then had a big dinner with the whole family, and it was a great time! Iris (my host cousin), Ruth, and I posed for this picture after dinner.

Camp activities are in full swing during the last week.

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Each day in the morning “free talk” begins with an opening. Today Matt talked about a challenging topic for people speaking English as a second language, parenting.

Chinese teachers are in a very important part of their training. Following their sample lesson, Chinese teachers are evaluated by the American teachers and coached on how they might improve their teaching technique. Here is Donna talking with a teacher about her lesson.

Free talk openings also include singing.
The hokey-pokey is a popular song with teachers and students alike. Piers show perfect hokey-pokey form.

Dinner with a special friend

2009-07-28T02:09:00.001+08:00

This evening, I had dinner with an old friend. More than anyone else in China, Mr. Zhang has been instrumental in the development of the relationships that led to the Zhuhai English Teacher Training and Summer Camp. Luke and Mr. Zhang met nearly 20 years ago and their friendship has lasted. I was privileged to be part of some of the early involvement in Zhuhai, so when Mr. Zhang brought out his photo album from “way back,” I was in some of the early pictures. Even though I wasn’t in Macau for most of the time in the intervening years, I had a good time reminiscing with Mr. Zhang and Canaan about all that has happened to bring us to today.

Jeff

From Joanne

2009-07-27T20:30:00.003+08:00

On Saturday, my host family took me sightseeing around Zhuhai. One of the famous sites is the Fisher Girl statue which stands on an island in the South China Sea. While there we saw three of the teachers I've been working with in the Teacher Training Program. Their joy and appreciation for what we've been sharing with them shows on their faces and is very gratifying.

We did a photo scavenger hunt with the kids. Can you tell what they had to find? Jenaya and Amanda did a great job.

Joanne

Weekend activities

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On Saturday afternoon a few of us traveled with some local area teachers to a tiny village quite close to Jana's apartment. Apartment buildings surround the village, but life seemingly continues as it has for the last century. Walking down the street we heard a Cantonese orchestra practicing and so one of the more bold teachers began investigating. Soon we found ourselves on the second floor of the cultural center with the most inviting group of musicians you could ever meet. They demonstrated their instruments and did an number of pieces just for us. Before we left we all posed for a group photo.

Group photo. Jason, Drew, and Jeff in the back right.

On Sunday we traveled from Xiangzhou to Doumen to visit with the rest of our team. After a nice brunch we headed off to visit the Jin Tai Temple just outside the city. On the way up we passed numerous fish ponds, banana plantations and rice paddies. Time was a little limited and so we quickly climbed the hundreds of stairs and toured the temple area. The temple is a wonderful example of Asian architecture and art. We were all very happy to find a vendor selling cool drinks where we boarded the bus to return to Xiangzhou.

Jeff

Sunday brings both teams together – Doumen and Xiangzhou

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Jumbo hosted a traditional “morning tea” and large room is needed for both teams.

Susie, Betty and Nancy enjoy the morning.

Following the morning tea we became tourists as we traveled to the local temple. The drive to the temple allowed us to view a bit of the Chinese countryside.

Jana and Audrey in the temple courtyard with the five-finger lake in the background.

Matt poses in the main temple.

Xiangzhou weekend

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My host family and her friend’s family as we walked around the island together. The two kids in the left of the picture, Lily and Jim, are students in the English Camp. Lily is quite articulate in English. Jim is pretty sharp too, but is a little shy to speak.

The Papa John’s “pizza delivery guy.” I asked this guy how long he had worked for Papa John’s and he said, “three months.” That is about how long Papa John’s has been in Zhuhai. Way to go, Papa!

Jeff

Weekend Downtime

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After a very busy week, both teams had downtime this weekend. In previous years, we usually took this weekend to do some BIG event - travel, white-water rafting, etc. - with our Chinese leaders. This year, Luke worked with Jumbo to get a weekend with a day of downtime. Most of the team members spent time with their host families or, if the host families were busy, with the host families of other Americans. I will remember Saturday as one of the most relaxing days I've ever spent in China - a walk on a hillside, a rest to catch up on correspondence, and a walk around a pedestrian-only island. Just very nice - and a good time to spend with our host families.

Sunday, the Xiangzhou team took a bus to Doumen where we met with the Doumen team. It was nice to compare notes on how our weeks had gone and to get ideas of events that had been particularly successful. After a two-hour dim sum, the group (including many of our Chinese friends) went to a large and ornate Buddhist temple before the Xiangzhou group headed back to town.

I (Jeff Sherlock) was able to meet up with a couple of teachers from the first year and continue building our friendship. Later, I met with my host family from the first year for a dinner with a number of government officials - police chief, environmental protection officer, businessman and others.

Tomorrow, we begin the final week. We hope to continue to develop closer relationships with our new friends and talk some about important things in our lives.

Xiangzhou teachers and students learn English

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Valerie conducts an interactive exercise with middle school students during one of her demonstration lessons. In the back of the room, teachers take notes on Valerie’s techniques.

Nathan works with primary school students during a demonstration lesson. Teachers in the back of the class are observing Nathan’s teaching techniques. On Thursday and Friday of Week Two, teachers worked in groups to develop and teach a lesson. During Week Three, each teacher will develop and teach an individual lesson.

Some of the Xiangzhou team relax (or maybe we are preparing for class) in the Staff Room between sessions. (Valerie, Jeff (standing), Nathan, and Joanne) The school has provided a very well-equipped work area for us complete with computers, printers, scanners, wireless internet access, etc. Just down the hall is a staff lounge stocked snacks. No one is going hungry on this trip!

One day Jeff was late getting to camp. One of the leaders asked, “Have you had your breakfast?” Jeff replied, “It’s OK.” A few minutes later, a leader brought this tray with breads, sweet potatoes and soup. Care to calculate the carb content? (Actually, Jeff ate part of one roll – but he certainly felt looked after!)

Jeff

Luke with his Chinese teachers

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This was the group I had for free talk from 8:30 until 10:00 every morning my first week here. I discovered that I really like free talk the first day with this group! They're so eager to learn, and they put in so much hard work to do so. This group progressed a lot this week, and I built really good relationships with all of them. Actually, they're taking me to a beach Saturday afternoon! That should be very, very fun!

This was the group I had for free talk from 10:20 until 11:50 my first week. This group started at a pretty high level of English already, but they really made a lot of improvement! It was really gratifying and humbling on Friday to witness a 20-30 minute English conversation between them in which I contributed maybe 10 words! I love what we're doing here with the free talk, primary and middle school camps, and teacher training and workshops, and I know that we're making a huge and vitally important difference in Doumen.

Luke

Xiangzhou Free Talk

2009-07-25T20:22:00.002+08:00

"Free Talk" is held each day to help Chinese teachers improve their conversational English. Here, Jeff Bleijerveld talks with his teachers.

Drew Clay talks with his teachers. Some of the topics covered this week included travel, family, and entertainment.

Jenaya Bonner talks with her teachers. "Free talk" offers a good opportunity to learn about each other's culture.

Jeff Sherlock

Week Two Wraps Up in Xiangzhou

2009-07-25T15:55:00.000+08:00

Reporting from Xiangzhou

We wrapped up the first week of camp yesterday afternoon with a rousing photo scavenger hunt. The students were divided into four teams, given a list of 30 items around the school to find, and sent out to photograph them. Some of the items (e.g., a yellow flowerpot) were obvious; others (e.g., something about love) allowed the students some creativity in deciding how to represent them. Then we loaded the pictures onto the computer and projected it onto a screen, while a student from each group read off what each picture represented. Of course the weather was hot and humid, so we were all nice and warm, but the cafeteria provided cooling drinks for everyone.
Though we had some bumps early in the week, the last three days things have gone pretty smoothly. The teachers all developed and taught English lessons following the principles and techniques they learned last week. It was stressful for them, but from what I heard, they did fairly well. They got feedback from our Academic team and next week each teacher will teach an individual lesson. All the teachers I’ve talked to express appreciation for the new things they’ve learned.

Our team is working together well. We spend most evenings with our individual host families, but Thursday evening we all got together for an evening of at Pizza Hut. I’m pleased with how everyone is supporting everyone else – and our hosts notice as well.
Much of the last couple of weeks have been “getting to know you.” Next week will, I think, be important to continue deepening friendships and talking about important things. Already, we seem some deepening discussions. We don’t know exactly how everything will go, but we are happy that people are engaging.
Today is a day to relax with our hosts. Tomorrow all of us will go to Doumen to connect with the rest of the team. Then Monday we begin the final weeks. Thanks for thinking of us.

Doumen: A week in review - Primary Grade Nester Team

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Luke

Gil

John

Doumen: A week in review - Primary Grade Nester Team (con't)

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Terry and Bronwen

Stephanie

Matt

Piers and Luke B.

Luke B.

Doumen: A week in review - Middle Grade Nester Team

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Charlie

Bridger

Hailey

Pat

Doumen: A week in review - Academic Team

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Audrey

Susie

Nancy

Donna, Darlene and Susie

Ping Pong

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Eight year olds playing ping pong. Note: this clip is at normal speed.

Charlie

Allen writes about the camp

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Allen Lin is the son of Susie’s host. He wrote this essay about his feelings of the camp. Allen is a helper in the camp and is 17 year old high school senior in Zhuhai.

The short summer vacation is coming to its end. There’re few days left. Though, that is not the thing I want to talk about this time. I have been going to the “English Summer Camp” for two weeks. I am being a helper there. And I had a really good day today.

This afternoon Bridger, my boss (let me call him this because I don’t know how to say it in another way), and I had an interesting game to play with children there. We call it “Bang Bang”. Ok, I am not going to tell this game. I will talk about my feelings being a volunteer there.

Actually the atmosphere was not very good in the first group. Maybe this was because Bridger had no idea about how long we would spend in one game. And I didn’t know how the game would be going on. So at first the children didn’t feel very excited. But it went very well as we were getting more familiar with the game. So in the end all of the children had a very good time. I felt very proud of that though I thought I didn’t helped much-----Bridger is a very good boy who does a very good job playing and chatting and maybe yelling with children. I think I can tell myself and others that I did a good job; I think I made a success.

And next, I think I should learn to play happily with children----not just the big guys in my high school, yes. I found my disadvantage here that I can be nervous and silly when I am making friends with the children who aren’t my age. That is a big problem that I should solve, I think. So I’m going to face it and deal with it, using my perseverance. It would be difficult but there’s another saying that goes: Impossible is nothing.

Others say I am a shy person and so I think. I want to be more outgoing but I must make efforts to reach that, right? I like to volunteer; it can remind me of many things. And I made friends there, it was so meaningful.

Charlie

A day in the life of the English Camp

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Bridger leads a group of middle school students

Terry watches a race

Stephanie counts down for a game

Bronwen plays a word game

Charlie

Lunch is a busy time ...

2009-07-23T20:16:00.002+08:00

Cameras are everywhere!

The cafeteria at lunch is packed with teachers and English camp students.

Teaching a lesson

The Chinese English teachers have been working hard on group lesson plans this week. My group has done a great job of taking what they have been learning and working it into teaching lessons for the Chinese students. The students have been having fun and the teachers have said that they enjoy teaching this way. Teachers must develop their own lesson plan and teach it next week. They are very nervous about doing this, but they see the value of teaching this way and the more they do it the better the chances are that they will use some of these ideas in their classrooms. I have included a picture of one of my teachers leading an activity.

Nancy, Betty and Audrey

Also, those who know Betty, she sends her love to you. She is always grateful for her time in Huntington and the many friends that she made while she was there. Audrey, Jana, and I had an opportunity to see her one afternoon at her very elegantly decorated apartment. Keep her in your thoughts!

Nancy and Charlie

Xiangzhou Dinner Out

2009-07-23T19:57:00.002+08:00

Museum grounds

Leaving the restaurant

The Xiangzhou team was treated last night to a visit at a local museum followed by a traditional Cantonese dinner. The museum grounds consisted of a collection of historic facades and gates, some dating from the Ming Dynasty. Dinner was a wonderful experience with lots of Kung Fu tea and a lovely glazed goose. As you can tell, Nathan Geer left the restaurant a very satisfied customer.

Jeff Bleijerveld

The Hokey Pokey

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Both sites use music and a lot of fun to help students and teaches with their English.

Charlie

English Camp – Teacher Training – The Eclipse

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Each morning before free talk Luke leads an opening that includes singing and a PowerPoint about the day’s topic.

Gil listens intently during lunch.

On Wednesday a partial solar eclipse was visible in the morning in south China. Here, Charlie’s helper, Iris, projects the eclipse onto a sheet of paper.

Several teachers had pieces of glass from a welder’s helmet. I took this photo of the ellipse using that dark glass.

Charlie

Wednesday in Xiangzhou

2009-07-22T20:22:00.002+08:00

Free Talk Introductions

Each day one of our NESTers (Native English Speaker Team) introduces our theme for the morning. This morning Jason Bleijerveld introduced the topic "Activities and Entertainment". We were all amused when he told the group that among his list of inspirational movies was the 1970's version of "Airplane".

Solar Eclipse

The bigs news on campus today was the total solar eclipse which occurred in northeastern China. We did not see an entire eclipse but were able to see it in various stages. It was the most noticeable for us at about 9:30 AM. One of the Chinese teachers helped us get this shot by adding black dye to water so that we could see the sun in the reflection. It was a little late in the process, but you can see a little of the eclipse on the left side.

Municipal Market

Just across the street from the Zhuhai #9 Middle School in Xiangzhou is a municipal market. For those who love fresh produce it is a feast for the eyes and pallet. We have been served a variety of fresh produce just like this at all our meals in the school cafeteria.

Jeff Bleijerveld

Xiangzhou

2009-07-21T19:47:00.006+08:00

Registration at Xiangzhou

I thought I was at the school early on Monday morning, but the English Camp students were already there waiting to get registered. Soon the process began and 72 middle school students (and a few elementary students) were ready to begin.

Opening Session

Jeff Sherlock welcomed everyone at our first session at the Xiangzhou English Camp. Once we covered the preliminaries like introductions and rules, we sang the "Hello Everybody" song. We have a very enthusiastic group of students and teachers.

There's Something Fishy About This Food

For those of us who are seafood lovers, there is no lack of wonderful food here in Xiangzhou. Last night Jason and I were treated by Tina Kwang, her family and friends to a wonderful meal that included crab, shrimp and this steamed fish dish at a local restaurant.

Jeff Bleijerveld

There are many activities for students and teachers in Doumen

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Nancy models teaching to Chinese teachers and talks with a student.

Jana lectures a group of teachers in the morning.

Luke leads a group of teachers in 'free talk.' These 75 minute sessions allow the teachers to practice their English with native English speakers.

Stephanie talks with Chinese teachers during 'free talk'.

Day One off to a Rousing Start

2009-07-20T21:01:00.000+08:00

Reporting from Xiangzhou

Day One at Xiangzhou has been interesting - by which I mean ... interesting.

I rolled out the door this morning at 6:30am with my host and a young girl who is serving as an assistant in the camp. Each of the NESTers has been assigned an assistant who helps us ensure that the students understand what we are saying.

As might be expected, the first day, brought a bit of confusion over unanswered questions - schedule, classrooms for free talk, the role of assistants, etc. Everything was worked out and we started on time at 8:30am.

Working here has a special set of challenges that we need to work hard to understand and respond to. Some of them do not have easy solutions.

Most of the challenges we still face fall into the categories listed on the card we gave you before we left. If you could keep us in mind about those things, it would be greatly appreciated and our efforts would be enhanced.

Thanks a lot for being interested in what is happening on this side of the world.

Students arrive for English Camp

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Piers and Bridger in line for lunch

John talks with Chinese teachers at lunch in the school cafeteria

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Chicago

Members of the team as we waited for a new plane – more than a three hour delay but we were happy for a plane that works.

Matt Sleeps

Matt Kennedy catches a nap on the flight to Hong Kong. And here is the rest of the story. Upon landing in Hong Kong we were told about a Typhoon that was bearing down on the Hong Kong area. Our flight attendants told us that twice the pilot was considering diverting the flight because of the storm - Once as we passed Tokyo and once as we passed Taiwan. Thankfully he pushed on to Hong Kong and got us on the ground just hours before the airport was closed. With the storm still closing in and land fall unknown, it was decided that we should forgo the stay in Hong Kong Saturday night and attempt to get to Macau. But we found that all the ferrys from the airport were canceled but were told if we hurried we might make the last ferry from Hong Kong island to Macau. We jumped on the train at the airport, made it to Hong Kong island and after a 20 minute walk we purchased our tickets and were quickly ushered to the last hydrofoil to Macau. We spent the night in Macau and found the Sunday noontime walk into China was a piece of cake after a day of delays and narrow misses of disaster.

Macau

The group makes its way to a bus in Macau to the border gate into China.

Shirts

Chinese school administrators Adam and Jumbo sort through shirts in the school’s court yard as Piers and Luke look on. The bottom line to this post is, everyone is finally in China. We walked the school and talked about the program Sunday afternoon. Except for jet lag, everyone is doing great and we are excited to start our program bright and early Monday morning. PS – The typhoon missed Hong Kong to the north.

Heading to Macau

2009-07-18T22:08:00.001+08:00

As I write this, we are on the ferry to Macau. Water is a little bumpy, but not too bad. Thanks for remembering us. We are thankful that we got out of HK before the typhoon rolled in.

All the NESTers are very tired - met at Fort Wayne Airport 28 hours ago - but holding up well.

Jeff

Wild and Wet Day

2009-07-18T20:06:00.004+08:00

Today the NESTers arrive in Hong Kong - in fact, they landed just over an hour ago. That's the good news.

The bad news is that they arrived at the same time as a typhoon is arriving. It is conceivable that the NESTers could be trapped (maybe that is too strong a word) in Hong Kong when we really need to be in Zhuhai tomorrow. We decided to try to get boats directly to Macau (from there we can walk into China if necessary), but the last boat of the day just cancelled. So now the plan is to go to another ferry pier that is still open.

I, Jeff, am in Hong Kong at the airport to help the NESTers. Luke is in Macau working things at that end.

We'll let you know what happens as soon as we can post to the site again. Meanwhile, please keep us in your prayers. There's no danger - but it is a complication.

Thanks.

Greetings from Ruth

2009-07-18T08:13:00.000+08:00

It is an incredible experience to be immersed into Chinese culture as we are. The training week for teachers has gone well-I have learned a lot right along with the Chinese teachers. The trainers gave them a lot of good information to use in their lessons that they will be doing over the next 2 weeks. I have also enjoyed the culture information from Luke that compares our culture to the Chinese culture. It shows us to be wide apart in many ways, but I already feel very attached to my 20 teachers as well as my host family. I am getting excited to see the Nesters who will arrive here on Sunday afternoon; I do not envy them on Monday morning! Greetings to everyone from China! Ruth R.

Week One wraps up

2009-07-17T23:43:00.000+08:00

Reporting from Xiangzhou.

Week One wrapped up this afternoon at both Doumen and Xiangzhou. From my conversation with Luke and Jumbo, it appears things are going well at Doumen. And from first-hand experience, they are going well at Xiangzhou as well.

Yesterday (Thursday), Jana Hoobler came down from Doumen to talk about teaching English in large classes (Chinese classrooms often have 50-60 students!) and teaching English for the test (Chinese students take a comprehensive test that determines whether they will get into the best high schools and later into the best colleges. A child's destiny is often determined by a test he takes at about 8th grade - so THE TEST is the focus of everything. ISTEP and achievment tests? - child's play compared to this test.) Anyway, Jana shared how language activities that build speaking ability can also prepare for the test. Jana was popular.

Today (Friday), Susie Burson came from Doumen to talk about brain research, Highly Effective Teaching (HET) and learning styles. Some of the teachers were overwhelmed by the amount of material Susie had to presents - like drinking from a fire hose - but I think they appreciated the quality of the material she presented.

Our Important Things discussions have been well-attended - about 30 people each day. We had a really good discussion today about Chinese and American attitudes toward family responsibility. It was quite an animated discussion. Not only do I think people were interested in the topic; I think they are also feeling free to express deep feelings about things. So we are very interested in continuing to take these conversations to new places.

Tomorrow Luke and I head over to Hong Kong to meet the rest of the NESTers and bring them to Zhuhai. Unfortunately, I just learned that the plane is delayed by two hours - so it will be a tired team that starts on Monday morning. Your thoughts for them and all of us are appreciated.

Pictures later.

Teacher training continues in Xiangzhou.

2009-07-16T09:20:00.001+08:00

Teachers sing a song they wrote to demonstrate a language function.

Val and Nathan ham it up on a role play to demonstrate … something.

Xiangzhou - Day Three

2009-07-15T22:46:00.000+08:00

The training continues to go well as we wrap up day 3. Val continued to give the teachers new ideas for how to plan creative lessons. Today, we used a number of songs that can teach various language functions - saying hello, making small talk, asking if someone is busy, etc. Then we had the teachers write a song teaching a particular language function - and perform it before the class. Some were very funny.

Right after lunch, I did another Culture Corner talking about how some cultures emphasize power distance (e.g., "I'm the boss and I am higher than you" vs. "he puts his pants on one leg at a time just like me.")

I'm pretty sure it was just coincidence, that the teachers were very sleepy right after I talked, so Val had us stretch partway through her demonstration of websites for English as a Second Language teacher.

Since we are a new site for the camp, top level education officials are very interested in what is happening. Around noon today, we got a call saying that the officials would be there at 4pm - just as the day's training would be ending and many would be heading home while others stayed for free talk. The leaders told the teachers that they would all need to stay for free talk - to represent the camp well for the visitors. As far as I could tell, everyone stayed. It made it a little difficult to have good free talk with 20 in a group - but it worked.

This evening, I had a very good talk with a college student who is interested in important things. It seemed like this visit was pre-planned.

Please keep thinking of us.

Teacher training is in full swing!

2009-07-15T09:12:00.006+08:00

Teachers make decisions to save themselves on a deserted island.

Johnson and Canaan – Jeff’s host family

Val Geer leads the training on Day 2.

The ever-popular Nathan Geer explains a point from the training manual.

By Jeff Sherlock

Xiangzhou - Day Two

2009-07-14T18:20:00.000+08:00

Day Two was another successful day in Xiangzhou. We got started right on time with Val discussing the concept of language functions (what you want a student to be able to do, e.g., buy a meal in a restaurant) and language forms (the different ways a student can perform the function). Each of us took turns leading the teachers in activities (e.g., games) that could help teach language functions in fun and engaging ways. In China, the tendency is to lecture (class sizes are often 40-50 or more students) and students are frequently not motivated to learn. The teachers seemed excited by the prospect of involving the students in active language learning.

I had a half hour session on cultural differences between Americans and Chinese that took us up to the lunch hour. We chose to include a cultural understanding piece because language learning and culture are so closely intertwined.

During lunch, we always sit with the teachers so that we can build relationships and hopefully move over time to deeper discussions about important things. At this stage we are still just getting to know one another.

In the afternoon - a couple songs, more activities, and a closing optional free talk about an essay entitled "Be Kind to the Pizza Delivery Dude." To read the essay go to www.thisibelieve.org and search for "pizza dude."

All in all, a good Day 2.

We're there . . .

2009-07-14T07:28:00.005+08:00

Audrey works with teachers.

Jana reviews lesson planning with Chinese teachers.

The team arrived in China on Saturday. Both the Doumen team and the Xiangzhou team got together to practice on Sunday morning.

The Doumen team enjoyed a trip to a small garden outside of town on Sunday afternoon - eating fresh produce including lychee, dragon eye, yellow skin fruit, boiled peanuts, honey water, and watermelon.

Things started well in Doumen on Monday with no real surprises. Jumbo's favorite saying is, "Well begun is half done!" He is tremendously helpful and we work well together.

We are training 80 elementary teachers and 40 middle school teachers in Doumen.

Please keep thinking about us.
Luke

And we're off....

2009-07-13T13:16:00.001+08:00

I'm reporting from Xiangzhou.

We are up and running this morning. After introductions and a speech by an Education Department official, I gave a short presentation on principles for effective English Communication Competency and Acquisition. (Yeah, they were a little bored too.)

Then Val perked us all up with a series of icebreaker exercises. It was nice to see the students move from lethargy to engagement.

We are already starting to have good conversations with people and hope that they will continue to go deeper. Thanks for thinking of us.

We hope to have some pictures to post soon. Right now we are having struggles getting pictures to upload.

Anticipation

2009-07-10T13:09:00.000+08:00

I'm here in Hong Kong, it's a little after 1pm local time (1am EDT) and the flight with the Academic Team is scheduled to get in about 4pm. I'm excited to see the rest of the team again.

I've spent the last week on the east coast of China visiting some companies. I also played American football on July 4 - and injured my leg. I don't like to admit to creeping "old guyness," but I think I'll hang up my cleats.

We head into China tomorrow. Thanks for upholding us.

Amazing impact!

2009-07-05T06:41:00.000+08:00

The teacher training and English camp in Zhuhai is doing amazing things on both sides of the Pacific. Along with the summer program in China, Huntington University launched a new institute. The Institute for Teaching of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) Studies and related academic courses are an outgrowth of relationships between Huntington University faculty and educators in China. Pending state approval, the Institute for TESOL Studies will offer English as a New Language (ENL) certification for HU education students and area teachers. Huntington University also will offer a TESOL minor to HU students pursuing a degree in any discipline.

Another connection that is growing because of the summer activities in Zhuhai is happening in Huntington elementary schools. This year a class at Lancaster Elementary School and a second at Salamonie School celebrated the Chinese New Year. This is the beginning of a project that will have the Huntington County children communicating with students in Zhuhai, China, over the Web. The project has its roots with the Zhuhai, China project. The Lincoln and Salamonie classes will become "sister classes" with their counterparts in Zhuhai. The local classes will send a "Flat Stanley" - a cardboard figure named after the main character in a popular children's book - to the class in China, complete with a book journaling his adventures here. The children in Zhuhai, in turn, will return the figure as well as a chronicle of his adventures in China.

Jeff Sherlock arrived in Hong Kong

2009-07-03T00:55:00.000+08:00

I’ve arrived in Hong Kong after an uneventful, but long, flight from Chicago. We landed about 4:15pm (4:15am EDT) about 30 minutes ahead of schedule. The 14 hour and 21 minute flight was, well, long. Apparently a lady a number of rows back had a seizure but a doctor on board kept checking on her throughout the flight and she seemed to be OK – slept nearly all of the flight. Due to fears of flu, probably 5-10% of passengers wore surgical masks throughout the flight and you see some people walking around Hong Kong with masks.

The flight flew north along the west coast of Hudson Bay, over the Arctic Ocean (or the far north Pacific), then dropped down over western Russia and China. It is worth taking a few pictures of the frozen wasteland.

This evening, I met a Taylor alum (Andrew Scruton-Wilson) for dinner, then acclimatized (translation: sweated buckets) by walking on the streets for a couple of hours. For a taste treat I hadn’t tried before, I had a blueberry sundae at McDonalds.

I’m heading over to Macau tomorrow and am looking forward to seeing the Academic Team and a few of the NESTers next week.

Thanks for thinking of us.

Just about ready

2009-06-19T05:29:00.000+08:00

We met again as a team on Saturday, June 13 and we really got a lot of work done. I didn't see what the Academic Team was doing during the afternoon, but I was really proud of the NESTers (Native English Speaking Team). We jumped on the task of planning all the activities for the camps. We basically planned out something for every NESTer for every day of camp. I'm sure we will change things as we get into it, but we're definitely much further along than we were at this point last year.

Since we will be in two locations this year, we've had to work hard to keep things in synch. It's not that we have to do things exactly the same at each camp, but we want to make sure we have a high quality program at both places. I feel pretty good about things now.

At the end of our meeting, Luke reminded us of how really important our work is - not just in teaching and helping students have fun, but in building deep and important relationships. We spent some time thinking together about our part in making that happen. We appreciate the thoughts of others who are interested in this work.

Since I am going over about a week ahead of the Academic Team to do some other business, my time is almost here. I leave on July 1, less than two weeks from when I am writing this. Wow!

The team gets ready for the trip.

2009-04-20T07:14:00.000+08:00

The team learns about China and Chinese culture. We also reviewed the academic program and our plans for the English Camp.

The group also took time for “team building.” This exercise promotes communication and cooperation as the group lowers a hula-hoop without anyone losing contact with the hoop. Fingers only!!

The 2009 Team

2009-04-19T06:31:00.001+08:00

We had our first team meeting today with all but one member here. Everyone is enthusiastic and ready to get started. In less than 12 weeks we will be in China! I'm looking forward to getting to know this very talented group of people to do something very significant.