China Day 10 – June 5, 2018

We were picked up at 8:10 AM and brought to our “office” at the kindergarten.  Arla has tried to find things we would enjoy eating and drinking. She  had asked if we would like coffee, but we aren’t coffee drinkers, so they ordered milk for us. I was touched by their efforts! It came in a plastic pouch, like Capri Sun juice drinks.  The rest of our breakfast consisted of vegetables, chicken and celery,  a bean paste filled bun,  something we could not identify but tried nonetheless, and rice porridge. We enjoyed our meal. Our main concern was that the temperature outside was predicted to be 106° F.

After breakfast, Arla showed us more of the school’s rooms. We were fascinated by the sandbox. It’s an actual room! There were enough sand toys so that each child could have one,  and they were all in excellent condition. Often we mix water with sand at Earthplace to give the children a different textural experience. I wondered if they ever mixed water with the sand. Then I discovered that the room had no roof! The sand would mix naturally with water whenever it rained!

Next we went to a large room in which the children play and exercise. Computer driven projectors threw images of shapes on the walls and floors. When the children step on a shape on the floor, it jumped to another location. Nick was very impressed by this technology.

The next room we visited was an English class presided over by Anna, the teacher we met on Saturday. It was fun to see Julian, our house mate, working as her intern.   The children were responding to a video in English that had them all up and moving, except for one child. Soon a teacher went over to him and with a few encouraging words, he was up and moving, too. This was wonderful to see!

Each child’s photo was affixed to a chair. Then children were seated in a semicircle on their chairs. Anna played  a video of Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed, an activity I have done with my classes numerous times through the years. I had to join in! I exclaimed with joy to Nick, “I am reciting Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed in China!” Next was a song, called Pinocchio, which was unfamiliar to me. It had movements similar to the Hokey Pokey. After that Anna put 8 hula hoops on the floor, and placed photos of different animals in each one. She asked each child in turn to find the  picture of the animal she verbalized in English. The children jumped into the  hoop that they identified verbally.

It was time for lunch, which consisted of egg drop soup, a spicy chicken and vegetable dish, a green vegetable, tofu, and rice. The snack was watermelon.

The children nap or rest  on cots from 1 PM until 2:30 PM.  This would be our opportunity to meet a large group of the teachers. We were expecting to meet the headmaster. We learned that the headmaster was Headmistress Chen, who greeted us warmly and took copious notes.

We gave our power point presentation at the meeting and the teachers were very attentive. We didn’t get all the way through it. Arla asked if we could give her whatever we were going to present the next day so she could translate it. I told her that tomorrow, we would finish today’s presentation. A new video did not need to be translated.

Dinner was pizza. It was a sweet crust shaped like a wedge of pizza, with beans on top. There was also pumpkin soup, and mixed fruit. We were more hot and tired than hungry,  because the temperature reached 104 degrees F. As soon as we were driven to our residence, I fell asleep. I awoke at 1 AM and delved into Sherlock Holmes on my Kindle.

2 thoughts on “China Day 10 – June 5, 2018

  1. Hi Barbara! Loved that sandbox room. What a surprise. And a favorite song as well. And as Mary Ann said Wow!! Thanks so much.

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