2014 BN Duke International Summer of Service: Qingyuan, Guangdong Province, China

Suqi Huang – BN Class of 2016

Qingxin No. 1 Primary School At Qingxin No. 1 Primary School, I worked with three other Duke Engage Independent students – Ji-Eun Choi, Gabriela Gomez, and Kevin Tie – to teach English and music classes. We split into two teams, and I worked together with Ji-Eun. Every week, we were paired with a music teacher and taught his/her classes for that week. We were free to create our own lesson plans, and the teachers encouraged us to teach the kids in non-traditional ways. Ji-Eun and I started off teaching “Do-Re-Mi” (from The Sound of Music) to the fifth and sixth graders and switched to “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes” for the second and third graders. For our later lessons, we decided to play games such as Pictionary, Hangman, and Telephone to foster creativity and thinking outside the box, since these were very different activities from the students’ usual curriculum. It’s difficult to tell if our methods were successful in such a limited time, but we hope that the kids enjoyed the games and were inspired to learn more English. Additionally, on Friday afternoons Kevin and Ji-Eun taught sports while Gabriela and I taught art classes.

YQX Arts Center While we taught at the elementary school on weekdays, on Saturdays we worked at the YQX Arts Center, which was founded by Professor Ku’s brother. We taught four violin classes of different skill levels throughout the day, and the most challenging part was teaching them music and violin skills in Chinese. I had a lot of fun teaching something that I love, and I was able to see improvement in a few kids and in the ensemble as a whole, which was exciting.

•  The B.N. Duke Program and Duke Endowment: for funding this amazing opportunity

•  Professor Hsiao-Mei Ku: for being an inspirational mentor •  Jenny, Charlie, and Lauren: for your constant support and

encouragement •  Ji-Eun, Kevin, and Gabby: for working through this adventure

together and for being my best friends this summer

Special Thanks

The teachers at both the elementary school and the arts center were very friendly and accommodating, always willing to help us with any requests and often inviting us over for dinner. Watching them teach and interact with the children was inspirational. Our host families readily accepted us into their lives as if we were actually part of their families. I taught my host sister both English and violin at home, and we often played ping pong and went bike riding in our free time. I miss the students most of all with their energy and enthusiasm.

People

Performing “Say Something” at the Arts Festival With a group of third grade students

The teachers of the Arts Center

While I certainly learned more about Chinese culture (including language, food, and the education system) during my summer, the lesson that sticks out to me the most is that teaching is one of the hardest and most rewarding jobs. My respect and admiration for teachers, especially those in elementary schools and arts programs, increased greatly after standing in front of a classroom of fifty kids and trying to do their job. I realized that while teaching can be incredibly frustrating at times, the amount of joy felt from the smallest successes made all the work worth it. I’m very proud of all my students for their efforts, and I hope they had fun while learning in our classes.

Lessons

Hangman: What makes you happy? Teaching violin

Gabby and I with our art class

With our host siblings