February 28, 2011
February 27, 2011
Home Sweet Home
I am so very thankful to Amy and the Love Without Boundaries Foundation for coordinating this trip. It was an amazing experience. I will try to find the words to describe it....
Good night for now!
February 26, 2011
February 25, 2011
final day of training
individual trainings. We came back tot he hotel and skyped with Amy
(yay) and got all of the donations together. Once we got back to the
orphanage, Chris did a a training on articulation and then Chris and I
met with the Jinjiang teachers alone to ask and answer specific
questions about the children in their program. Once we finished that
meeting, we all met in the court yard to do some "outdoor" games. We
played with the parachutes, blew bubbles, and drew on the concrete with
chalk. We also taught them some group games/songs including ring around
the rosey, hokey pokey, etc. The teachers also shared some songs that
they do with the children. It was a nice layed back way to spend the
afternoon. After dinner was the party with the staff and children. The
kids LOVED the FKC!! They had chicken wings, sandwiches and french
fries. There were some happy tummys!! We were entertained by the
teachers. The Shantou girls sang a beautiful song. The Changsha girls
sang a cute little kiddie song. The Anhui teachers acted out Romeo and
Juliet...an American - Chinese version. It was GREAT. The Jinjiang
teachers had the children perform for us, which was just beyond
adorable. Many of those kids have stolen e each of our hearts. The
Director thanked us for coming to train the teachers and was thankful
for the support of LWB. We presented the teachers with their
certificates and gifts and then needed to start saying our good-byes. We
have all been good about keeping our emotions in check, but this was
hard. Some of the teachers/managers were quite emotional and it just
touched my heart with the sincerity of their thanks. I hope they
learned half as much from us as we have learned from them this week.
They are truly an amazing group of young women who deeply care about the
children.
February 23, 2011
Wednesday
get to meet more terrific kids and staff at Jinjiang. There is just so
much to say and no words to explain it. The kids get so excited when
they see us and one little guy shouted to his teacher, "here are the
sisters" when he saw us walking down the hall. So funny. They get
excited to see us and to find out what we have to share that day. Today
I did a lesson on counting and one of the materials I used was Kix
cereal. They learned quickly that I had the treats and would come up to
me and pat my backpack, asking for more. Some of the kids were happy to
show off their skills, and wow do they have a lot of great skills. This
evening we went shopping a bit, but as much as we tried to explain that
we wanted to go to shops that sold "authentic" Chinese ware, we were
brought to department stores. We will try to go to another area to shop
on Saturday. That will be our last chance to pick up some soveniers
(?). You all know how I power shop in China....not so much this time.
But, this trip is so worth it. We had an opportunity to meet with the
Provincial Officials this morning and they are very interested in doing
all that they can for the children in orphanages. We were honored that
they came out to meet us. I will upload some pics now as I know that is
what everyone wants to see.
Vicki, Fubing's teachers were very excited to see pictures. They said
he got very tall and they like his new leg. They also said, "oh, he is
very active, we called him monkey boy." I thought that was so cute. I
attached a pic of them in this post. His classroom teacher was the one
on the left.
xoxoxox to all......love and miss my girlies so much but get to skype
with them once or twice a day, which is so terrific.
(having trouble getting pictures to post I will try again tomorrow)
February 22, 2011
Tuesday
with each of us doing a training with the teachers. The original plan
was to implement the activities in the afternoon with the children using
some of the ideas and concepts that we had discussed in the morning
session. Well, it was such a gorgeous day that we decided to take a
walk outside of the immediate grounds of the orphanage. Just next door
was an open field with tall grass and COWS. We decided to ditch the
afternoon plans and take the kids on a "walking field trip" to get them
outside for a bit. Since we have many teachers here from other
provinces it allowed us to do this with almost a 1:1 ratio to ensure the
kids were safe and having fun. It gave us such a great opportunity to
explain and demonstrate how important expanding the experiences that the
children are exposed to. Lots of the kids were very excited to be going
for a walk and once they saw the cows, they were "moo-ing" and labeling
the cow and wanting to feed them. It was so very cute. Of course, some
of the kids were much more cautious, had a bit of fear of walking on the
uneven surface and were afraid of touching the grass. By the end of our
time down in the field many of the kids were touching the grass and
becoming much more comfortable in this new environment. We explained
how important these types of experiences are for the kids.
Coincidentally, one of the teachers had read the story "In the tall,
tall, grass" in the morning and made a craft following it. This gave a
chance to explain how reading about grass or learning about cows, make
little sense if you have never "experienced" walking in grass or seeing
a cow up close and personal. I am so glad we deviated from the
"schedule." We then walked back to the orphanage with the kids and took
them to the playground. This gave us a chance to observe and interact
more with many of the children. There are a few children in the program
who have been matched with their families and are waiting for them to
come pick them up. Let me tell you, they are some lucky families
because each child is cuter and smarter than the next. We were also
able to spend some time with the young babies and speak to the Nannies
taking care of them. The really know a lot about each baby and take
time to learn about their individual personalities. The flavor of this
entire orphanage is that of warmth and caring for these kids. I have to
say it is because of the way that the Director cares for the kids. Like
they say, it starts at the top.
I am having a great experience, learning far more from speaking to the
staff and working with the kids than I can share with them. I miss my
kids like crazy but have spoken to them each morning and each night. I
hear it snowed AGAIN in NY and I am not sure that made them happy or not
. I think that THEY are even done with the snow at this point. They
sound like Nana is keeping them busy and I "hear" that they are
behaving…let's hope so LOL.
Anyway, that's it for tonight, pictures in the next post if the internet
cooperates with me.
More now than ever, I want to sing the praises of Love Without
Boundaries. There Education Program is making SUCH A HUGE impact on the
lives of these kids. If you are ever looking for a charity to donate
to, PLEASE consider LWB, I assure you ever single penny helps to improve
the lives of these kids in so many ways.
February 21, 2011
Monday
Yesterday was a long day, but very productive. We spent the morning
speaking to the teachers and getting to know some of the children. We
observed the classrooms and watched some lessons that the teachers had
planned. Some of the kids are a bit nervous with us and afraid to
interact at first, but many of them quickly warmed up. One class in
particular did a lesson on the 5 senses and she did a fantastic job of
getting the kids up and down and involved. I was so impressed. The love
that the staff has for the kids is so very apparent. I covered the
importance of routines/schedules/choice making yesterday and many of the
teachers had very specific questions and concerns about kids in this
area. The groups are small enough that they feel comfortable speaking in
the group and asking quesions. That is great and my ultimate goal out
of these trainings. I will try to upload pictures later tonight. I
took about 200 and lots of video. Jinjiang is an awesome place and I
feel so very honored to be here!!
I hear NY got MORE SNOW!!! Sorry. It is beautiful here and very
sunny!!!
Until later.....
Day One
having breakfast and heading to the orphanage. We were met by some
amazing teachers and managers of the Believe in Me school, sponsored by
Love Without Boundaries. We were given a tour of the classroom and met
some of the children. The teachers were proud to share their children
with us and each one welcomed us into their classroom. We also met the
director of the orphanage who has so graciously allowed us to have the
conference in her facility. Here are some pictures....we will return to
the orphanage in an hour to start our training. Having a great time!
February 20, 2011
We are in Jinjiang
enough to get all of my luggage, but 2 of my travel mates weren't so
lucky. Hopefully they will catch up with us this week. Driver got lost
getting us to the hotel, but we are ready for showers and excited to
meet the teachers and children tomorrow!!
More tomorow....
Michele
February 18, 2011
blogging via email
testing posting via email with an attachment. If you can read this and
see a picture of my two little ballerinas, than I have been
successful!!! LOL
Leaving on a jet plane.....
I hope to blog from time to time. If I can't, I will blog all about MY adventures when I return. Over and out.......