Maple Women's Center

On Sunday, a couple of other students and I went to a NGO-run elementary school in an impoverished area on the outskirts of Beijing. We went with the Editor in Chief of the Maple Women's Psychological Counseling Center (www.maple.org.cn). It was great to get out of the city and see something new. The lady told us that while the school may look somewhat shabby, this school is one of the best school for impoverished kids in the area due to its NGO funding. The school was running a five-day program so we helped out in the classroom with the activities. We went to lunch with the teachers and the teacher I sat by had previously worked in Hong Kong with the Salvation Army and decided to move to Beijing to teach in low-income schools.

The kids were already learning English, so they asked me how to say English words and we talked in Chinese about their interests and what the U.S. is like. They called me Kong Laoshi; laoshi means teacher and Kong is my Chinese last name. All of these kids were from poor farming/peasant families and it was definitely an awesome experience to get to meet them. Many of the boys said their hobbies were painting and martial arts, and girls said dancing, painting, and growing flowers. We played lots of games and did some activities that involved talking about our feelings and problem solving in different situations.

While the lesson portrayed the same message that a 4th grade class might teach, the teaching style was definitely different from U.S. schools. (Keep in mind this was only a 5 day class, so I probably did not get the full classroom experience of a typical school.) If a student spoke particularly articulately, we would all clap for the student. While I remember learning discipline, respect, and following directions in class, it seemed that every activity had more of a focus on these three things. At the same time, the kids were still just kids: there was the class clown, the know-it-all, the shy one, and the giggly one. At the end of class, each student took turns self-reflecting by telling the class what they think they did well and what they can improve for the next day. I certainly never had to do that when I was 8! This definitely seemed to echo the collectivism culture here (at least that's what I'm interpreting it as). It's hard to explain in words, but there is definitely an aura of humbleness and openness about each other's strengths and weaknesses that you don't find in the U.S. It's not all about competition or talking about people behind their back or being embarrassed about something small: rather, it's about accepting these differences and striving to improve them with other's help.

CHINGLISH ALERT:
(My notebook I bought from the supermarket)
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