#changzou

[tainted--love]

[maytree-music]

We're now at the Hongqiao Airport for coming back to Korea. Had a great show in Changzou pheonix valley theater last night! Happy to be back to Korea but hope to be back to China also! Was a really good memory. 再见, 中国!!! #Maytree #acappella #shanghai #Shanghaimusicfestival #Hongqiaoi #Changzou(Shanghai Airport에서)

[rjwaltmann]

Day 253: The simple things

The past three days my school had an event that involved doing the same 15-minute activity repeatedly for various groups of kids. It was both gratifying and exhausting. I was able to see hundreds of kids--some my own students, but most not--ranging from almost too young to talk to teenagers who looked like they'd prefer hanging with their friends elsewhere.

The activity itself was making paper tacos. My job was to make sure the kids enjoyed themselves while possibly sneaking a little learning in. And while I've been working with Chinese kids for the past eight months, some things still surprised me.

Here are a few:

no matter what age group, they all took absolute pleasure and joy in the simple acts of crumpling and tearing paper

for some kids, tearing paper at random is impossible; they must fold it and then tear along the lines

sometimes a simple "Great job!" can make a child's face light up

apparently my students like me more when I'm not actually teaching them; I got several exuberant hugs from some not-so-enthusiastic students

handing out things for a teacher is a highly-desired and fought-after job

One thing these last three days taught me? Even though paper tacos may not be as cool or delicious as s'mores, garlic bread, or banana splits (other activities), if a child has fun making it and it proud of their accomplishment, then all of it is worth it. All the cutting, painting, tearing, constant smiling, frequent running, coffee drinking, and overall exhausting behaviour. Worth it.