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Elizabeth Willmore writes...

...about her experience while volunteering in China.

Here's a little bit about my first two weeks.

I'm posted at Kaifaqu Advanced Middle School. The accomodations here are excellent; comfortable single room, internet, tv, and three full meals have all been provided by the school. Kaifaqu is a little isolated - it takes up to an hour by bus to get to downtown Yantai.
However, this district has a lot of its own charm, and there's plenty to keep us busy here!

Teaching has been both more challenging and more rewarding than I ever could have imagined. I am teaching mostly Junior 1's and 2's, so my students are around 13-14 years old. They are, for the most part, totally enthusiasic about learning English. They really participate in class, and we have a lot of fun together. The other foreign teachers at this school (two British girls who signed up through Traveller's) are teaching older students (17-19) who don't seemto be quite as receptive.

The local teachers have also been very supportive and helpful. Many of them have offered Chinese lessons. Cantonese has been fairly helpful as far as grammar goes. Most of the vocabulary is completely different, but at least I'm used to having to attend to pitches and tones.

Elizabeth Willmore volunteering from May for 10 weeks