Last Day in China

Today, as we said goodbye to China, we visited what is perhaps the most recognizable symbol of the grandeur of this country: the Great Wall. The Wall was first built by Emperor Qin and the current stretch of Wall was completed during the Ming Dynasty. We enjoyed the view from the Wall and ate a delicious picnic lunch!


For this, the final blog post from China, I would like to thank all of the people who made this study tour possible. On behalf of all participants, thank you to EF Education, the Freeman Foundation, and other funders for your generous support. Thank you to the staff at Primary Source who spent hours preparing for all aspects of our trip. Thank you to our families, our schools, and our students for allowing us to be away on this important learning experience. We all agree that this trip has profoundly affected us; we are returning home changed by what we have seen, the people we have met, and all that we have learned.

Saying Goodbye to Dandelion

We said our goodbyes to the students and teachers at the Dandelion School today. Before we departed, however, we spent the morning and early afternoon wrapping up our time at the school. In the morning, we visited the homes of two students. It was a real pleasure to visit with their parents and learn more about their home life. Most students at Dandelion live at the school during the week and return to their families only on weekends. Much of their time at home is spent helping out with household chores or working in the fields, especially during harvest time.

We then returned to the school for a teacher-to-teacher discussion on the teaching methods and strategies we have been using throughout the week. Dandelion teachers have been carefully observing us and were eager to ask questions about our lessons. We were happy to share reflections on our experiences and give further information about why we chose particular methods for our chosen topics. We are hopeful that the strategies we modeled and the activities we shared will inspire Dandelion teachers to expand their own teaching repertoires to include more group work and periodic assessments - important strategies for ensuring students of all abilities are learning.

We concluded the day with a series of student presentations. Each class demonstrated what they learned this week. Students shared art, poetry, science, skits, stories, role play, and much more. It was rewarding to see the students' proud faces as they performed and presented. We also hope that these presentations will help their teachers better understand how the methods we used helped students develop deep understandings.
Today was a challenging day: it was sad to leave the students and teachers we have grown to know and love, but it was uplifting to know that we have shared so much and learned from each other.

Tomorrow we conclude our study tour with a visit to the Great Wall. We are eager to see this magnificent construction and learn more about who built it and why it was made. Stay tuned for the final post from China!

Learning From Each Other

Our time at Dandelion is coming to an end. Today, we taught the last full set of lessons, and tomorrow we will spend time debriefing with teachers and celebrating our accomplishments with students.

The Dandelion School is a unique school; the students who attend the school are the children of migrant workers and many of them live on the campus.
Three meals are served each day, and lunch at school is very different from lunch at school in the United States. Students here in China eat together as a class in their regular classroom. Two students go to the kitchen to pick up big pots of rice and vegetables or meat, and bring the lunch back to their classroom to serve to their classmates. Each student keeps a bowl and spoon in the classroom, and when lunch is over, they clean their own dishes! For the past three days, we have eaten lunch with the students and we all agree that this is a wonderful experience; we love the food, and the conversations are always interesting!

Kate W. and Mark Q. have been teaching students about the Civil Rights Movement in the United States. They have introduced challenging vocabulary words like segregation and shared quotes from Martin Luther King Jr.

Students in Ralph W. and Pam L.'s class are learning about the author and artist Eric Carle. Students learned about the author's life and practiced vocabulary words from his books. Then, they created their very own pop-up book using tissue paper in his style.
Jennifer M., Christine S., and Allison W. introduced their students to the study of habitats around the world. Students learned about the rainforest, coral reef, savannah, desert, and polar regions. As a culminating activity, they created a Habitat Mural that included examples of plants, animals, and weather in their assigned habitat.


Tomorrow we will return to Dandelion for our final day of teaching and learning. We have so enjoyed our time with the students and teachers at Dandelion; it will be difficult to leave but we will take away many wonderful memories.

Teaching and Learning at Dandelion

Today we returned to the Dandelion School for our second day of teaching. Before our lessons began, we joined the students out on the playground for a brief assembly and introductions. Ralph W. delivered a brief message to the students:

"On behalf of the teachers from America, I would like to thank you for inviting us into your school community. Some of the teachers from America, including me, teach students in the same grades as you. When I look and see your faces, your joy in learning, I see the faces of my students. I have learned that the world is not so big and we are all the same in many ways. Thank you to your principal for opening your school to us. Thank you to your teachers for opening your classrooms to us and most important, thank you to the students for letting us teach you. We have traveled to Dandelion to share some of the ways we teach in our schools and to learn about many of the wonderful things you do here at Dandelion. All of us teach our students about China. Being here, seeing your beautiful country, and talking and learning from you will make us better teachers. When I return to my school, I will share pictures and information with my students and they will learn about the Dandelion School. Our deepest hope for each of you is a long life filled with good health, a desire to always learn, and deep happiness."

The day continued with learning activities designed to teach the students at Dandelion about new topics and demonstrate new pedagogical methods for their teachers.

Jonathan T. and Cailleen B. are teaching about the Columbian Exchange. Today, they engaged the students in a lively activity designed to help them remember which goods came from the New World and which from the Old World.
Wallis R. and Juli K. reviewed vocabulary with students to help them learn about and compare landmarks in China and the United States.
Joel G. and Cheryl K. guided students through an investigation of convex and concave lenses. Students were so engaged in their work that they did not even want to take their scheduled break!
Check back tomorrow for more photos and stories from our time at Dandelion. We are looking forward to another day of teaching!

Dandelion School

Today we transitioned from tourists to teachers as we spent a full day at the Dandelion School (a middle school for the children of migrant workers) in Beijing. Participants (10 teachers and 3 administrators) worked in pairs to teach 3 lessons on various topics such as seeing and perception, Eric Carle, habitats, the Civil Rights Movement, monuments, and global trade.


The eighth grade students learned new vocabulary, practiced working in small groups, and were introduced to new information. Dandelion School teachers generously opened their doors to us and we are so pleased to participate in a dynamic exchange of ideas and methods.


This was the first of four days that we will spend at the Dandelion School. Prior to arriving in China, participants on this study tour developed lesson plans that would engage the students at Dandelion in learning about a topic. These plans feature hands-on activities, vocabulary lessons, and opportunities for students to develop their own questions. Today's lessons were a great success, and we look forward to returning tomorrow morning!

Friday Recap

On Friday, we visited the Pangliu Village School. Juli K. and Wallis R. said: "The best part of the experience was seeing how excited the students were to use magnifying glasses. The most challenging part was communicating with the teacher who did not speak English. [We were able to communicate through translators and pre-translated vocabulary words and lesson plans.] The most surprising part was that the students repeated everything we (the teachers) said!" Here are some images of our experiences teaching a science lesson to children of all ages at the school.

Today, our first day in Beijing, we visited the Temple of Heaven, Tiananmen Square, and the Forbidden City. I'm still catching up on images and stories from the last few days, so tomorrow's post will include a fuller update on this exciting day!

Tomorrow, we will begin our week of teaching and learning at the Dandelion School here in Beijing. Pairs of participants will teach a series of lessons to eighth graders at the school, demonstrating pedagogical techniques for the teachers and introducing new content to their students. We are sure that we will learn as much from the teachers and students at Dandelion as they learn from us!

Teaching at Pangliu Village School

Today we visited the students at the Pangliu Village School. It was a great experience as we were able to spend time with the students teaching them a science lesson prepared by a participant, Cheryl. We also enjoyed a delicious home-cooked lunch prepared by hosts in the village.

This post will be brief because I don't have much time and limited Internet access, but I wanted to let everyone know that we had a great day today and tomorrow we will ride bikes on the City Wall and visit the Shaanxi Provincial Museum before we ride an overnight train to Beijing, the final destination of our trip! I won't be able to update until Sunday morning (China time), so stay tuned until then for more pictures and stories from the last few days in Xi'an!