Bo Deng '19

Vandegrift Highschool

Traveling to Weishan was a truly amazing experience, and one that I will never forget. At the beginning, I was incredibly nervous, especially because I hadn’t actually attempted to speak or read Chinese for probably a couple years, and I felt that I would inevitably massively screw up in the middle of class and be publicly humiliated. I wasn’t really wrong, but that honestly seems to happen to me on a daily basis now, so it’s whatever. What really surprised me was the kindness, curiosity, and grit that I saw in each of my students. Throughout my two weeks, I was constantly invited to eat, hike, sit in on classes, and even ball with the students (please don’t ask me about that one). After I figured out how to make interactive presentations that don’t suck, I was bombarded with students wanting to answer questions and participate in class activities. I regaled them with stories of teenage American life (translation services graciously provided by Kathleen) and in turn learned about their long hours, strict contraband rules, and the immense pressure put on them to succeed academically. Reflecting back on my experience, I believe that it can be summarized succinctly in one sentence, one that I heard many times before and during the trip, but never really understood until the program was coming to an end. “You may be the teacher, but it is you who will learn the most.” For people who are truly interested in learning about people and culture (and also want to boost their Chinese proficiency in the fastest way possible), this program is an excellent opportunity.

Angela Chen '20

Westwood Highschool

SIW was a great experience. While the students learned about our American lives, we learned more about theirs. SIW provided this fun, amazing, eye-opening opportunity to learn about life in a country across the ocean. This gave me a better, deeper understanding of the rich Chinese culture and heritage that represents a part of Chinese history. I met students from different ethnic groups and became friends with them. I also had an interesting experience with switching from being a student to a teacher, where I got to know the classroom setting from the teacher's perspective; it is not easy to make an interesting, well-planned lesson that gets every student's attention. Trying to plan and create lessons was not easy to fit in a busy schedule, and I learned to be more responsible and plan ahead. Having to teach lessons also taught me to be more confident. I used to assume that many students in China are so busy in school that they do not have time for anything else, but they proved me wrong; many of them loved to play sports and were very skilled at it, especially basketball or badminton. Even though life was different in China than what I'm used to, I gained a lot from it and I would want to join SIW again because there is always something that I can learn from and something that I can do to contribute to the community.

Kathleen Zhang '18

Westwood Highschool, now attending New York University

Through these two weeks of being immersed in another country, I have learned a lot about China’s culture and myself. From seeing other lifestyles that exist in China to sitting in on classes with the students, I was able to gain a first-hand look into this country that my parents grew up in that I never did before from just visiting family. In a way, this trip has been inspiring. Meeting these students who work from the early mornings into the late evenings makes me want to have the same dedication (and makes me happy that my school only goes until 4). I hope that when I’m struggling at finishing my research paper at midnight in college, I will think back to these students. Overall, despite all the struggles we went through, from realizing that neither my teammate nor I were that proficient in Chinese to figuring out how to teach English at a passable level, I had an amazing time making new friends, comparing cultures, staring in awe at their artistic skills, and just making the most out of this experience. It is only through truly experiencing another person’s life that you can learn more about their culture and language (I am happy to say I probably increased my character count to 30 instead of the previous 15), and this program gave me the opportunity to do that. While I will not be able to go again next year due to college, I will say this to everyone going: try to befriend the students. Your trip will be much more rewarding.

Alena Zhang '20

Westwood Highschool

As I became more accustomed to presenting to my classes, the presentations we gave were more informative, interesting, and interactive. I began to feel like less of a teacher and more of an active member of their class. I began to recognize how amazing these high school students truly are: they take rigorous courses with a homework load that only allows for a couple hours of sleep, yet I have never heard them complain, instead, they are in a constant pursuit for more knowledge while retaining a optimistic attitude. The English teachers there sacrificed their precious class time to us and fully trusted in our capabilities from day one because they believed that what we, a couple of teenagers they had never seen before, were teaching was valuable and beneficial to the students. Although our primary purpose was to introduce American culture to the high school students, I took away much more than just that. I got to experience first-handedly high school life in China, but more importantly, I learned about the qualities and mindset of the students there.

Shawna Ye '21

Westwood Highschool

I can truthfully say that my trip this year to Weishan is one of the most enjoyable and rewarding experiences I’ve ever had. Not only were the students incredibly accepting and welcoming of us than I had ever hoped, they were so eager to learn from us and really put in their best effort to absorb everything that we were teaching them. However, what was really surprising was how much you could learn from the students as well. Since we were fortunate enough to visit during a holiday, the students invited us out to visit around Weishan. By spending more personal time with the students(who has already become great friends with us), it’s incredible to see what the students go through each day. All in all, I think that the SIW trip was truly eye-opening and I would love to participate again if possible.

Reymond Wong '19

Round Rock Highschool

There’s a fine line that’s drawn between what you see, and what you hear. I heard that I was headed to 巍山 to teach, I heard that it was different. But being there, seeing the mountains for the first time, seeing the people that, in two short weeks, would change my life completely was not something you simply hear, and believe. The students are quiet at first, yes, but if there was something to be said, then that was a something to which they’d listen. Perhaps the greatest moment was the moment when I stepped outside the classroom door, and the students became the teacher. Their lives, their stories, are so much more than the words they speak, it’s in the air, it’s in their character, that really defined my teaching experience, and to this day I question whether I was truly the one teaching them. It was a true privilege to teach these high schoolers, and I would, without a doubt, recommend that anyone with the time in their lives to come teach, and experience the dream.

Sopha Li '20

Westwood Highschool

To be a part of such a colorful, self-sustaining and continuously thriving environment of Jian She Elementary shows you of nothing and everything you have seen before. The drive of these children to succeed is not just the expectations of school, but also a reminder of the types of families (or lack of) that they come from. Some feel as though they’ve hit the jackpot here, being with kids their age in class instead of in crop fields doing work unsuitable for any American laborer, much less a child. And yet late at night in their beds when they whisper and giggle under the moonlit you can almost imagine Peter Pan’s silhouette in the window, awaiting then to join him on an adventure. In the end there is as much to be brought to them as taken from you. You will teach them English but in return won’t understand a thing until outside of the classroom. You will smile and laugh because there is no way you can’t, surrounded by their bright eyes and clever minds and open hearts. You will tell them everything about your home and ask them about theirs, building this bridge that crosses half the planet. To make an imprint on 建设小学 is to allow the entire experience sink into you—to welcome the unplanned and to seek as much as you teach.

Benjamin Li

Rising 6th grader

As I was helping to teach English with the elementary SIW group, I noticed quite a lot that nearly every kid was extremely curious about our lives in the U.S. (especially when we showed them picture of pets, food, community, and people). During English class, each of us from the SIW elementary school team took turns calling out English words and quizzing them on their newly learned vocabulary. Everytime we showed them an image of something of the United States that they had never seen before, first came silence, then “oohs” and,” aahs" flowed through the classroom. We were happy that we were able to get their attention and bring new things to them. I felt happy to see the kids having fun outdoors. Kids of all ages were chasing each other, shooting the frisbees, or handing them straight to us. The children aren’t very different from us. They even have a better sense of humor than some people in the U.S, mostly because they don’t use or need the internet and don’t play video games every day; Instead, most of them have to work out in the fields (farming mostly tobacco) and help cleaning at school. When they are out of classrooms, they play in groups and laugh a lot! Back here in US, when I look back the SIW days , imagine them sitting in those familiar classrooms, I wish they have a lot of fun learning!

Noah Liu '21

Westlake Highschool

I was very excited to be apart of the 2018 Summer in Weishan trip! I was surprised by how different school is in China from school here in America. Many of the students at Jianshe Elementary School in Weishan come from poor farming families who live several miles away from the school. A lot of the students live in the school dorms and walk home on Fridays, sometimes having to walk for many hours until they get home. This really made me realize how fortunate I am to be able to ride the school bus home every day. The teachers at the school taught poorly and some teachers would hit their students. Only the English teacher, who was brought to the school by a nonprofit organization focused on improving education in rural areas, taught well and did not hit the students. The students were all very curious about life in the United States. They would always ask me questions about what life is like here. It’s strange how they couldn’t believe that I rode a school bus to school or how my parents both drove their cars to get to work when these this seem perfectly normal to me. Life in Weishan is much harder than life here. The time I spent in Weishan really made me realize how lucky I am to live in America.

Bailey Zhang

Rising 6th grader

The first few days we got there many students were curious and stared at us. We were new and different, so a natural reaction would be to stare and follow us around. Every time we played outside many students would come and join us or watch. Some students were very friendly and talked to us a lot. For example, one time a girl gave me a bunch of four leaf clover and taught me how to play the ukulele. Teaching classes was the hardest part of the trip. We had to plan fun lessons and teach in both English and Chinese. We had many lessons a day, sometimes we would 3 classes in a row. What I enjoyed was watching the students have lots of fun in our class. I really enjoyed this exciting and eye-opening adventure.