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OCIP CHINA 2008
No.2 MIDDLE SCHOOL, LUO YUAN
15th November 2008 to 26th November 2008
Just where was the school? We wondered as the bus chugged through the dark mountain roads. There it was - “Luo Yuan Er Zhong” painted on faded pillars. Here were 26 of us – 24 students and 2 teachers – with 7 days to plant seeds of change.
English lessons by us – 17-year-olds for 17-year-olds – soon commenced. With bated breath, we entered our classes, soon realising that our lessons were a breath of fresh air to their conventional rote learning.
Left: Six ACJC students conducting English lessons for 60 local students in their classroom.
Right: Interactive lessons were also conducted outside of the classroom.
The ‘seed’ of grasping and enjoying English did meet rocky grounds of low self-confidence and disinterest. Blanks stares were commonplace despite simplified lessons. Thankfully, our unconventional lessons and encouragement overcame them.
Our students also became our friends. Amidst our differences, we discovered the universality of the teenage psyche – we loved the same celebrities, having fun, and dreaded homework. Friendships were forged through a friendly basketball match, lunch at local students’ homes, and a mountain trip that delighted us urbanites.
Left: The whole school community gathered to support the basketball match.
Right: Such excursions allowed their students to be tour guides to our students.
Friday's farewell concert -singing, fashion shows, break dancing all seemed to scream “Er Zhong's got talent!” We displayed our talent too, performing Dikir Barat to songs like “Semoga Bahagia”.
Left: Our students introducing the Malay culture through their performance.
Right: Bidding farewell after completing our teaching stint at the school.
Saturday – quietly eating our last soya bean milk-porridge-youtiao breakfast, students streamed towards us, relishing last moments together, smiling despite our heartaches. Parting is inevitable but we hope the seeds we planted would remain, grow and bear fruits.
Our students with Luo Yuan Er Zhong’s senior administration team
The following days were spent on the road – Wuyishan, Fuzhou, Quanzhou, and finally Xiamen. Amongst the various tourist sites visited, the ones that left the greatest impression on us were the Tianluokeng Tulou (the unique historical earth building residences of the Hakka clan) and the Jimei Campus (built by philanthropist Tan Kah Kee, who also contributed to the building of the ACS schools).
Left: The Tianluokeng Tulou forming a pattern of "four dishes and a soup".
Right: Our students visited Tan Kah Kee’s tomb, also located at Jimei Campus.
As we moved from the peaceful Luo Yuan village to the bustling Xiamen city, we observed the gradual evolution of civilisation. Instead of embracing the warmth and familiarity that each subsequent day brought to us, we knew that we were leaving China with the common experience of changing lives in a part of China that even Lonely Planet will probably never feature.
Reported by: Stephanie Foo (1AD1, Dec 2008)
Photographs by: Mr Mervyn Sek (Project Co-Leader)
