Sports Day

Sports Day in China is nothing like I have seen before. From my own sports days as a child, to those I help with now, I can honestly say that here, it is the most incredible experience.

What Happens.
In the school there are 37 classes, each with roughly 45 children. For this reason, it is spread over two days. They have an opening ceremony which local VIPs are invited to watch. Parents take part as well and it is a massive celebration to honour the school and China.
Scott from Grade 1

Everyone of those 37 classes put on a performance, some of which include the parents! It will be no surprise to hear that I could not understand any of the chants or songs performed, but I was told at the end of every performance they recite a chant that basically means 'I love my school, I love China'. I've never seen such patriotism.

'Bundled' by Grade 2
Each class queued up waiting their turn to perform and they were all so excited. I found my Grade 2s to wish them luck and they just kept showing me their props and costumes. They also, very proudly, told me their prop shapes and colours in English. I was a very proud 'Teacher Hannah'. I went to take a photo with them and the next thing I knew they were climbing all over me desperate for a hug! Most of them were obscured by their props but you can see a small portion of them 😋
Some special visitors!

The determination!
As you can see from the pictures, a lot of hard work and preparation is put into these two days. In the lead I had a few cancelled classes (last minute) so the children could practice.
The actual competition escaped me, I had work to do but as you can see, I was sent a few pictures of the tug of war - a competition taken extremely seriously!

Other News
I'm making plans for my week of travel for after this internship - won't say anything until the time comes but I'm quite excited!

I don't know who these children are!
Also today I had to make another trip to the hospital, thanks to what started off as a normal mosquito bite that became something ferocious overnight. This time Alyson came with me and we experienced our first Rickshaw ride! I quite enjoyed it - but only because it was on quieter roads. Not sure I want to be in one on the 4 lane road to my apartment! Anyway, I shall spare you a picture, even though the size is quite spectacular.

I have a cold. This upsets me because it's still 23 degrees. And in the next few days will go down to 18. The other week I put on a jumper. I've had the horrible realisation that I'm acclimatised to this weather. All I ask on my return, is heating, blankets and tea.

Endless Celebrations!
And finally, Alyson and I had joint Teacher of the Month. So happy that our hard work is paying off. We celebrated with MacDonald's.

See ya next time!

Hannah 😊

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Happy English, Happy Life

Image
Firstly, apologies it’s been a while between blogs. Life is getting hectic now that the English festival has started! English festival spans 4 weeks and it involves a lot of performances – including some from my classes. This means teaching the planned lessons and helping prepare their plays and songs. I’ve discovered that the children are very good at remembering words, even if they don’t know what they mean! Getting funky with some fruity kids! We had the opening ceremony on Monday and it was a less extreme version of the sports day. However this time, as we’re the English teachers, we had to get up and lead a performance. Needless to say I was less than thrilled about our mediocre singing. We made up some lyrics to the tune of the Addams Family (and thus, The Foreign Family). Thankfully our audience couldn’t really understand it! We also had to run through the audience when the Head of English said our name. It was a struggle to get through for all
Read more

Here, at the end of all things...

Image
Yes, the title is a quote from Lord of the Rings. Yes, I am a total geek. No, I don't care. Grade 1 It was with great sadness that I said goodbye to Jucheng Primary school and Xiaolan last week. That place has been my home for 5 months. It welcomed me, loved me, entertained me and taught me more than I could ever imagine. Grade 3 It has been hard. The working hours were long, the expectations were high and I often spent time at weekends doing extra work. But it was all worth it. I learnt so much about teaching and it was an experience like no other. I know I've said this before, but the children were truly amazing. They are hard working but always cheery. I am going to miss them so much. When I went in to say goodbye to each class, I wondered if they understood what I was saying. As I said 'I have to go home to the UK', I could see a number of faces turn from smiles to tears. I didn't expect that, I had only been there 5 months! And because they starte
Read more