This summer in Greenway China

My name is Nicole Hardy and I am 19 years old. I moved to China through greenway organization as a way to gain some experience as a teacher. I have a year off  before being able to apply for universities in England and as I want to be a teacher in the future, Greenwayprovided the perfect opportunity to gain some work experience. I chose China as my location as I grew up in Brunei and Indonesia until the age of 7 and wanted to return to Asia.

I arrived in China at the beginning of August 2013, and was greeted by Patrick, a Chinese Greenway coordinator at the airport. During my first two days, there were many new arrivals like me. Some only came for a few weeks, others for up to 5 months or longer. I also met some German people who had been here in China for a year. Little did I know that these Greenway volunteers would become like family after just a month together! After spending my first two days in Guilin, meeting the other future teachers, we relocated to Fengyan, a village near Gongcheng. We were to stay in a very traditional Chinese house, with wooden architecture. We shared 6 to a room but it never felt overcrowded due to everyone getting along so well.

Our first week was called ‘culture week’, where we would go visit many other villages and temples around Gongcheng. For some of the volunteers, this was their first time in Asia and therefore they were in awe of the new culture experience. Despite the overwhelming heat, everyone in the villages seemed so friendly and welcoming. In Fengyan, the villagers would always greet you when you would even walk to the shop. Random families would welcome you into their homes and offer you oil tea (a local tea) and lunch. The standard of living is so much lower in the village than in West, and yet everyone seems so much happier!

During ‘culture week’, Greenway also set up many activities for us volunteers on top of the day trips. For example, we received at least an hour a day of Chinese lessons where we learnt how to bargain, how to introduce ourselves and the Chinese pin yin alphabet. We also received a Chinese calligraphy class and paper cutting. All these activities, despite sounding small, made the days so busy and so exciting. You always woke up in the morning knowing you would learn something new that day.

As I moved in August, Fengyan’s summer school was open. The children ranged from ages 5 to 14. We first observed a few classes by a past volunteer, an English man named Matt. He showed us how enthusiastic the children can be when learning new vocabulary, especially through games and activities. As I have never taught before, it was great to watch someone with experience show me how to get the children hyped up about learning. The following week, I began teaching. I first taught with an Israeli boy named Aviv and then later with an Italian woman called Tina. Our class had 11 students (made up of 6 girls and 5 boys). They were between the ages 8 and 10. Although feeling nervous on my first day, the children encouraged me to take control and play lots of fun activities. I taught them new vocabulary such as fruits, families and commodities. We kept playing games to consolidate their knowledge. The children love to draw, and after teaching them new words, we would allow them to draw the new vocabulary they learnt and stick it up on the walls of the classroom. By the end of my time in Fengyan, our classroom was fully decorated!

During the children’s break time, the children would always play games with the teachers. In the West, the children would generally never become so friendly with their teachers, but in Fengyan, the children would climb on your backs and sing songs during their break with you. This uplifted your spirits because you knew they enjoyed coming to school and enjoyed seeing you everyday.

Living in Fengyan really made you feel attached to the children to the point where it was really difficult to leave to continue my journey in China. There was a 9 year old girl staying with us in the Fengyan house and a couple of us volunteers gave her a new English name -Joline. I spent every minute I possibly could with her. She would help me with my Chinese whilst I would help teach her English. Despite the language barrier, we learnt how to become very close friends and after a week, she began to call me her sister. The children in China can never tire you out despite their energy!

Greenway also gave the long-term volunteers teacher training (TEFL) during our time in Fengyan. Isabella, the head Chinese coordinator, made sure we had all the resources and worked through the training with us. Her feedback and these lessons consolidated methods on teaching and also gave us new ideas for classroom activities. Teacher training also taught us how to prepare adequately for classes through proper lesson plans and also taught us how to control a classroom whilst still being friendly with the children. By the time our teacher training was over, we all felt much more confident in the classroom.

Greenway also set up a week of classes in Gongcheng whilst still living in Fengyan. We would come to Gongcheng as to teach a classroom full of adults! The adults were all from different villages around this area and were meant to be English teachers. It was surprising how little English some of them knew and also how willing they were to learn. Unlike with the children, you cannot teach adults through games so we taught through controlled discussion activities. At the end of the week, I received excellent feedback from the adults which boosted my confidence further since it was a whole new experience and a lot more nerve racking to teach peer teachers.

The excellent thing about Greenway is that you get proper time off at the weekends where you can travel. As a group, we tended to travel to Yangshuo, a nearby town. Yangshuo has many rooftop bars and Western restaurants as well as traditional Chinese street food. We always felt so busy the past month, even when in Yangshuo. For example, one day we hired motorbikes and travelled to a beautiful lake in the middle of nowhere with mountains all around and went swimming. The isolation was fantastic for a break as it opposes the hectic Chinese towns. In Yangshuo, as Westerners we were also commonly asked for our autographs and really began to feel like celebrities, as many people would stop to say hello and take photographs with us.

The past week I had a ‘relaxation week’ in Gongcheng before starting proper teaching next week in my new school in Liuzhou, a nearby city. Although the time off is very relaxing, I actually already miss being around the children and teaching in the schools. Despite it being a job, it never feels like work as you’re always having so much fun thank to Greenway!