Beijing students spend summer teaching in W. China

By Wang Yanfang
0 CommentsPrint E-mail China.org.cn, November 14, 2010
Adjust font size:

Volunteers with their students

Volunteers with their students

China, a foreign, exotic place for many outsiders, can be as mysterious and different for insiders. For 50 college students who were all-too-familiar with Beijing's urban culture and landscapes, a summer spent volunteering in China's more remote and rural West revealed another way of life facing other kinds of hardships.

The students, freshmen and sophomores at Beijing Normal, China Agricultural and Beijing Forestry universities worked in groups of ten in five areas in Shaanxi and Ningxia provinces as part of the Beijing Saving Foundation Association and Education Team for the West, a program funded by entrepreneurs to sustain traditional Chinese culture and classical works. There, the volunteers taught elementary-school children in impoverished areas about Confucian culture, which emphasizes the union of knowledge and culture to enhance lives, as well as English, the environment, science, exercise, music, reading and Chinese history.

But the experience helped volunteers as much as they helped their students. Many of the students said they learned how to live in poor conditions while still remaining healthy and safe. Most of them lived on less than three yuan a day, according to one volunteer in Shaanxi. And in the drought-riddled Ningxia, volunteers learned how to conserve water.

Volunteers and students play outdoors.

Volunteers and students play outdoors.

"People use rainwater that was stored six years ago," said one student who taught there.

Volunteers also learned more about daily life and perhaps getting a dose of reality. Though many of them may have had lofty expectations for achievements, their confidence and enthusiasm were gradually tempered as they found a balance between what they had hoped to achieve and what could actually be accomplished.

In their spare time, they investigated surrounding regions, collecting and then analyzing data. "Material conditions in these areas are better than we thought, but educational resources are still in shortage," said a volunteer who taught in Dali County, Shaanxi.

1   2   3   4   5   Next  


Print E-mail Bookmark and Share

Go to Forum >>0 Comments

No comments.

Add your comments...

  • User Name Required
  • Your Comment
  • Racist, abusive and off-topic comments may be removed by the moderator.
Send your storiesGet more from China.org.cnMobileRSSNewsletter