After spending a weekend landing, settling in, and relaxing, this was our first day at our work. We arrive being greeted by the school with a banner, a beautiful opening ceremony in which the children even gave us flowers. The introduction was incredible and filled with excited energy and lots of momentum around our social emotional learning curriculums. After we were split up into groups and then we had a chance to observe a classroom environment, only in Chinese. The children displayed a warm energy counterbalanced with exceptional discipline. They were able to work independently and with groups, follow instructions, and stay engaged. The teachers were equally as impressive. They were able to float around to the different students to answer questions, do the activities with the students, and help them in whatever way possible. What was equally impressive was how quickly the children transitioned into group activities. There was one student who was still rolling up his mat while the group activity was starting. He took a little bit longer but rolled up his mat and joined the group. Throughout this entire time, the child stayed calm and was not concerned about falling behind. This to me was definitely the collective mentality instead of individualist mentality. I’ve recalled classrooms in which we wait until everyone, and then we participate in the group activity. After lunch we were informed that we would be leading a 15-minute demo presentation during the afternoon activity! Our group of 6 developed a fun handshake we can teach to the children, play a fun game of musical chairs, and teach them the idea of sportsmanship. We had to modify it a few times, but overall we had a solid plan. The handshakes were adorable and we met all 22 children in our class. Musical chairs was hilarious! We we’re concerned how the kids would react once they lost, but we ended up giving them a round of applause to make feel better. The sportsmanship activity was a little all over the place, but regardless a good plan. We left the school about 6:30pm, feeling very accomplished with our first day with the children. - Ben
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