Gong Cun Village and Migrant Elementary School

On Wednesday, Gill took us to visit the migrant elementary school where she has been working all semester teaching English. I was really interested in seeing the school, especially because I had done a lot of reading about migrant villages in my Chinese Women’s Studies course. My experience exceeded all of my expectations.

When we arrived at the school, we had to walk through the village. It was amazing. The roads were all dirt. The street was lined with shabby buildings composed of one-room apartments. There were street food vendors and outdoor billiards tableseverywhere. And even more so than anywhere else in China, the people were curious and welcoming.

The school had a huge open courtyard with a flagpole in the center. The classroom buildings looked like small houses. Another small house served as the office and hangout for all of the teachers.

When we arrived at school, Gill took us to see some of her fifth grade classes. The students were so excited and they just kept shouting “hello, hello!” All of the fifth grade students had English names, some of whom Gill had named after us. Unfortunately, no student was named Georgette because my name is very difficult for Chinese people to pronounce. Gill’s classes performed B-I-N-G-O for us and some of them did the chicken dance or the Macarena.

Later, Gill’s co-worker, the Chinese English teacher, named Judy met up with us. Judy was awesome! She loved having us in the English classes and had us all participate. We went to some of the fifth grade classes and some of the second grade classes. In some of the classes the students asked us questions about life in America and we answered in Chinese or English. Some of the classes taught us some of their favorite words or Chinese sayings. We helped the second graders prepare for a quiz on English vocabulary words and then they sang Beijing Yuanying Ni to us.

In one of the classes, Molly and I got to teach the class the names for different parts of the body. We taught them a song in Chinese with both English and Chinese vocabulary. I think the kids really liked it and they were screaming it at the top of their lungs.

The students had five-minute breaks between classes, which gave us time to interact with them. They loved having their pictures taken. Several of the students tried to offer us food and gifts. One of the brightest second grade students, named Wang Jie, gave me a gemstone as a gift. It was so adorable.

On the whole, the students were so bright, enthusiastic, and eager to learn. As the sons and daughters of migrant workers, their strong work ethic shone through. The same was true for the teachers working at the school. They seemed so dedicated and eager to impress. While several of the teachers spoke English, they were nervous to do so in front of us because they were afraid of making mistakes.

Towards the end of the day, we got to meet the headmaster of the school. She only spoke Chinese, so I had the opportunity to use my Chinese. Overall, she was impressed with our ability to speak the language and communicate.

The headmaster was so grateful for us sacrificing our day to volunteer at the school. She explained to us that parents at the school were so happy to see foreigners teaching English, because they felt they were better teachers. She also explained to us a little bit more about how the school works. The school is completely run on tuition, which is 400 kuai per year, less than $60, and donations. It is hard to believe that a school can function on this budget.

The headmaster was so grateful towards us that she demanded that we allow her to take all of us out to dinner, which is typical of Chinese custom. After watching the students line up and leave school for the day, happily and carefree with their parents, as is the true nature of a migrant village, the headmaster had the school driver drive us to dinner at one of the nicest restaurants nearby, outside of the village. On the way, we passed the theme park in Beijing designed to mimic Disney World. It was pretty cool.

The restaurant we went to was probably the nicest restaurant I have been to in China and I probably ate the most I have ever eaten. The headmasters and the teachers who came with us barely ate themselves, but instead chose to keep serving us food, everything from soup, to roast duck, to dessert pastries, to tea. It was almost like being force-fed. I was stuffed by the time we left and the private driver drove us back to Beida.

I really wish I would have discovered the school earlier in the semester. I would have certainly volunteered my time when I wasn’t in class to assist with teaching English and to play with the kids. The whole experience made me feel grateful for the education I have received and has completely changed my perception of migrant villages as slums as offered by several of the books I read for class. Instead, I now view these places as towns of hardworking, happy people who need the help of people who are more fortunate, like me. Perhaps someday in the future I will return to China and find myself working or volunteering in a school, such as the one in Gong Cun.