Yesterday I went to the hospital to pick up Chun Yu. There were two nannies with her who had been with her for the past week, sleeping on a rented stretcher-type bed every night. I thought about how dedicated they are to Chun Yu and the other children; they did not have to stay an entire week, but they volunteered to. Usually we would switch nannies every day.
Chun Yu has made significant progress already since the surgery. Before, if you asked her a question she could not answer, she would stay silent. Now, she can voice, "I don't know" (ζδΈη₯ι). Before, she would follow every command given to her seemingly without thinking. She would recite poems, sing songs, say hello and goodbye, etc. Now, she often refuses to listen to directions. I think she is starting to recognize her own will. I hope that soon she will be able to tell the difference between "you" and "me."
The doctors removed the bandage from her head. Now there is just a small cross-shaped scar on her forehead. I want to see it as a symbolic mark. Guillaume and Delphine and the volunteers prayed for her a lot, and I often prayed for her in the hospital room. I was so worried the day I heard she had a seizure. Now it seems things are looking much better. I hope she can join English class soon.
Speaking of English class, here is (finally) an update on what we do in English:
Preschool: At 8:30 the kids are usually all there in the living room in building 17 waiting with two nannies. I sit down and say "Good morning class," and they say "Good morning An jiejie." I usually start off with "How are you?" and some of them respond with "I'm fine, thank you." The younger ones just repeat what I say. We clap and count from 1 to 10. Recently I have made each of them stand up and walk around the circle, counting how many children there are in class. We sing the ABC's, once with me leading, and once by themselves. We sing Old MacDonald had a Farm, and they know plenty of animals by now: dog, cat, cow, bird, snake, bee, wolf, tiger, lion, chicken, sheep... We stand up and do the Hokey Pokey, which they are very good at now. We then do either London Bridge or In and Out the Window, then end with Ring around the Rosie. They sit down and I go around the circle with a box of crackers and ask each of them, "Do you want a cracker?" For weeks most of them still haven't gotten it right; they just repeat after me instead of saying "Yes please." Xin Ju and Chun Yan are older and do it correctly, but the others are maybe too young. After that I teach them a shape (square, triangle, etc.) and pass it around the circle. We play hot potato with the shape so when stop playing piano, whoever has the shape has to say the English name of it out loud. Then we always end with "If You're Happy and You Know It." The kids really love that song. I say goodbye to them, and then usually a bunch of them want to play with me before they have to go do exercises or take a walk with their nannies.
Students: The older students learn more advanced stuff, of course. Continuing from Theresa's lessons, we practice sentence structures like "Today I feel happy/sad/frustrated/excited... because..." and "Yesterday I went..." Recently I taught them "Before" and "After." One of the most fun activities for them is to pretend to bargain and shop. I have a bag of random items like a shirt, a towel, a roll of toilet paper, etc. that they can bargain for in English. Some of them are really funny because when they're the storeowner, they make the price go lower instead of higher...I guess some don't have much of an idea about how to buy things. On Fridays we have storytime; recently I have read Bible stories, and last week I told them a short version of Hansel and Gretel. I pause between sentences to let them try to translate. Most days at the end of English, we practice recorder. That is pretty hard because none of them can see me playing, so I have to try to give verbal directions and go from person to person to correct their fingering.
Piano lessons are different for each child. Li Qin is amazing; I am starting to teach her an easy version of Liebestraume III. I gave her the CD that came with the book, and I think if she listens to it, she can figure things out on her own. Li Ying needs more encouragement, but she is also talented. My problem with the way they have been taught music is that they all know Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do, but they don't know the lettered keys (A-G). I have to review the letters every week with them. Some of the younger kids are easily distracted but still talented. Others are not really musical. Since there are 8 of them who learn piano, not all of them can find time to practice, and some of them are lazy and don't care to practice (just like me). I feel like I haven't taught them much in piano. But we also have nice conversations and one on one time.
Delphine recently asked Chris and me to take over Arts and Crafts as well as preschool music since Audrey and Sarah left. We have made fans and finger puppets so far. Today I think we are going to try a lame-o project of chain bracelets or necklaces made out of paper. There are so many project ideas online, but we don't have the materials for them. It just happens that none of the toilet paper in the Bethel bathrooms have a cardboard tube in the middle; they're just rolls of paper. That cancels out all projects that require a cardboard tube.
We also teach music to the preschoolers and autistic children. We sing some children's songs in the book Christine left here. They get to use instruments like tambourines to keep the beat. Today we tried teaching them rhythm, 4/4 and 3/4. At the end, one kid at a time strummed Chris' guitar while another kid played piano with me, and we played Kumbayah together.
I only have a week left. I leave next Thursday on a 1:00 PM flight. It feels like I've been here a really long time, especially since so many volunteers have come and gone while I'm still here. Melanie (a French volunteer who teaches Delphine and Guillaume's children) just moved into an apartment yesterday. The two Beijing volunteers left this morning. Now it's just me and Chris. We have fun, though. Sometimes Isaac comes over to learn guitar from him. Most nights we just play videogames...the wonder of SNES9x and ROM files. We beat Turtles in Time twice so far on easy and hard. I also have to finish watching LOST (and probably start writing stories about it afterward).
Still trying to think of plans for this weekend; it's my last one here, so I better make it memorable.
Chun Yu has made significant progress already since the surgery. Before, if you asked her a question she could not answer, she would stay silent. Now, she can voice, "I don't know" (ζδΈη₯ι). Before, she would follow every command given to her seemingly without thinking. She would recite poems, sing songs, say hello and goodbye, etc. Now, she often refuses to listen to directions. I think she is starting to recognize her own will. I hope that soon she will be able to tell the difference between "you" and "me."
The doctors removed the bandage from her head. Now there is just a small cross-shaped scar on her forehead. I want to see it as a symbolic mark. Guillaume and Delphine and the volunteers prayed for her a lot, and I often prayed for her in the hospital room. I was so worried the day I heard she had a seizure. Now it seems things are looking much better. I hope she can join English class soon.
Speaking of English class, here is (finally) an update on what we do in English:
Preschool: At 8:30 the kids are usually all there in the living room in building 17 waiting with two nannies. I sit down and say "Good morning class," and they say "Good morning An jiejie." I usually start off with "How are you?" and some of them respond with "I'm fine, thank you." The younger ones just repeat what I say. We clap and count from 1 to 10. Recently I have made each of them stand up and walk around the circle, counting how many children there are in class. We sing the ABC's, once with me leading, and once by themselves. We sing Old MacDonald had a Farm, and they know plenty of animals by now: dog, cat, cow, bird, snake, bee, wolf, tiger, lion, chicken, sheep... We stand up and do the Hokey Pokey, which they are very good at now. We then do either London Bridge or In and Out the Window, then end with Ring around the Rosie. They sit down and I go around the circle with a box of crackers and ask each of them, "Do you want a cracker?" For weeks most of them still haven't gotten it right; they just repeat after me instead of saying "Yes please." Xin Ju and Chun Yan are older and do it correctly, but the others are maybe too young. After that I teach them a shape (square, triangle, etc.) and pass it around the circle. We play hot potato with the shape so when stop playing piano, whoever has the shape has to say the English name of it out loud. Then we always end with "If You're Happy and You Know It." The kids really love that song. I say goodbye to them, and then usually a bunch of them want to play with me before they have to go do exercises or take a walk with their nannies.
Students: The older students learn more advanced stuff, of course. Continuing from Theresa's lessons, we practice sentence structures like "Today I feel happy/sad/frustrated/excited... because..." and "Yesterday I went..." Recently I taught them "Before" and "After." One of the most fun activities for them is to pretend to bargain and shop. I have a bag of random items like a shirt, a towel, a roll of toilet paper, etc. that they can bargain for in English. Some of them are really funny because when they're the storeowner, they make the price go lower instead of higher...I guess some don't have much of an idea about how to buy things. On Fridays we have storytime; recently I have read Bible stories, and last week I told them a short version of Hansel and Gretel. I pause between sentences to let them try to translate. Most days at the end of English, we practice recorder. That is pretty hard because none of them can see me playing, so I have to try to give verbal directions and go from person to person to correct their fingering.
Piano lessons are different for each child. Li Qin is amazing; I am starting to teach her an easy version of Liebestraume III. I gave her the CD that came with the book, and I think if she listens to it, she can figure things out on her own. Li Ying needs more encouragement, but she is also talented. My problem with the way they have been taught music is that they all know Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do, but they don't know the lettered keys (A-G). I have to review the letters every week with them. Some of the younger kids are easily distracted but still talented. Others are not really musical. Since there are 8 of them who learn piano, not all of them can find time to practice, and some of them are lazy and don't care to practice (just like me). I feel like I haven't taught them much in piano. But we also have nice conversations and one on one time.
Delphine recently asked Chris and me to take over Arts and Crafts as well as preschool music since Audrey and Sarah left. We have made fans and finger puppets so far. Today I think we are going to try a lame-o project of chain bracelets or necklaces made out of paper. There are so many project ideas online, but we don't have the materials for them. It just happens that none of the toilet paper in the Bethel bathrooms have a cardboard tube in the middle; they're just rolls of paper. That cancels out all projects that require a cardboard tube.
We also teach music to the preschoolers and autistic children. We sing some children's songs in the book Christine left here. They get to use instruments like tambourines to keep the beat. Today we tried teaching them rhythm, 4/4 and 3/4. At the end, one kid at a time strummed Chris' guitar while another kid played piano with me, and we played Kumbayah together.
I only have a week left. I leave next Thursday on a 1:00 PM flight. It feels like I've been here a really long time, especially since so many volunteers have come and gone while I'm still here. Melanie (a French volunteer who teaches Delphine and Guillaume's children) just moved into an apartment yesterday. The two Beijing volunteers left this morning. Now it's just me and Chris. We have fun, though. Sometimes Isaac comes over to learn guitar from him. Most nights we just play videogames...the wonder of SNES9x and ROM files. We beat Turtles in Time twice so far on easy and hard. I also have to finish watching LOST (and probably start writing stories about it afterward).
Still trying to think of plans for this weekend; it's my last one here, so I better make it memorable.
posted by Ann Chao at 8:27 PM
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