Zhongshan

We have grown to love the teachers here.  

The workrooms are fun places where they continue to crank out creative lesson ideas.

Things are winding down here. The teachers are excited about upcoming travel plans as their summer break is in July and August. Now that the training is over, they can begin to relax. 

We had one last evening to hang out with the teachers on Thursday night.  

We will miss these friends that we have gotten to know in Zhongshan.

More photos of the one week Doumen English Camp

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Greetings from Jill...
I have enjoyed working with the Doumen China team from HU. There have been numerous things that I could comment about but one thing stands out to me.....teamwork! When technology failed, Charlie was there to trouble shoot or just fix; when the academic team members needed a quick hand to set up their rooms Bill or Tricia or our Chinese college members were there to help; when the rain came an extra umbrella was offered; when gifts were given that would not fit into luggage another team member offered to help with the need. This was one well picked team. We did complete the others' inabilities in one way or another. I will remember this team, not for what we did do in China, but how we actually worked as a team! Thank you for supporting us while we were away.
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Zhongsha

The teachers have had daily project assignments that the trainers have signed off on as they have completed them and placed them in their portfolio. Some of the groups finished today and wanted to take photos to celebrate!

The primary teachers presented their reader's theater productions to the whole group today. 

The one week Doumen English camp

University students from the American team join university students from China for dinner. This group is working to present a one week English camp in Doumen. Many of the American team worked two weeks in Jiangmen and will return there after the one week camp.

Sweethearts

The children at CHES seemed to get a kick out Dale and I being married. They called Dale a "very handsome man" and giggled when they saw us holding hands. On several occasions, they chanted, "kiss, Kiss, KISS" until he gave me a peck on the cheek. I did not mind. :)

Writing Activities

One of the ways we engaged the students in writing was to let them write a letter to Dr. Choi, the owner of China Hong Kong English School. Their letters were so uplifting as they shared the things they learned at camp and wrote about how much they loved their camp leaders. Some of the groups also wrote thank you cards and letters to Susie, the director at the Zhongshan CHES camp.

Cups

Both groups of students (primary and middle schoolers) participated in cups activities. They learned the "Cups" song and how to use the cups as rhythm instruments. They also learned the routine for competitive cup stacking. Thanks to Agnes for sharing her cups with us!

Edible Oceans

One of the activities we planned for the primary children was edible oceans. Because of concerns with using the hot plates with children, we took the preparation out of the classrooms. Susie enjoyed making more than 120 individual cups of blue Jello. It was worth it! The kids (and the Chinese teachers) loved the "jellies", as they called it.

Reunited with Good Friends

We were so happy to see our host families from years past at the Nine Year Celebration in Doumen. This was my host family last year. Nancy, David, and Linny were such kind hosts to me.

Susie and Ashley visit with Dongdong. He was a middle schooler the first year Susie stayed in his family's home. He is now a graduate student in Macau.

Catching up with a good friend.

Decorations Enhance the Environment

The theme for the primary camp at CHES (China Hong Kong English School) was "Under the Sea". Camp leaders decorated their classrooms to make the camp environment more inviting.

Singing is Good for the Soul

The primary children sang songs during the opening session each morning.

Macy, Larissa, and Kerrie help with leading a song, "Living Under the Sea" with the children during the opening session. Macy rocked it with her amazing karaoke skills.

Zhongshan

Primary teachers celebrating Audrey's birthday in her room on Monday.

The teachers continue to do an amazing job with their activity idea presentations.

Nancy delivered the lecture this morning. 

Here's Hannah busy sharing teaching ideas in the middle school room.

The teachers continue to have wonderful enthusiasm even here in the third week of training! 

Active teacher presentations!

Active teacher presentations!

Jen shared some ideas for making lessons more creative. The teachers enjoyed debating about homework when she modeled Socratic Seminar.

Here are the primary teachers sharing jackfruit.

Poetry

One of the activities completed by the secondary students at CHES was concrete poetry. The students learned that they are as unique as their finger prints. These poems tell many of the unique characteristics of the students. They did a great job!

How to NOT Get Lost in China

Whenever any of our team wanted to go shopping or on any adventure, we got our Chinese friends to write the address for our destination in Chinese for us. We also carried a card with the address for our school to make sure we could always get back home. We just showed the address to our taxi drivers and we were delivered back to the front gate.

More Than Art

The children at CHES participated in many art and craft projects over the two weeks of English Camp. From the outside, these may not seem like English lessons; however, every art lesson was presented using English. Because the children were immersed in hearing English for all of the instructions of their lessons, they became more confident in their receptive language skills and were more willing to try to communicate using their own spoken English. The fish above were pare of a "stained glass sea creature" project. These beautiful fish and other sea creatures were beautiful posted in the classroom windows with the sun shining through them.

Paper Plate Aquariums

"How to Draw Fish" - The children are wonderful artists!

"How to Draw Orca Whales"

Good friends Stay in Contact

Russ and Nelly Birdsall have been long-time friends with Mr. Zhang (one of the early Chinese leaders in this partnership) and Jana Hoobler (an American teacher, who has served in Macau and China for more than 20 years). Russ sent chocolates via one of the American team members. Such a sweet remembrance!

Better Late Than Never

This is one of the beautiful t-shirt quilts made by Jill Haskings (a Huntington grad) for our long-time Chinese friends and partners—Jumbo, Adam, and Jana.

Before leaving for Zhongshan, Dale and I dyed 8 pounds of tiny seashell pasta to use for a craft project. The children loved making their seashell picture frames!

Wow! What a busy two weeks the team at China Hong Kong English School had! We were busy from the time our feet hit the floor in the mornings until we finally went to bed at night. The results, we believe, were a great camp with lots of great moments for the children we served, as well as the American staff who led the teams of students.

Here are a few more photos for you to enjoy!


Susie