Although our group had an 8:30 start time today, my body decided to wake up at 5am like an idiot. And so I fell asleep while trying to write this blog entry late at night, naturally.
First we went to see the new CCTV headquarters, a loopy, gravity-defying 230-meter building designed by Rem Koolhas. CCTV is China’s state-run television network that commands most of China’s TV audience. We had a Q&A session outside of the building with Ji Xiaojun, who is in charge of the migration between the old and new CCTV buildings. Internationally, CCTV has stations in New York, Hong Kong, and Kenya, as well as future plans for one in London. They’re also making efforts to grow into the Internet market.
We visited the Galaxy SOHO building next. In 1995, the husband and wife duo Pan Shiyi and Zhang Xin co-founded Beijing Redstone Industrie, the real estate development firm that would later become SOHO China. Ms. Huang, the assistant to Zhang Xin, led our tour. The firm mainly designs residences for upper-middle class families in Beijing and Shanghai, because this gives them a likely return on investments. I wondered what the appeal of designing high-income housing was in terms of helping the whole community. And it seems that many people living in low-income housing are wealthy enough to live in a better home, but don’t have a convenient opportunity to move into one. But when they do, it leaves their home open for a low-income family, who might not have had much of a home, to move into.
Both of the buildings we visited this morning were pretty spectacular.
After lunch, we visited the Dandelion school for some epic awesome super duper fun adventure spectacular extravaganza time, among other things.
The Dandelion School in Beijing opened in 2005 as the first nonprofit middle school for the children of migrant workers. Those who don’t have a residence permit for the area they’re working in do not receive the benefits provided by the government, such as health insurance, and free schooling for their children. Still, for many families it’s necessary to forsake these benefits by moving out of the countryside for a better work opportunity. Dandelion does require tuition, but also offers a lot of scholarships to those that need them.
Upon entering the courtyard, we could see four sets of words on the main building (in Chinese): Self Confidence, Enjoying Community Life, Seeking Truth, and Creativity. In the courtyard, there were some basketball hoops and ping-pong tables, as well as what appeared to be something resembling a life-size board game drawn into the ground. The students there filled the courtyard with their energy, in a manner complementing the beautiful artwork that decorated the campus. This artwork arose from a project lead by Lily Yeh, who worked with the students to transform the once mostly gray campus into something colorful and vibrant.
Before officially meeting with students, our host Marcus Zhao led us on a tour of the campus. Their cafeteria facility was built to sustain 300 students, but now has to service over 700. Some people have made contributions to the school to improve students’ nutrition by providing them with an extra egg every couple of days and a chicken leg every week, for example. Even one extra egg that families couldn’t otherwise afford makes quite a difference. Next, we walked through a dorm hallway, the smell of which reminded me of my high school locker room. Bunk beds with neatly folded blankets on top filled the rooms, with no space in between the beds. Some students spend their nights on campus, and some return home. Our last stop before meeting the students was the library, which houses over 7,000 Chinese books and 3,000 English books, as well as reading areas for the students. We also dropped off the English children’s books that Dong Laoshi gathered before the trip to donate.
As some lively sound that I can’t quite remember signaled the start of the next class, we split into two groups to join with two classes and engage the students in some English activities. In Alex’s group, he led us off by boomingly introducing himself, writing his name on the board, and having the students say it. The rest of us followed suit. Then we split into groups to discuss study habits, make posters about it, and present. Whenever I meet someone who speaks English I always get the impression that their English skills are better than any foreign language skills that I have, so I’d have no problem treating them as if they were essentially fluent. But that’s not always true; it’s hard to figure out how to express an idea in the simplest way for someone to understand. I was often trying to figure out what I could say that the students would be able to respond to.
After class, again in two groups, we each visited a student’s home. The Dandelion School requires its teachers to conduct home visits for every student to get a better understanding of their living conditions and the problems their family is facing. These visits also help the parents become more connected to the school and more appreciative of its efforts. Our student led us through a street market and rows of tiny, old houses. After entering what I’m tempted to call the front door, we walked down a long hallway, and then took a right turn into a small room. This featured a small bed, two birds in a cage, a water jug, a desk with a computer, and a portrait of Mao Zedong on the wall. In this place, there was one family per room. Outside on a porch there was a small kitchen, a sink, some toothbrushes, and a jacket hanging out to dry. It seemed that the father does some kind of construction work, but is often without any projects available to him for months at a time. His rent was about 1300 yuan per month.
We were planning to eat dinner with the students, but we got back to the campus too late and missed out.
The Dandelion School is a place where Northeastern students do co-op, and two co-ops are there now to help the students learn English. It was actually the second co-op location I was considering for my upcoming cycle. Now that I’ve been here I think I’ll probably end up coming back to do my final co-op. Although to say that my teaching skills need some work is quite the understatement. But I really like the energy of the students, the environment of the school, and its attitude towards teaching, which is focused more on developing important life skills rather than high test-scores.
-Jimmy Fahy
Photo: Dialogue students and 8th graders from the Dandelion Middle School for migrant children show off their projects
First we went to see the new CCTV headquarters, a loopy, gravity-defying 230-meter building designed by Rem Koolhas. CCTV is China’s state-run television network that commands most of China’s TV audience. We had a Q&A session outside of the building with Ji Xiaojun, who is in charge of the migration between the old and new CCTV buildings. Internationally, CCTV has stations in New York, Hong Kong, and Kenya, as well as future plans for one in London. They’re also making efforts to grow into the Internet market.
We visited the Galaxy SOHO building next. In 1995, the husband and wife duo Pan Shiyi and Zhang Xin co-founded Beijing Redstone Industrie, the real estate development firm that would later become SOHO China. Ms. Huang, the assistant to Zhang Xin, led our tour. The firm mainly designs residences for upper-middle class families in Beijing and Shanghai, because this gives them a likely return on investments. I wondered what the appeal of designing high-income housing was in terms of helping the whole community. And it seems that many people living in low-income housing are wealthy enough to live in a better home, but don’t have a convenient opportunity to move into one. But when they do, it leaves their home open for a low-income family, who might not have had much of a home, to move into.
Both of the buildings we visited this morning were pretty spectacular.
After lunch, we visited the Dandelion school for some epic awesome super duper fun adventure spectacular extravaganza time, among other things.
The Dandelion School in Beijing opened in 2005 as the first nonprofit middle school for the children of migrant workers. Those who don’t have a residence permit for the area they’re working in do not receive the benefits provided by the government, such as health insurance, and free schooling for their children. Still, for many families it’s necessary to forsake these benefits by moving out of the countryside for a better work opportunity. Dandelion does require tuition, but also offers a lot of scholarships to those that need them.
Upon entering the courtyard, we could see four sets of words on the main building (in Chinese): Self Confidence, Enjoying Community Life, Seeking Truth, and Creativity. In the courtyard, there were some basketball hoops and ping-pong tables, as well as what appeared to be something resembling a life-size board game drawn into the ground. The students there filled the courtyard with their energy, in a manner complementing the beautiful artwork that decorated the campus. This artwork arose from a project lead by Lily Yeh, who worked with the students to transform the once mostly gray campus into something colorful and vibrant.
Before officially meeting with students, our host Marcus Zhao led us on a tour of the campus. Their cafeteria facility was built to sustain 300 students, but now has to service over 700. Some people have made contributions to the school to improve students’ nutrition by providing them with an extra egg every couple of days and a chicken leg every week, for example. Even one extra egg that families couldn’t otherwise afford makes quite a difference. Next, we walked through a dorm hallway, the smell of which reminded me of my high school locker room. Bunk beds with neatly folded blankets on top filled the rooms, with no space in between the beds. Some students spend their nights on campus, and some return home. Our last stop before meeting the students was the library, which houses over 7,000 Chinese books and 3,000 English books, as well as reading areas for the students. We also dropped off the English children’s books that Dong Laoshi gathered before the trip to donate.
As some lively sound that I can’t quite remember signaled the start of the next class, we split into two groups to join with two classes and engage the students in some English activities. In Alex’s group, he led us off by boomingly introducing himself, writing his name on the board, and having the students say it. The rest of us followed suit. Then we split into groups to discuss study habits, make posters about it, and present. Whenever I meet someone who speaks English I always get the impression that their English skills are better than any foreign language skills that I have, so I’d have no problem treating them as if they were essentially fluent. But that’s not always true; it’s hard to figure out how to express an idea in the simplest way for someone to understand. I was often trying to figure out what I could say that the students would be able to respond to.
After class, again in two groups, we each visited a student’s home. The Dandelion School requires its teachers to conduct home visits for every student to get a better understanding of their living conditions and the problems their family is facing. These visits also help the parents become more connected to the school and more appreciative of its efforts. Our student led us through a street market and rows of tiny, old houses. After entering what I’m tempted to call the front door, we walked down a long hallway, and then took a right turn into a small room. This featured a small bed, two birds in a cage, a water jug, a desk with a computer, and a portrait of Mao Zedong on the wall. In this place, there was one family per room. Outside on a porch there was a small kitchen, a sink, some toothbrushes, and a jacket hanging out to dry. It seemed that the father does some kind of construction work, but is often without any projects available to him for months at a time. His rent was about 1300 yuan per month.
We were planning to eat dinner with the students, but we got back to the campus too late and missed out.
The Dandelion School is a place where Northeastern students do co-op, and two co-ops are there now to help the students learn English. It was actually the second co-op location I was considering for my upcoming cycle. Now that I’ve been here I think I’ll probably end up coming back to do my final co-op. Although to say that my teaching skills need some work is quite the understatement. But I really like the energy of the students, the environment of the school, and its attitude towards teaching, which is focused more on developing important life skills rather than high test-scores.
-Jimmy Fahy
Photo: Dialogue students and 8th graders from the Dandelion Middle School for migrant children show off their projects
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