My name is Austin Yao, 姚奕洋, and I was one of the 9 students who took part in the “1000 Mile Initiative.” In this editorial, I will be constructing my narrative and opinions about the adventure, as well as some things to take into account if you are planning on undertaking something similar. However, before we begin, allow me to introduce myself, as it will hopefully give you some context about the journey and its connotations. I taught Music, American History, and Daily Life in Shennongjia along with my co-council Alex, who I have been friends with since early in my childhood. In fact, many of the students involved in the initiative I had been at least cordial with. For example, I went to pre-school with Brandon and Emily and had a Chinese class with Grace. Thus, this meant that there wasn’t a lot of ice to break and we got along well almost from the get-go. Personally, I am engaged in many musically-oriented activities such as Marching Band. I had also been to China about every other year since I was 3 and have gone almost every year since the beginning of middle school. Therefore, I was already very accustomed to the Chinese culture and domestic habits.
Before we move onto the actual trip, I want to discuss planning as that was a key component of our success abroad. We started meeting around March, where we decided on subjects and groups. The next meeting we had was about a month later, in which we gave a presentation on a rough layout of how each day would go. The next meeting was where groups actually demonstrated a mock lesson and got feedback from other groups and parents. The last meeting was where groups again went through a mock lesson with the application of their feedback.
At the meetings, you did not know what to expect at the actual school. Thus, when it actually came time to teach at Shennongjia, we had to adjust our teaching style and approach.
We had two groups that met up in Shanghai and Beijing, before departing as a whole to Yichang. At Yichang, we met with the other group and embarked on the 5-hour drive to the school. The drive was enveloped by amazing views of the mountainside and rivers flowing alongside. Our captivation made the drive feel very short.
Our first thoughts of the school was that it wasn’t bad. We had previously envisioned it as a school with little to no technologies and schoolchildren who were oblivious to everything outside of China. However, the fact was that the school was clean and sophisticated. The landscaping was well kept and the grounds were swept hourly. The children all had WeChats and smartphones and even knew about American pop stars and famous trends among teenagers. Over the coming days, I was surprised by how much the children knew.
We arrived at approximately 4:30 in the afternoon. The school had prepared an opening ceremony for us, but the delay in our travel had made that unavailable. We settled into our rooms, which was comprised of 4 bunk beds that had a carrying capacity of 8 people. Us 5 boys had more than enough room. In the room, there were two squat toilets with dividers and doors. The view from the window was magnificent as we were situated in a mountain valley. I can’t imagine the scenery in the fall. Staying on track, the boys dormitory was 5 floors and we were on the third, right next to a staircase. Our room was the only one with a lock on it, which allowed us to keep our belongings safe while we were away from the room. However, there were some faults that we overcame with time. Firstly, the door could not be locked from the inside. Thus, when we were in our dorm anybody could come in at any time. Secondly, the door had a window situated right in the middle. There was no curtain to block it, so theoretically anyone could just watch us in our room at any given moment. Luckily, there was spare cardboard on a bunk and Brandon was able to fasten a blocker that slid into the slot of the window like a glove. This saved us from the notion of being stared at by the curious neighbors of our dormitory. Lastly, the room smelled like a very sweaty, due to the lack of filtration that mixed with the humidity of our environment. Personally, I wasn’t very bothered by this but other people (Jiahui) struggled with the stench.
Our first evening at the school was uneventful. We missed the scheduled dinner, so the school cooks prepared extra food for us that we could not eat by ourselves. We then spent the entire rest of the time in our dorms, getting settled. When the students were released from school at 8:55, they swarmed in front of our door. Prior to dinner, I had tried to interact with some of the students who were walking in our hallway. It was a very one-sided and awkward conversation, as they seemed to be laughing and too shy to say anything. Nonetheless, after classes, they were eager to catch a glimpse of the weird strangers that had moved into their dorm. Our first night, we were too tired and wary of the students to open our door and interact. Our resistance did not dampen the eagerness of the students, as they knocked repeatedly at our door and were yelling (non-aggressively) outside. Jiahui, so fed up with their unwelcoming hospitality, put a suitcase next to the door to prevent it from being opened. Needless to say, our first night was slightly traumatizing as we didn’t know the intentions of the students. Luckily, it got better from there.
On our second day, we finally began teaching. First, we met with the English department at the school, where they welcomed us, briefed us, and gave us our teaching schedules. They then gave us a conference room tailored to our needs with wifi and a projector. This would become our den for the rest of the time there. For our first lesson, Alex and I taught daily life. Compared to all the potential the lesson had, it wasn’t too good. The first mistake I made was using too much Chinese to explain. My Chinese was slightly fluent and there were many errors that might have confused the class. In fact, their level of English was much higher than we expected. Thus, from then on we were able to use our native language to teach. Our second mistake was not incorporating enough interaction and response from the class into our plan. This made the class boring and less enjoyable.
Our next classes were much more successful, and each time only made us stronger as teachers. We quickly bonded with the students, and they surprised us with how much they knew about American culture, such as Beats, Avengers, Chainsmokers, Jake Paul, etc..
Our first night was the only night we did not shower. The next day, we found a solution as the school was able to allott us time to use the locker room showers while the students were in class. Thus, we were able to take hot showers every night.
Our time there was very enjoyable. Contrary to previous trips like this, the students were very nice and outgoing. Even though the girls became obsessed with us guys, the boys in the dorm were still very fun to hang out with. They demonstrated their kindness by many times paying for our lunch and buying us snacks. Through physical activities such as soccer and basketball, we were also able to see their competitive and playful side.
This trip was truly one that I learned more than I taught. The memories I made will remain attached to me for as long as I live. It was very humbling to be able to inspire so many kids to study harder to meet us in the US and to connect with kids exactly like us living thousands of miles away and speaking a different language. If anybody has an opportunity to embark on such an odyssey, I urge you to do so. Not for the college resume, but to connect and create endless memories with such similar but far away people.