My First Day at a Rural School in Guangxi, China

One of the mandate of TECA - Toronto Education Communications Associates is to provide  training to students, teachers and school administrators.

To this end, I joined a charitable organization from Canada to provide training for oral English to high school students in China this summer.


Our first Day at the Secondary School's English  Summer Program

It was pretty exciting today as it was the first day of the summer program. We had breakfast at our hotel with our team and then walked to school together.

The school displayed a sign at the front entrance in both English & Chinese to welcome us on the first day

The school is much better than we have expected. However, we should not be surprised considering that there are only two secondary schools in this town. The one we are teaching at is the bigger one of the two.

Canadian teachers at the Opening Ceremony 

There are over four thousand secondary school students in this school with many of the student body coming from various villages and small towns in the region.

The opening ceremony was held in the school auditorium attended by all the students in the program, English teachers of the school, the school principal and our entire team of volunteer teachers from Canada.

A good icebreaker game for the class

My class is class number 3 with 19 students on the list, but only 17 showed up.

The students have been assigned according to their academic achievements so we are getting one of the top classes.

The students were a little shy to start with but warmed up to us after we played some icebreaker games.

We also did an introduction about ourselves.

The students were very interested in looking at my family pictures and were awed at the fact that one of my sons went to Yale University.

Students were interested in the story books I brought from Canada

I brought a pile of high interest English story books with me from Canada and did a book display in the classroom encouraging the students to read as much as possible in English in the next two weeks.

The students were very interested in these story books.

Students from another class came to visit us.




















We taught our class the first lesson and we did the introduction activity together.

It was a lot of fun when students could practice what they had just learned a few minutes ago with students from another class.

At the end of our first day, the shy Chinese students started to converse in English and were fully participating in all the learning activities.

It was a great first day. I am really looking forward to the next two weeks of teaching in China.


R.T.
Director
TECA - Toronto Education and Communications Associates
Volunteering my service in
Guangxi, China

A Beautiful Ride Through the Spectacular Mountains of Guangxi, China

My spouse and I are in China for a volunteer teaching assignment. We arrived in Nanning two days ago.

Our team spent the entire day yesterday doing our training and getting ready for our teaching assignment. We will be teaching English to students in rural China for the next two weeks.

Today, we left Nanning and took a five hour bus ride into the rural part of China.

Our charity organization has been involved in charitable activities for the past twenty years in the remote rural part of China helping poor students and families.

Isolated by mountain ranges, the province of Guangxi is one of the poorest regions in China. Children living in this region have tremendous  difficulty getting to school for a proper education.
Some have to walk hours to go to school; some stay home because of this.

The CRRS organization chooses to do its work in this region where the needs are the greatest.

We passed by huge mountain ranges and were awed by the beautiful mountain scenery. The bus went through numerous tunnels opened up recently by the government.

I was in this region in 2009. This time I could see improvement in the living condition of the average people.

It was evident that the government has invested a lot in building infrastructures such as tunnels through the mountains and roads connecting the various villages and towns enabling easier road access for area residents to the outside world.

Our five hour bus journey took us through spectacular mountain scenery in the province of Guangxi, China

At around 7:30p.m. we arrived at the hotel where the English teacher from the local high school was waiting for us.

We walked to the school in the rain and the school held a reception for our first night d there. We met the principal and other school official. I was originally seated at the VIP table with the school officials but could not stomach the special food served there, so I was changed to another table.

We are pumped up and excited to meet with the students the next day!

R.T.
Director - TECA
Toronto Education &
Communications Associate
Volunteering in
Guangxi, China

A Training Day in Nanning, Guangxi, China

Training Day in Nanning, Guangxi, China

Our full day of training in Nanning, China

We did not have much of a break in Nanning. After resting for the night, we started our full day training bright and early the next morning at 9 a.m. sharp.

Though the place where we had our meals was not located in the same building, it was only a stone throw away. It gave us some good exercises walking back and forth for our meals.

Each teaching team takes turn teaching a mock lesson

There are twenty one people on this team for the Project Shine trip with a team from Vancouver, and Toronto as well as a member joining us from Calgary. We did not know nor meet each other until last night at our first meal together.

R. and her teaching partner demonstrating their lesson.

Both teams had their respective training meeting in their own city prior to our arrival to China.

However, today was a busy day of training with our teaching partner, working together for the first time.

All team members were given the teaching material and wete asked to go through the lessons on our own.

Each team took turns to present a mock lesson to the entire team demonstrating the different teaching technique.

I enjoyed learning about the 5 Love Languages

Esther went through the five languages of love with us reminding us that we all have our own ways of showing love to students, friends and family members.

We also went through the songs, the skit and the performance. It was a full day of activities and a fun experience working with different people from across Canada.

R.T.
Nanning
Guangxi, China

Leaving for the Project Shine STM in Guangxi, China

Cathay Pacific - always our preferred airline for flying to Asia

Google is not allowed in China, therefore I could not log on to write my blog for the past two weeks. We just landed in Hong Kong now so I can catch up on what has happened over the past two weeks.

Project Shine Day 1 - July 5 

What a busy past few days! We got the house cleaned and  ready for J. to be back from Asia anytime while we would be away for the next few weeks. He called us the day before we left for our trip and we did as much as we could to get the house ready. Good thing we have a great neighbor who will look after our mails and mow our lawn while we are away.

The M & M Store in the Hong Kong airport

We got to the airport before 10:30pm on Wednesday evening and met up with Rosanna; we met her son and daughter in law and Rebecca and the rest of the gang, Pauline and George whose parents, brother and sister were there to see him off. What a supportive family for his experience in China!

Cathy Pacific is always our preferred airline when we travel to Asia.

One of the cultural exhibits at the HK airport

 The plane took off around 1:45am and it was a huge one fully loaded with passengers. Rosanna was sitting with us.

 After watching a few documentaries and chatting with our friend, we landed in  HK at around 5:30am.

Hong Kong Harbour as viewed from our plane - one of the busiest seaports in the world 

Shanghai Airport

While waiting for our connecting flight for a few hours, we ate the famous wonton before catching our connecting flight  to Shanghai via China Eastern Airline departing from HK at 9:45am.


















We had a few hours at the Shanghai airport.

We enjoyed a mini art show at the onsite art gallery.

Shanghai Airport , a clean and busy airport

We left Shanghai airport at 3:45pm, arriving to Nanning around 6:30pm.

I sat by the window seat both times and had a good view of China from the sky for a few hours.

I looked out of the window and was amazed by what I saw.

Though having flown numerous times across the different continents, I had never seen such stunning 3 D cloud formations.

I was mesmerized by the various shapes and forms of the clouds that shaped like a city above the sky.


I must have looked out of the window for the entire time during our flight. It was absolutely spendid!

Nanning Airport, Nanning, Guangxi, China

Watching the clouds and taking pictures kept me busy for the entire flight. Before long, we landed in Nanning, in the province of Guangxi, China.

We met up with Deakin and some teammates arriving from Beijing at the Shanghai Airport. We learned that Wayne’s flight from Beijing was delayed.

Our team arriving at Nanning Airport

Later we learned that there were lots of problems  for those people going to Nanning via this route and we must remember not to connect flights at the Beijing Airport  next time.

Our first meal as a team together in Nanning, China

After checking into the hotel in Nanning, we had our first meal together as a team at the hotel's restaurant.

The Toronto. Vancouver and Calgary team met up for the first time 

It was quite a trip getting to Nanning, which not our final destination yet. Though already taken a number of flights, we still need to take a five hour bus ride to get to the rural remote town.

We travelled for more than 30 hours and as soon as I hit the bed, I was sound asleep in a few minutes.

R.T.

Nanning
Guangxi, China

July 1 Weekend , 2017 - Canada celebrates 150 Years of Confederation

July 1, Canada Day always holds special meaning for us in Canada. This July 1 weekend is very special as Canadians celebrate our country's 150 years old since confederation.

The celebrations in Ottawa and across Canada attracted large crowds as CBC worked hard to bring us the different parties and special events that were going on on Canada Day.


















We saw that security was very tight and it slowed down many who wanted to participate in the event.

Each participant attending the Ottawa celebrations was screened passed through airport like security check.



This level of security was unprecedented around the parliament hill area where over 500,000 Canadians were expected.











Charles and Carmella were here in Canada to help celebrate Canada 150 as well.


















There were pomp and ceremonies, many entertainments and special celebrations.

Prime Minister Trudeau addressed the crowd on Parliament Hill, Ottawa

There were a few touching moments for me while watching the Ottawa celebrations.

Prime Minister Trudeau reiterated Canada's policy on embracing diversity and multiculturalism.

Our Governor General acknowledged that Canada made mistakes in the past mistreating the indigenous people years ago.










E





Even though many of us have been celebrating Canada 150 for the past week, not all Canadians felt the same.

The indigenous people made their opinion known by erecting a tepee on Parliament Hill to symbolically reclaim their land.

My most favorite picture for the past few days was when our prime minister went and sat in the tepee with some of the aboriginal leaders and talked t them for half an hour.

 What a great conciliatory and respectful gesture on our part of the prime minister.

There were no guns, no violence and the conflict was resolved.

I am so proud of being a Canadian and proud of the respectful behavior of our prime minister!

Another exciting moment was when Shaina Twain sang on the stage and introduced two kids who wrote about why they wanted to be an astronauts when they grow up.

















This was followed by naming and introducing Canada's two astronauts chosen from among thousands of applicants.


There have been celebrations all weekend from coast to coast to coast. There are so many celebrations and parties in every community that we could have easily joint anyone of them.

Prime Minster Trudeau congratulated  Peter Mansbridge on his retirement

However, on Saturday morning, July 1, Canada Day, we found ourselves glued in front of the tv set watching the live broadcast of the celebration taking place in Parliament Hill in Ottawa, our capital city.



The main reason that was keeping us indoor rather than joining an outdoor event was because of Peter Mansbridge, one of my most favourite TV news anchor person. He was hosting the live show and we wanted to watch him for the last time.

Peter is retiring after more than three decades in the broadcasting business. The Canada 150 celebration in Ottawa was his last live broadcast with CBC.

After that, Peter will no longer be anchoring the daily national evening news. We will miss him and his presence in our living room each night.

I love and respect Peter Mansbridge for his integrity and love of Canada. Though lured by excellent tempting offers by US broadcasting networks to go south and work for them, Peter turned down the lucrative offers and decided to work in Canada instead. All the best to you in retirement!

R.T.
Toronto
Canada 150 Weekend

Credit : Photo sources - CTV and CBC News Broadcast

A Great Sleep Over and Time Spent with My Mom

We are going to be away in July and August. We have a tradition in my family; whenever we are going to be away from my parents on a long trip, we always take them out for a nice dinner and spend some time with them.

My dad passed away a few years ago but we still carry on this tradition with my mom. Because we will be away for a long time, I want to spend as much time as possible with my 91 year old mother.
I spent a night at her senior apartment last night.  Since I have been busy with my studies, my mother was happy that I would be spending time with her for the next couple of days.

Mom enjoyed the ribs and thin crust pizza at a pizza restaurant in Toronto

We took her out for dinner at a
the Boston pizza restaurant in Markham and ordered her favourite food - gourmet pizza and BBQ ribs. I always want to introduce my mom to new food so I ordered a cheesy ground beef nacho dish as well.

Mom did not like the nachos but loved the southwest pizza and the tender BBQ ribs. I am writing this down so that I will remember what to order for her next time when we dine out at the same pizza restaurant.

After taking mom out shopping at Shoppers, my husband dropped me and mom off at her place. Mom lives in a senior studio apartment and her space is limited. For any guest sleeping overnight, Mom has a special Coleman's twin high bed which can be easily inflated with an electrical pump.

How convenient it was to have a nice bed like that in a couple of minutes!

We turned off the lights and went to bed a little after 10pm. But we were like two school girls out on a sleepover camping trip as we kept talking for a couple of hours about everything. I have not had such a good enjoyable lengthy conversation with my mom for a long time.  Mom had to stop us from talking as we were planning a whole day of outing the following day.

I enjoyed the time with my mom and was glad that I made the decision of sleeping over at her place.

We spent the next day going downtown, having lunch at the Trinity Square Cafe run by a church. I was surprised that Mom at her age could still walk so well with the aid of a cane. It was another good  outing.

R.T.
Toronto