School
English Corner (Aydan):
Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday our group walked over to the primary school for English Corner. This was a time for the younger kids to practice their English with us. Each week we were with a different grade from 1st-7th. Usually we would begin by breaking up into small groups and we would ask them their name, favorite colors, sports, pets, siblings, and more simple topics. When we had covered everything, we came back together as a big group and played fun games with them. With the younger kids, we usually played duck-duck goose, or telephone (a game where one person whispers something and they pass it on). As the kids got older we played games that involved more English like 20 questions. This was a great and fun way for the little kids to keep practicing English and we all loved talking with them.
Differences between Chinese and American Schools (Aydan):
Chinese and American schools are very different in many ways. One of the big differences that I noticed right away is that the Chinese school is mostly only focused on school work whereas American schools usually have an equal focus between school work and sports. In China, the kids would practice volleyball and basketball during free time but there are no sports teams that compete against other towns. Most of their time is taken up with classes and homework. Their weekends are even filled with extra classes. This is different from America because for many kids, sports teams are just as important to them as their classes are. Another difference is that in China the kids only stay in one classroom with the same group of kids. They are with the same group of people the whole year and for every class, and only the teachers move from classroom to classroom. This is opposite to American schools since we have so many different classes with different kids and we move around all day.
Martial Arts and Calligraphy (Duncan):
Two of the classes that we attended on a weekly basis were Wushu and Calligraphy. Personally, I liked Wushu better because we took the class as a group of Americans without any other people to judge us.
Wushu (Duncan):
In Wushu, we learned a form of martial arts that had to do with 2 meter poles. We would move the poles and our bodies in a series of steps numbered 1 to 15. Each step was relatively simple by itself but memorizing all of the steps in sequence was very difficult. The martial art seemed like it was meant for self-defense because we swung the sticks like weapons, but the scripted movements made it feel more like taichi to me.
Calligraphy (Duncan):
In Calligraphy, we learned techniques to draw characters beautifully with a brush. At first, I thought that there could not possibly be such a complicated technique, but there are rules that govern how you pick up and put down the brush, how to hold the brush, what angle it should be at, the order in which you draw lines, and the speed at which you draw them. Needless to say, none of us were really good at calligraphy, but we all felt like we had gotten the hang of it thanks to the patient teachings of our 3rd grade partners.
