Anhui Service Project Summary

Okay. So I really want to write about my thoughts and feelings, and write more deeply about the week-long service project I participated in this summer. From July 25-30 I stayed in a village in rural China, at an Elementary school with a group of volunteers from Shanghai. So this post is going to be what I wrote up for my student abroad program director. I’m literally copy and pasting it, just because I want to share with you a little bit about the project. It is supposed to be more objective, instead of my personal experience, I think.

This is the outline I was given for the essay:
1. Introduction
2. Positive Outcomes
3. Areas for Improvement
4. Conclusion
Sorry that this is more boring/dry/academic.

During the summer of 2011, four students for the CIEE Summer Business, Language, and Culture Program accompanied Shanghai Roots and Shoots for their Anhui Poverty Alleviation Program. There were 22 high school and college aged students as well as Roots and Shoots staff members. Along with the four students from CIEE there was a CIEE language teacher and the program director of CIEE. The volunteers participated in a one-day training before the trip and then spent a week at the village school. The students from the school were divided into two classrooms, one for children in grades Preschool through Grade 2, and a classroom for children in Grade 3-Grade 6. The volunteers taught lessons about English, Physical Education, Music, the Environment, Health, and Arts. In addition to the school program, Roots and Shoots conducted a survey about the hygiene practices of some of the local families. During two of the days, a group of students visited families who have children who attend the school, to conduct the surveys and deliver a gift bag of hygiene supplies.

Through this project, students were able to get a first hand glimpse of what life is like in the Yangshan Village. For most of the students in the program it was their first time in a rural Chinese village. The ways of life that the students were exposed to were different from what life is like in Shanghai. Many of the students’ eyes were opened as to what life is like for people living in poverty and in rural China. The student volunteers were able to build friendships and connect with each other as well as spend time getting to know the students from the school. This was also a great experience in building cross-cultural friendships.
One of the places where the CIEE volunteers grew a lot was in their ability and confidence to speak Mandarin. They were immersed in an environment where they could practice their Mandarin literally all day long. There were also able to practice speaking and using everyday words that they might not practice that much in the classroom. When speaking with the children, who didn’t know very much English, their only option was to speak in Mandarin. The kids really seemed to be patient with the CIEE students and enjoyed playing with them and learning from them, even through the language barrier. When the CIEE students were studying, children would often come up to them and be curious about what they are doing and even help them by reading the words or showing the CIEE student the stroke order. The children loved to play games and run around the schoolyard. The CIEE boys loved to join them. The CIEE students could also practice their Mandarin with the adults and other volunteers. All of them had studied English and so they were willing to be patient and work through conversations, using English as a back up. One of the students who is Chinese American, felt like he could build deeper relationships with the other volunteers since he had been speaking Chinese for a longer time (and at a higher frequency).

The students from the school seemed to really benefit from the program. During the classes they were focused, engaged, and paying attention. The students constantly wanted to interact with the volunteers and spend time with them. Many of the students even stayed in the schoolyard after school was over so that they could spend more time with the volunteers. On the day that the volunteers left, the students (and the volunteers) were all very sad. Some of the students were even crying. Many of the students wrote letters and drew pictures for the volunteers. One of the CIEE students received a hand drawn picture with a note that read “花花姐姐，你是一个很好的姐姐，虽然你不太会说中国话，但是我感觉你好亲切，希望你下次再来.”Although it wasn’t always easy for the CIEE volunteers and the students to communicate, they enjoyed each others’ company throughout the week.

Overall the Anhui Poverty Alleviation Program was very successful. One of the things that might have made this project go more smoothly would be for the tasks that were delegated to volunteers to be more directly communicated. Sometimes it seemed like it wasn’t quite clear as to who should be doing what task or sometimes students were not sure what they were supposed to be doing.

It seemed like there could have been a way for the CIEE students and the Chinese students to form closer bonds, to become more of counterparts or friends. Maybe spending more time for students to get to know each other could help to build more organic friendships. Also maybe having students who are qualified volunteer to be translator partners with the CIEE students, rather than assigning them to be volunteers.

One of the things that could benefit both the CIEE students as well as the other volunteers would be to teach them basic classroom management skills. For example teaching them an effective way to get the students attention and commonly used phrases for guiding the students’ behavior. Also for a few of the lessons volunteers didn’t have the paper cut and ready to go and spent time during the lesson trying to rip the papers in half. Also having a finished example for the students if they are supposed to make a finished product is a good idea.

It might also be a good idea for volunteers to have training in basic first aid. If it would be possible to provide a small snack for each student during each of the teaching days or maybe on the last day, they might really appreciate that. Many of the students cannot go back to their homes for lunch and many of them end up eating only an ice cream bar for lunch.

Many of the volunteers expressed an interest in seeing more of the village and seeing what was around the school. Also some people thought that if they would have known that the kids would stay after school, they could have brought games or activities for them to do.

Continuing to partner with Roots and Shoots and offering this opportunity for CIEE students to participate in would be beneficial for future CIEE students. Each of the volunteers from CIEE was impacted in significant ways through this project. Although they each took away different lessons, they all had meaningful experiences. There are many things that can continue to be improved with this project and continuing to invest in this project will be beneficial for the student volunteers as well as the children and families of the Yangshan Village School.