With the help of CLP grant, TCLP alumna Fu Ailing worked with volunteers to conduct summer English lessons for students in grades 4-6 at Jinye Primary School in Guizhou Province, China. Jinye is situated far away from major cities in the mountains and consequently does not have a regular English teacher. The primary objective of Fu Ailing's project was to teach these students some basic English and to lay a sound foundation for their English learning in middle school.
During the summer of 2015, Fu Ailing taught 80 students in total for 20 days. In this time, the students learned the alphabet, vocabulary related to food, the classroom, family, and numbers and practiced saying full sentences in English to greet one another and introduce themselves. In addition, students successfully learned to sing 2 songs in English. Fu Ailing used different teaching methods to make the class relaxing and interesting for students. She used TPR to help students remember nouns and verbs and designed different games for her classes. At the end of the summer training, the students reported that they enjoyed the English class very much and hope to continue learning next summer.
In addition to teaching English to the students, Fu Ailing also held a round table discussion with the local teachers and other volunteer teachers. This meeting helped Fu Ailing to better understand the teachers' difficulties and needs in teaching in this region. She also exchanged ideas with the teachers about cooperative learning.
After returning to her home school, Fu Ailing conducted a presentation for her students and colleagues. As a result, some teachers at her school have shown an interest in volunteering at Jinye Primary School with Fu Ailing the following summer. "In my own community", said Fu Ailing, "more people began to care about the education, the English learning of the kids in mountain areas".