JiangXi Team LiChuan County, Desheng Village

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JiangXi TeamLiChuan County, Desheng Village

• Zhang Qian (Team Leader, Jinan University,
  Labour Social Security)
• Jamie Duan (University of Toronto, Engineering
  Science)
• Julian Xue (McGill University, Biology Math
• Lindsay Angelow (UofT, Health Promotion)
• Wendy Lee (UofT, Psychology Research)
• Zhong Zhong Chen (McMaster University, Economics
  Political Science)

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Desheng Village Desheng Elementary School

• Desheng Elementary School is the central school,
  4 smaller schools are organized below it
• 360 students, 24 teachers
• 80 of students are being raised by their
  grandparents (most parents away working)
• High commitment to education, almost all children
  attend school, even the poorest

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• Grades 1-6 preschool, 9 classrooms
• Concrete playground, no sports facilities, music
  room never used
• 1 middle school in Desheng (grades 7-9)

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Tu Jiong
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Projects / What We Did

• Major
• Set up Desheng school library
• Seedling Fund (bursaries scholarships)
• Teaching (English Art)
• Provided continuous support to LiChuan Dream
  Community Library
• English Teachers Gathering

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Projects / What We Did

• Minor
• Surveys (2)
• Performed at June 1st Childrens Day event (was
  broadcasted on the local news)
• Visited LiChuan English Preschool Computer
  School
• One evening interacting with local middle school
  students (Hang Man)

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Desheng School Library

• Before
• Old collection, not used, communist themes, many
  copies
• Two shelves in meeting room storage space
• We contributed 500 new books, and kept 205 of the
  old collection
• 1/3 of new books are for adults

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Desheng School Library
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Desheng School Library

• Many new childrens books
• A good selection
• However, very few English books
• Issued library cards to grades 3 4
• Created a computerized management system
• 1 teacher has volunteered to be the librarian
• Turned out well, considering the obstacles
  (computer problems, principal had different
  opinion about library regulations)

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Seedling Fund

• 12 kids were issued bursaries (Y150 each)
• Based on financial need
• All who were interviewed were given bursaries
• 12 kids were issued scholarships (Y200 each)
• Top 10 students per grade in the district were
  asked to write essay for competition (question
  If DreamCorps was to give a scholarship, should
  it be based on financial need or marks?)
• 40 essays received
• 2 kids per grade were selected

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LiChuan Dream Community Library

• Established in 2003 by the Tu family (Tu Jiong
  and Tu Shiao Hua)
• Mostly frequented by children, although Tu Jiong
  would like to attract academics
• Only open Saturday Sunday
• Run also by Tu Jiongs 9 year old niece
• We contributed 200 new books

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LiChuan Dream Community Library

• Held a ½ day celebration to promote the library
  (advertised it as an event to celebrate the
  donation of new books). Handed out flyers put
  up posters as promotion.
• Media came
• Held a puppet show (3 Little Pigs in Mandarin)
• Find-the-book game (good idea)
• Food
• Went well but did not attract enough high school
  students and adults

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Teaching

• Grades 4 5 English (Head Shoulders, Library
  vocabulary lesson, lesson from textbook)
• Grade 2 Art (origami frogs lesson)

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English Teachers Gathering

• 7 English teachers in Desheng district (from 5
  schools)
• Very low level of English skills (most cannot
  have a conversation, learned English in high
  school, some took a summer course in teaching
  English)

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English Teachers Gathering

• Agenda
• Differences between British and U.S. English
• Overview of how foreign languages are taught in
  Canada (French)
• Tips/ideas for how to improve English skills
  (esp. listening speaking)
• Small group work gt pronounciation of phonetics,
  alphabet and vocabulary from textbooks they teach
  from)
• Gave an 18-page hand-out package
• Went very well

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Surveys

• A Teachers opinions and ideas of current and
  future libraries
• Originally meant to be a paper survey but ended
  up being 1-on-1 interviews with 24 teachers
• B Teachers opinions of usefulness of volunteers

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Additional things that went well

• Made a strong contact with a local bookstore
  owner
• Zhang Qians knowledge of social customs was
  extremely helpful necessary

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Difficulties

• Had to start from scratch
• Shortage of time
• First 1-1.5 weeks a lot of time was taken up by
  lunches/dinners with officials
• Team communication problems (info sharing more so
  than translation)
• Computer problems slowed us down
• 2 members dont speak Mandarin, 3 members dont
  read Chinese slowed library cataloguing process
  down
• Bugs and rain rain affected time for home
  visits
• Late arrival of books
• Survey interviews Seedling Fund interviews not
  standardized
• Didnt use our guan shi enough
• Didnt communicate with Tu Jiong enough

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What we didnt do enough of

• Not enough teaching (English and other subjects)
• Not enough contact with the kids, esp. grades 1-3
  and 6
• Didnt get around to LiChuan high school
• Did not maximize on our skills / knowledge (e.g.
  Wendy studied linguistics but short timing didnt
  allow to fully prepare for phonetics section of
  English Teachers Gathering)

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Expectations vs Reality

• EXPECTATIONS gt REALITY
• Surveys would be on paper gt surveys turned into
  interviews
• Lots of interaction with kids gt not so much
  interaction with kids
• Expected area to be poorer gt area poor but not as
  poor as expected

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Expectations vs Reality

• Not too many expectations
• Thought I would learn more
• Did not know not having Mandarin skills would be
  such a barrier with elementary school skills
• Didnt know it takes so long to socialize with
  big people
• Didnt know we would have so little control when
  officials tried to make plans for us
• Learned about local reality of Chinese rural
  development work

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How did we cooperate with local people and
officials?

• Not nearly well enough
• Socialized a lot with officials ( their
  daughters)
• Didnt get teachers involved in cataloging books
  (2 only)
• Didnt get students involved insetting up library
• Should have talked more with teachers and
  officials about their ideas
• Need to talk more with people in positions of
  power gt need to build contacts
• Gave gifts at the end

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Our estimate of the future potential of these
initiatives

• School library very high potential
• Enthusiastic kids who havent had much access to
  books before
• Management system very expandable for when more
  books arrive easy to use
• Contact with local bookstore owner- willing to
  support library by donating books
• BUT
• Needs more books
• Will school keep computerized management sys?
• Will school continue to allow kids to borrow
  stick to borrowing rules for teachers?

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Our estimate of the future potential of these
initiatives

• Community library high potential
• Already set up
• Good contact with Tu Jiong
• Needs help to attract wider audience
• Bursaries/scholarships good potential
• Can continue this in Desheng area
• English Teaching good potential
• Both for students teachers
• BUT need Education majors to do this

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Our estimate of the future potential of these
initiatives

• Social capital
• People like us, Zhang Qian very talkative and
  friendly with people will help for next team
• OVERALL Desheng site has a lot of potential for
  continuation we recommend a team be placed
  there next year

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Test site for non-Mandarin speakers

• Advantages of having non-Mandarin speakers
• Sign boards authentic foreigner seen as a
  foreign organization
• Students and teachers have to interact with us in
  English, which helps them with their English
  skills
• Has a personal impact on individuals who are not
  as connected to China,when they participate in
  DreamCorps
• For those who are more connected to Canadian
  mainstream,can bring a rippling effect to Canada

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Test site for non-Mandarin speakers

• Disadvantages of having non-Mandarin speakers
• Requires extra work for the team translation
• Bilingual speakers (Eng / Mandarin) are good for
  teaching Eng to elementary school students?Better
  for non-Mandarin speakers to teach Eng at middle
  schools / high school?
• Need to know at least some Mandarin?

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Recommendations to DreamCorps re Desheng site

• Need to get more English books to the
  library,including books for Eng teachers who
  dont have much Eng proficiency
• Need more Education majors on the team next
  year,esp if teaching Eng to Eng teachers
• If library has not moved by next year, try to get
  library moved to another room
• Consider the time of year when going back, maybe
  go 1-2 weeks earlier because of exams
• Need Eng tapes and tape recorders

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Suggestions to DreamCorps

• In addition to previous suggestions by teams
  (retraining, organization)
• Should have a session on what to expect,provide
  emergency contact numbers
• Pre-departure needs to be more organized need
  to get notice of approval earlier so we can
  prepare,provide letter of confirmation so we can
  request time off work,provide financial support
  info

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Suggestions to DreamCorps

• Website many Chinese links dont work, could be
  more user friendly, improve forum to avoid
  spammers
• Build up more contacts in China
• Build up more contacts overseas (US/Canada)
  much potential in Toronto with the Chinese
  community
• Involve members more in fundraising
• Create an alumni circle
• Come up with ways to keep former participants
  involved