Day 5: Volunteering in China

6:30 AM: Joe’s cell phone alarm startles all of the guys awake. Today was our first day teaching and we had to report for breakfast at 8 AM. LuXi has proved to be as hot as ever so a cold shower was a welcome relief. We were warned about the mosquitoes before arrival, but so far a closed window and an anti-mosquito candle have proved to be more than enough to keep them away.

Our breakfast consisted of the same pork/vegetable buns as yesterday however today they were brought to the cafeteria for us. After a quick meal, we headed over into the middle school to meet up with our students to begin the food lesson. Jenette and I were partnered together as instructors and it was really interesting to learn how much English our students already knew. We also found that almost all of the students take class seriously, and wanted to learn more. They were very excited about the opportunity to work with native speakers. We followed the lesson plan for the day which included a lot of vocabulary, a crossword puzzle, and “Scattergories.” The students did well, and it was great to get to know their personalities; they’re all great kids.

After class was lunch, where the food was good, per usual. The lunch ladies were reluctant to give us any spicy food and laughed at us when we asked for it. The always serve it anyway and it usually proves to be delicious.

After lunch, the group headed back to the school to work on our “mini-projects,” our afternoon classes that the students get to choose, sort of like an elective. These are taught in Chinese, and we are assisstants. Jenette and I were assigned to the industrial Packing class, since we are both IOE students. The language barrier was really difficult, but they really appreciated our insights. The instructor (one of the Chinese LAC volunteers) even asked us to help design the class! It felt nice to be able to help. We were both afraid we wouldn’t be much use due to the Chinese instruction. The kids put forth a lot of interesting ideas on how to improve packaging for things like toothpaste, shampoo, and baby formula.

After the mini-projects came dinner, followed by a meeting regarding tomorrow’s lesson. We discussed some of the good things that occurred today, and reflected on some possible improvements. This meeting ran until about 9:30, after which everyone dispersed back to their rooms and relaxed until bed. Another great day in LuXi.

-Luke