I recently participated in a five day immersion program at Yanqing One Middle and High School in Beijing. Upon my arrival I was led by a Yanqing teacher to drop off my things in the dorm room that I was going to be staying in. The room was extremely neat, and I wondered if teenage girls really lived there. There was virtually nothing in the room but the three bunk beds and three two-person desks that were lined up against the walls.
After dropping off my things, I was led past a combination soccer and track field, and past basketball courts to the school building. A fellow SYAer of mine named Tyler was also participating in the immersion; he and I were led up the stairs of the school building by the SYA teacher who was seeing us off. Crowds of students squealed and pointed at us in excitement when they saw us. Although it was a little embarrassing, Tyler and I couldn’t help but bask in all the attention and find it humorous.
First Tyler was dropped off into his classroom; then it was my turn. All of my new classmates crowded to the front of the room as I entered and began clapping very loudly to welcome me. As the SYA teacher, Mr. Li, introduced me, a girl in the front continuously sshhhed her peers, hanging on to Mr. Li’s every word about me. Mr. Li asked if there was a seat for me and the entire class replied that there was one in the back. He then told them that they could all befriend me and talk with me.
After he finished his announcement, Mr. Li said goodbye to me and I headed to the back of the room where the students had said there was a seat for me. I put my books down, but rather than sit down I turned to the huge crowd that had followed me to my seat, and began to talk to my new classmates. When we ran out of things to say, I asked them what their names were. By the time about half of the kids had said their names the teacher walked in and everyone returned to their seats.
After a couple of classes, we went downstairs for afternoon jog. Each class lined up in rows of four and jogged around campus in step with the class leader’s “one, two! one, two!”. The students ran two laps in the morning and one in the afternoon. Once a day, they also had a break where a recording with music came through the intercom instructing them to massage their head for ten seconds, then their necks, and so on. Less than half of my classmates participated in the massage. As for the jogging, by the second day I noticed that students would walk out of line and rest for a minute or two when there weren’t any teachers around.
Although I was out of shape, I liked the jogging because it increased my appetite right before meal times. Not only was it good exercise, but also it energized us kids and got our blood flowing between classes. As I ran, I wished that the practice would be adopted in America and laughed at the image that popped in my head of my friends at Andover militaristically jogging around campus. However, as I often wear jeans and flip-flops to class at Andover, I imagine that morning and afternoon jogs would be pretty uncomfortable.
Another thing that I came to enjoy was the schedule at Yanqing. The first set of classes was from 7:30 to 12:00, with ten minute breaks in between each class. A morning jog and massage break was also fit in during those times. 12:00 to 2:00 was lunch break. Between 2:00 and 5:30 we would attend classes and jog our afternoon jog. We would then be free until 6:30 when we would attend mandatory study hall that ended at 9:00. Finally we would return to our dorms where lights had to be out by 11:00.
Every Saturday at 5:30 pm, the boarders return home. They have to be back on campus at 6:30 pm for study hall on Sunday. That Saturday, I went to stay at the house of one of my new friends. Her house was about an hour away from the school by bus. On the way to her house we passed by several tree farms. The trees will later be moved into the inner parts of cities. We also passed by several corn farms before we reached Wen Huimeng’s house. Her house was surrounded by mountains. Unfortunately because her house had no heating, I caught a cold, but other than that I had a lot of fun at Wen Huimeng’s. We watched TV, ate dinner, visited her Uncle, and visited a classmate.
Throughout my time there, several teachers had me introduce myself to the class, and one even had me teach a short lesson in English. I chose to go over the pronunciation and meaning of Justin Bieber’s song Baby because I knew that many of my classmates were big fans of his. My class was a hit with almost 100% active class participation!
The Yanqing kids taught me about their Chinese culture and I taught them about my American culture. They gave me a list of good Chinese music and movies and taught me about Chinese actors and actresses. I taught them American games, including several card games, and gave them a list of American songs to listen to. My Yanqing classmates hope to visit America someday and seemed very interested in anything American, from me to American music to my TI-84 calculator.
All of the classmates were extremely welcoming and nice. And because I was a visitor, they hardly allowed me to pay for anything, as is custom in China. I’m still in touch with them and many sent me text messages on my birthday which recently passed. As I let them know, if any of them ever visit America, they need not hesitate to give me a call and allow me to repay their hospitality.
Zaijian!
Maya Odei ‘12
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It sounds like you really had an incredible opportunity in China that most teenagers are not fortunate enough to experience. As an educator, I am particularly impressed with the strategy that you used to teach your class, analysis of a Justin Beber song. Isn’t it amazing that popular culture can be used to promote meaningful learning experiences? I enjoyed reading your post, thanks for sharing!!