First Day at School

Today (Monday) we observed Guiyang No. 4 Experimental Primary School. We arrived at school around 7:30am and enjoyed a breakfast of noodles, broth, a warm hard-boiled egg, pork, and vegetables. My chopstick skills are improving rapidly because no forks are available. Next we met the three teachers of English and found our work desks in their shared office on the fifth floor of the school building. There is no elevator at the school and all the corridors are open air. Mondays at the school are started with a school meeting. More than 1,000 students lined up according to grade level in the courtyard to sing songs, listen to announcements, and raise flags. Natalie and I introduced ourselves. I was taken aback when 1,000 students greeted me with “Good morning!” in unison.  We observed different English language classes, which each lasted 40 minutes. The classrooms are about the same size as a typical American classroom and each class has about 50 students, so there is not much extra space. The students are learning how to describe locations of objects, describe the weather, and describe different professions. For lunch we ate the school lunch of rice, eggs with vegetables, spicy noodles with pork, and a steamed green vegetable. Between each class is a 10-minute break signified by Yankee Doodle played over a loudspeaker. The students were very excited to see us and said “Hello!!!” whenever they saw us in the hallways. The English teachers have been incredibly helpful and we feel very welcome at the school. I look forward to starting to teach English lessons soon. 

Lizzy

Students performing morning exercises.

Nearly 1,000 students lined up in a perfect grid doing exercises in the courtyard.