Creative teaching in Langzhong

We post a few photos here from recent visits to Yilong and Langzhong. During our afternoon in Yilong none of the SSTers were teaching, and our time was spent in conversation and catching up on what has been happening in among the Goshen students there, their school work, host families, and new experiences.

In Langzhong we sat in on classes taught by Jacob, Garrett, and Diana. Jacob’s ninth graders are supposed to focus on vocabulary in their textbook, but he has spiced up the lessons with some word games that involve visual recognition and spelling. Garrett, teaching a tenth grade class, was using lessons he and his teaching group created around U.S. holidays. After introducing and reviewing vocabulary, the class did a number of word games with the new words. They concluded their time with Boggle, as nine groups of six students each tried to create as many words as possible with the letters Garrett wrote on the board. Diana’s lesson also drew on the U.S. holidays theme, but centered on Valentine’s Day. After explaining Valentine’s Day cards, Diana asked the class to think of words they could use to give someone a compliment in English. Then students were to create small Valentines and write compliments, in complete sentences, to a friend. Then they took turns reading their cards aloud.

After lunch with the entire Langzhong group, we headed back to Nanchong. The SSTers’ themselves will all return to Nanchong on Friday, November 14 as their five week teaching service comes to an end. This weekend we’ll have some wrap-up activities in Nanchong, and on Monday, November 17 we will be nine days of travel to Chengdu, Leshan, Xi’an, and Beijing.