At the end of May 2019, CWEF worked with two seasoned trainers from Hong Kong Lutheran Social Services (HKLSS) to run a REACH training workshop for 30 teachers at Leju High School in Zhaotong, Yunnan province. These are the teachers who work on a day-to-day basis to educate and equip the young women who are supported by CWEF’s High School Scholarship program at their school.
During this 3-day workshop, the trainers from HKLSS focused on concepts and methods related to experiential education, teamwork, cooperation, and adolescent psychology. The trained teachers will be able to use these new concepts and skills to enhance their support of CWEF’s High School Scholarship recipients.
Thank you for your generous gifts! You are making it possible for these young women to not only continue their education, but also to have their education enhanced through special workshop experiences like this one.
Below are some reflections about the REACH workshop written by Yang H., one of the participating teachers from Leju.
In the summer, Zhaotong’s weather is quite unpredictable. When Xiaohui and Bobo (the HKLSS trainers’ Mandarin Chinese nicknames) arrived in Zhaotong together with CWEF staff Maggie and Jenny, the weather was starting to get cold. The four teachers showed up wearing thin summer clothes and worked so hard to bring us the REACH training workshop about experiential teaching methods, which moved and inspired all of us teachers here in Zhaotong.
Allow me to share more of our experience with you:
Our principal Mr. Zhou began by introducing the trainers:
“Teacher Xiaohui has come from afar and has a new teaching method to share with us.There’s a new philosophy…”
Honestly, at the beginning, we were skeptical. We have been through a lot of training workshops before, and many of these lectures have started the same way.
Then we learned that Xiaohui and Bobo’s salaries are actually very low, but they have both been doing social work for ten years. And then Maggie and Jenny from CWEF said they also have been working in the social sector in Yunnan for more than ten years, too.
The weather was cold but their hearts were warm, and we were moved by their persistence and dedication.
As the training program began, Xiaohui and Bobo first gave us an introduction to experiential teaching.
“Let’s forget our jobs for a moment and let go of those heavy burdens for a while.”
To be honest, it’s usually very hard for someone to touch your heart when you meet them for the first time.
But Xiaohui started off with a series of interactive activities with fun, exaggerated behaviors and flamboyant expressions, and everyone was brought in quickly to this new world of experiential teaching methods.
At that moment, we put down the heavy burdens we carry with us all the time and realized:
Life is so beautiful. We can actually relax and enjoy it for a while.
During the workshop, Xiaohui and Bobo first led us to design our own team flag, team name, and slogan. Everyone came up with their own ideas and provided valuable input for the team. Before we knew it, the colleague you were just meeting has become a friend.
Throughout the activities, we feel bad for the team’s failure, and we applaud the team’s success.
When all the teammates stood in a circle and were walking laps together, all of us were united, all hands were afraid to let go. At that moment, all the heartbeats were quietly beating together.
We are united.
Only when a team is united can it go farther and see higher.
On the third morning of the workshop, Xiaohui and Bobo led the group together to design and organize games for each team.
There were disputes over design, conflicts of opinion, and corrections to the plan along the way…
There were team members’ collaboration, persistence, and efforts …
We learned how to design games for use in our teaching and what to consider when designing a game, and how these games can make our work with students more effective and engaging.
In the process of playing, Xiaohui and Bobo turned complex theoretical knowledge into a meaningful learning experience.
It’s a great lesson for us and it will improve our ability to positively impact the students we work with.
When the trainers come to Zhaotong next time, I hope the clouds will part and the sun will shine for them.
– Written by Yang H., Leju High School teacher
