Stepping Stones

This week I was given the opportunity to teach English to children.  The program we worked with was Stepping Stones, which is an organization that helps provide English classes to migrant children.  This was such an amazing opportunity, far beyond anything I thought it would be like.  In the beginning of the process I expected it to just be the standard lecturing and coloring, but I was pleasantly surprised that there was much more than that.  We got to use our creativity to create fun lesson plans.  The student volunteers were given free-reigns to teach their kids however they liked.  But what made this opportunity the most special is the children.  Not only were they all very smart and well-behaved but they also each had their own unique personality.  Of all the ten weeks I have been in Shanghai this week has been the best, it could actually be one of the best weeks of my life.
Monday: The week began with us being assigned to a certain grade level of students.  My partners and I got grade 3.  We then got to meet our students, they were such a cute bunch of kids! Some made an immediate impression on me while others not so much.  The first order of business was to give English names to the children.  It was exciting to think that these kids may continue to use these names after the program ends. After meeting the kids we had to go through training and orientation, and create lesson plans.  The afternoon we returned to the apartment I think we spent at least 5 hours trying to test ideas on what would keep the kids entertained for the 4 hours.
Tuesday: The first day of classes we were very eager to see the kids and start our lessons.  When we walked into the classroom the students were sitting at the tables ready to learn.  The first day was the toughest for the kids and us.  This was our first time teaching English and the kids have not gotten accustomed to us yet.  But after the first two hours we were all a little more comfortable.  The hardest part was keeping the kids interested in the lesson, which we quickly fixed by creating activities.
The program also added an extra opportunity for the volunteers to speak with some locals.  We were separated into little groups of 4 volunteers and 3 locals.  The locals seemed very interested in us and America.  So the majority of the conversation was started by the locals.  Since this was a great opportunity to get the insight of the locals we asked a lot of questions concerning their perception of Americans.  We were pretty sure they held their tongues for some stuff that might sound unflattering to us.  But they did manage to say that they perceived Americans to be friendly, curious, rich, and open-minded.  Another thing that we asked, since another Chinese-American and I were curious, was about their opinions on Chinese Born Americans.  More on this in another post.
My favorite time during the day was break time.  During this time all the children either ran around, talked, played games, or just sat at their seat quietly.  Another interesting thing that I saw was children cleaning during the break.  Some kids actually took out mops and brooms and started cleaning the classroom, without any direction from the teachers. 
Wednesday: A more relaxed day. The string of games we had lined up for the children were a hit and it looked like they really had fun.  Their personalities started to show too!  After class we went to the Shanghai Auto Museum with the kids.  In my opinion, the museum was not very interesting other than the few unique automobiles here and there.  In addition to the tours, we had a scavenger hunt in the museum.  Each volunteer was in charge of a group of kids.  At the end of the hunt I was very tired but the kids had so much fun. It was nice to see all the kids run around, even the shy ones' looked like they enjoyed it.
Thursday:  Our last full day of class, so we just played a lot of review games and rehearsed for our performance on Friday.  For our performance we decided to do the "hokey pokey" and sing a song that we thought up.
Friday:  Day of our performance!  I think the kids did well, they remembered their lines and they were nearly perfect in their little dance.  All the other children's' performances were great too! It's amazing how well they did with such little time to practice.  After the performances the children were given diplomas and little gifts. Then we had an hour to say our goodbyes to the kids. Despite only knowing them for a week those kids really did grow on us. They were all polite, respectful, charming, and cute kids.  I will admit, during the first day of class I had my favorites but as I got to know them they all became my favorites, I know it sounds corny but it's true.

Being able to work with Stepping Stones was such a great way to end this summer program!
Here is the Stepping Stones website for more info: http://steppingstoneschina.net/

The kids had fun making paper hats, even though they already knew how to make them.

My partner, Taylor, and I with our kids, but one is missing. I have to give a lot of credit to Taylor, she was a really great teacher and the kids loved her.  We were already comfortable with each other so it made teaching much easier.

The group with their prizes after the scavenger hunt. My group came in 3rd but every child got a prize anyways. :)

The kids with their diplomas! (with a little description below)

Tom: the troublemaker of the group. he got into fights with the girls everyday but he was such fun.

I actually don't know her name...because she did not want an English name. She was the shiest of the group but she looked like she had the most fun out of all the kids at the car museum. As the week progressed she became more playful.

Kitty: Teehee, I liked to tease her the most.  During breaks we would play a hand clapping game that she taught me then we would play some form of tag.  She was loads of fun!

Sam: A first I thought he would be difficult but realized he was just the opposite.  He talked in class but once you told him to stop he was all ears.  He was such a smart kid too!

Jenna: Hmm...she was definitely the sassiest of all the kids and one of the cutest. One thing I will always remember about her was "pre-picture warmup". Whenever she saw a camera on her she would do a weird movement with her body then proceed to put one hand on her hip and the other to make a peace sign.  Oh yes, during the last day she gave Taylor and I each a single rose, then, in chinese, she told us to feed it water. Adorable!

Matthew: Aww, Matthew was so cute and VERY smart. Although it didn't interact much with the other kids. He was one of our most polite students.

Jasmine: The teacher's pet of the bunch. She help us so much, whether it was helping us prepare materials for the lessons or translating the activities into chinese. She made life easier for the kids and us.

Jessica: She is so energetic and enthusiastic. Whenever we had an activity she always perked up. But sometime she would get too excited and tease other kids about their work.

Lily (left) and Jenny (right): These two are sister., but we did not know until the last day. Although they were in the same class they rarely spoke with each other other than during group work.  Both were incredibly smart but Lily was a little more outspoken than Jenny.

I will really miss all these kids.  Waking up at 6 in the morning and taking an hour bus ride was worth it because we got to see them.  They were so enthusiastic that I would completely forget that I was tired.  I am so grateful to have been able to spend a week with Stepping Stones. The Stepping Stones program taught me so much.  They educated me on less developed areas of Shanghai, gave me an opportunity to meet and teach wonderful kids, and they taught me to have more appreciation for my teachers and what they do.  Thank you teachers!